The Book of Me... Written by You... Prompt 56

This week's prompt is - Clubs and Societies

• Do you belong to any?
• Do you have to belong to any?
• Are there any you belonged to and now don't?
• What made you join them (and perhaps leave)?
• What were they about?
• Do you have membership details of organisations that family members belonged to?
• What does it mean to belong to group / society / organisation?

Now this is a difficult one... so will be short and sweet..

I don't belong to any clubs or societies.. well unless you count Relief Society :)
Relief Society is for the women at church... but it is definitely not a club...so
I still say No...  :)

My dad used to go to the Legion, and as far as I know, he was in, or used to be in the Masonic Lodge... which is also a Freemason.
 To be honest, I know nothing about it, and since my dad
has passed, I can't ask him either.  As far as I know, it was like some secret club
or something... I may be wrong in that also.
As you can see... I'm just grasping at straws here.. I cant really write
about what I don't know about....  That is all !!  ( unless I find out more info )
Oh dear... I have managed to write a wee bit about absolutely nothing :)

The Book of Me.... Written by You.... Prompt 55

This week's prompt is - Movies

• What is your feel good movie?
• Can you remember the first time you went to the cinema?
• What did you see?
• Can you remember the price?
• Who did you go with?
• Recall those magical movie moments?
• What is your favourite movie or favourite genre?

My " feel good " movie is usually a romantic comedy... something like
While you were Sleeping, or You've got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle. or my favourite.. Serendipity.....

 

 

Other feel good movies are usually Christmas movies... my favourites are
A Wonderful Life, Polar Express, Elf to name a few ( probably almost all of them )  :)

I KNOW I must have gone to movies in Scotland, but what I saw, I
cant remember.... I do remember going to one movie there with
Stacy, Jim, Ken, there were a bunch of us...I think Rosina may have
been there too, and also Ann and Heather ??
I honestly cant remember what movie we went to see...I do remember
the fun we had afterwards, when the movie was over.
We were all a wee bit goofy, and I mean that in the nicest way.. :)

The movie that I do remember seeing that far back was a James Bond
movie...Ken and I went to see it, we weren't married that long.
Even today, when a new James Bond movie comes to the theatre, we
always go and see it.

 

These days, I still LOVE these kind of movies, but I also love some
Action / Adventure / Thriller type movies as well.
Things like The Bourne Adventure type of movies... by myself I'll still
watch Christmas ( any time of year :)  ) or the romantic comedy ones.
That's just me in a nutshell.....  :)

The Book of Me... Written by You... Prompt 54

This week's prompt is - School Trips

• Did you go on any school trips?
• Where did you go?
• Memories and trinkets of those special days?

Another one to make me think, which would be okay, if only my
memory was better...

Yes, I know I went on some school trips, but the only one that I can
remember was going to see a boat being launched.
It is such an awesome experience to go there, and to see this massive ship
towering over you. I remember the excitement there, with all my school
mates, and the teachers ( of course )
I don't remember the name of the ship, or anything else about it, but
can remember the bottle of ( I assume champagne ) getting hit on the
side of the ship, and everyone yelling out ( like a hooray ) and the ship
slowly moving into the water.  
It was exciting to see..

And in her own words :

 

Fantastic photo of the launch of the Comet in 1962. I guess Health and Safety were not around then when you look at where all the folk were standing to get a good view!!! I remember I was on the edge of the dock and there was no barrier in front of us! Port Glasgow had a marvellous day and evening celebrating this event. The whole town came out to support it and I can still remember the massive buzz there was then.

Avril Braidwood

I will have to add more as I remember

The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 53

This week's prompt is - Your Home Town

We all have one, perhaps it is where we were born, perhaps it where we lived for that special time in our lives, or perhaps it is where we now live.

Wherever it is, why not tell us about it.

Explain where it is, don't forget we are across the world!
What is it that makes your "place" special?
Do you feel a nice comfy emotional connection?


I was born in Dundee, Scotland, lived there until around the age of 5 years old,
then moved to Greenock ( Scotland ), only lived there a couple of years, and
then lived in Port Glasgow, the rest of my growing up years.
Greenock and Port Glasgow are side by side... they are towns...

I for sure think of Port Glasgow as my hometown, that is where I
spent my growing up years, where I went to school, made friends,
happy / sad memories.

 

Port Glasgow is around 30 miles away from Glasgow..

It was a shipbuilding town, as was Greenock, ..

I found this write up about it online

By the 19th century, Port Glasgow had become a centre of shipbuilding. The Comet was built in the town in 1812 and was the first commercial steam vessel in Europe. A replica of the Comet and a plaque commemorating the actual site of construction are situated in Port Glasgow town centre.

PS Comet, Europe's first commercially successful steamboat, was built in Port Glasgow, and a replica of her made by shipyard apprentices now stands in the town centre.

Port Glasgow became a burgh in 1833, but around this time, the River Clyde up to Glasgow was deepened and new road and rail links meant that the town was no longer needed much as a port. The shipbuilding industry then took over as the main source of employment and prosperity. Port Glasgow has been responsible for about a quarter of the total tonnage of ships launched on the Clyde. However like the rest of Inverclyde this industry has all but gone and only Ferguson Shipbuilders yard remains in the town today and is one of the last privately owned shipyards left in Scotland.

 

 

This picture is going into the Town Centre, the photo was taken by Paul McKee.

Port Glasgow has the River Clyde... its beautiful there, but of course, I
didn't appreciate that when I lived there.
There is even a song about The River Clyde
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZX0h4X7s1c

Here's another photo..

