So much joy!
So many sore throats — from screaming, from shouting, from singing, from crying, from laughing. So many arms and hands thrown into the air, covering eyes, clapping, hugging, wiping tears of disbelief. Shoulders aching, calves sore from standing, walking, carrying and lifting small children, and not-so-small children, up onto shoulders "to see".
On Sunday, our county, Mayo, won the All-Ireland football final for the first time in 75 years.
We had become accustomed to losing the biggest games. We have lost the final 11 times in my lifetime. Over time, shouldering disappointment became part of what it meant to be a Mayo supporter. Losing so many times had taught us that being a Mayo supporter was less about the privilege and expectation of winning and more about family, community, and the loyalty of returning every year regardless.
We have no experience of winning.
For a few hours on Sunday evening, the pure exuberant joy was so intense it felt as though the whole town — its streets, shops, schools, roads, football pitches and lampposts — might just lift off the ground. That we might somehow collectively levitate.
***
Each morning over breakfast I say to the children, "Does anyone know where the Sam Maguire (the cup the winning team receive) is?" and they reply in unison, "It's in Mayo!"
***
"Let them make mistakes," I remind myself. "We have to let them play, and we have to encourage them and let them play."
***
Together we pick around fifty heads of creamy-white meadowsweet. As we pick, the flowers release their distinctive almond scent into the air.
Just behind where we are picking, stand the ruins of a friary founded in 1298. I like to imagine the friars once picking meadowsweet here too. I imagine they certainly kept bees. The honey and meadowsweet would have become mead for feast days, and the wax would have become candles for dark winter days.
Our eldest asks for the camera, and I hand it to her.
She points the camera directly into the light.
I almost tell her not to. Instead I remember to keep quiet and to leave her to it.
"Ah" I sigh as we walk back towards the house ... "Do you remember the good old days?"
I say the children often, and they know the exact reply I'm looking for.
"These are the good old days!" they laugh.
Meadowsweet Cordial Recipe.
Ingredients
- About 25 flowering heads of fresh meadowsweet
- 8 tbsp lemon juice
- Water (just enough to barely cover the flowers)
- 800g sugar for every 1.5 litres of meadowsweet liquid
Method
- Wash the meadowsweet and discard the stems and any leaves.
- Place the flower heads in a large saucepan and add just enough water to barely cover them.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Strain the liquid through a sieve into a measuring jug, then compost the flowers.
- Measure the volume of liquid and pour it into a clean saucepan.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Add 800g of sugar for every 1.5 litres of meadowsweet liquid.
- Heat gently, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved.
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming off any foam from the surface.
- Leave to cool before pouring into sterilised bottles.
To Store
Store in the fridge, where it will keep for several months.
To Serve
Dilute with still, sparkling or soda water for a refreshing summer drink, or pour over vanilla ice cream. We make ice pops too.
We will make a second batch of this a little later in Summer to make our own Meadowsweet Jelly.
Notes
Words
Jo Anne Butler
All Photography
Our daughter