 

You can see The River Clyde in the background....

 

There is also a castle in Port Glasgow... its called Newark Castle

 

 

I do feel a nice, comfy emotional connection to my Hometown...
I miss it there... it was a great place to grow up... but... my life
is here now ( Canada ) My heart is in 2 places.. I have my fond memories of
there... I still keep in touch with friends there, but for sure I have made
a life where I am now.. I'm still proud to call Port Glasgow my Hometown.

The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 52

This week's prompt is - Inherited Items

There is something very special about inheriting an item from a family member. It doesn't have to be the riches, in terms of monetary value, or in the finest condition. Sometimes, just knowing that an item has stood the test of time in whatever shape it is now, is enough.

That link between the past, present and future as you in turn pass it along.

This week share those thoughts, memories and pictures. Lets having a trip down memory lane as with the passing along of each item there is always memories attached.

There really is something very special about inheriting something..
My dad gave me a Burns poetry book, that was given to my Grandfather.
I think it was for Sunday School, so it is very old...... the problem is it has fallen apart..
if I knew how to get it fixed, I would.

When my Gran died, my dad also sent me her bible, which I still have.
Its small and is in the same box it came in.
Whenever I look at it, I always think of her..

Something else I inherited is a ring.  It belonged to Ken's aunt.
She was very ill at the time and she gave it to me, and she told me that
she wanted it kept in the Redpath name... I love it !!
I am actually going to be passing it on to my daughter in law very soon.

I also have a 5 pound note ( Scottish ).. I think it was my dad who
gave it to me

Its so special to have these things, and of course seeing them makes
me think of the person who it belonged to.  
Having them also means a lot to me..

The Book of Me.... Written by You... Prompt 51

This week's prompt is - Your First Home

This can be either or a combination of any of the following

• Your parent's home - the first home you can probably remember
• A home away from home - perhaps collage
• Your first big purchase
• The first home with the love of your life and perhaps your descendants
• Perhaps talk of the excitement, stress and emotional attachments to locations
• Was your home in your family for lots of years, was it an old house or a new build?
• Can you visualise the rooms, or have photos?

I have chosen to write about the first home Ken and I bought..
We met in Toronto, but after being married a year we moved out West,
 to where we live now.
I think we were married about 3 years at the time we bought our first home.

Its funny, we used to talk about hoping to be able to buy something,
but it seemed so far from our grasp at that time....and then...

We had friends named Meg and Wayne who were selling their townhouse,
and asked us if we were interested.  Of course we were, but we honestly
didn't think we would be able to do that, but when we looked into it, we
saw that it was do - able.  Oh my... we were so excited !! 
We were so thankful to Meg and Wayne for giving us this chance.

We only had our older son at the time, and he was young, I think he was around 18 months.
Just our little family.
We had the basement done, which gave us a playroom / Family room downstairs,
and also a laundry / storage room as well.

When you walked in the front door, the kitchen was to the left
hand side... straight ahead were stairs leading to upstairs.
There was a hallway to the living room ( which was at the back of the house )
The downstairs bathroom was also on the left hand side, before you got
to the living room.
I remember we painted the bathroom a lemon colour, and the accents
were lemon and white.

Going upstairs, when we got to the top of the stairs, our bedroom was to the right.
It was'nt huge, but also not small.
I remember at that time we had a waterbed...
Straight ahead from the top of the stairs was the upstairs bathroom.
On the other side of the bathroom, we had 2 more bedrooms..which
was good, because even though we only had the one child..within a year
we went from one to THREE ..

I found out I was pregnant with our second son, and we adopted our daughter
who was 11, almost 12 years old... we needed those rooms.  :)
It wasn't a big home, but it did us just fine at that time, and
was okay for what we needed.

The Book of Me.... Written by You.... Prompt 50

This week's prompt is - Godparents

• Did / Do your Godparents feature a great deal in your life
• Do you know your Godparents?
• How do they link in to your family?
• Other stories or influences from your Godparents
• Are you Godparents to anyone?

Well, when I first read the prompt, I immediately  thought that I would have
nothing to write about.... I was thinking that if I had any Godparents, I
have no idea who they are.
Then I got thinking... I have a photo of me as a newborn, my mother is
holding me, and the woman standing beside her is my Aunt Helen.
Somewhere in my memory I thought someone told me that it was at
my christening, and my Aunt Helen was my Godmother.
Hmmmm... I managed to get my Aunt Helen's phone number, and
I tried to call.... no answer.
The next couple of days were busy, so I wasn't able to call, and then
yesterday in the morning before the busy day started I tried again.
..... this time, she answered.
I talked about many things and then told her about the photo I have, and
asked her if she was my Godmother, and she is.
She told me that she went to Greenock to see my mum after I was born,
she wasn't married to my Uncle yet... my mum asked her to be my Godmother.

Because I grew up with just my dad's side of the family in my life, I would have to say that
no... my Godparents didn't feature a great deal in my life... but that
wouldn't be their fault.. some things are beyond our control, and.... I really
understand why, I have no idea if I have a Godfather also..

I'm not a Godparent to anyone..

I went from feeling blah about this prompt, feeling I had nothing to
say, to feeling that I am so thankful for these prompts... it makes me think
and in some ways it gives me answers.  Also it brings up things / feelings that
I didn't know existed in me, makes me think, and makes me realise
" Who I Am ".  At the beginning of these prompts, I was to write a list
of Who am I... I think I could add to that list now.

Here is the photo. My mum is holding me, and my Aunt beside her  :)