RITA

Rita McLaren

Description

An anthology of stories and poems that capture the history of one woman's life across two continents and six decades from 1935 to present day. This is Rita's story...

Throughout her lifetime, Rita McLaren has documented her experiences in journals and on scrap paper. Now in a collection of short stories, poems, and photographs, Rita shares colorful insights into her unique journey through life that began on Corsie Hill in Perth, Scotland and carried her across an ocean and a continent to settle in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

In a vivid portrayal, Rita captures the history of her life that led her across two continents and through six decades from 1935 to the present day. She begins by detailing the beginning of her life while living in her family’s two-hundred-year-old heritage home on Corsie Hill, spending her days running wild and swimming in the River Tay with her twin sister and other siblings. As she leads others through her experiences from childhood to today via images and writings, Rita proves that an adventurous life is the best life.

Sujets

• historical
• Escocia
• Poetry
• Autobiography
• Scotland
• Perth

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665745031
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Rita
 
 
 
 
RITA MCLAREN
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Rita McLaren.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Interior Image Credit: Family Photos in Rita’s collection
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4504-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4502-4 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4503-1 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023910283
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 07/18/2023
CONTENTS
My Letter to You
Dedication
Acknowledgement
My Childhood Memories and My Family
Circle of Time
Marion and Rita
Our Home
Home
Growing Up
The Most Influential Person in My Life
Memories
School Time
Speech
Housewife
A Day in Scotland
Scotland
Children’s Play
People and Houses
Home
Happy Day—A Trip to the Sma Glen
Memories of England in a Dance Hall
Saturday Night
The Enchantment of a Drive-In Movie
21st Birthday
Essay on Brother Shooting A Hare
Winter Skating
Waiting
A Visitor
Smile
Music in the Woods
Moonlight
River
River Tay
End of Day
Impressions
Office Girl
On Work
Homeward Bound
New Job
An Office Day
Start of the Travel Bug
Another Way to Say Tall, Dark and Handsome
A New World
Report on New York
Politics
Rita
The Street Where I Live
Poems and Haiku
Eyes
Music
Violin
Midsummer Holiday
Scottish Summer
Cats
Little Boy of Three
Friendship
Rain
Life
Believe?
Mae a Lady
Fashion
Guitar Song
Evening
Connie the Talker
Silly Poem
My World
A Real World
A Moment
New World
Vancouver Hosts Expo 86
Expo 86
Expo
Lockerbie
1987 Society
Back Page News
Freedom
Lament
Rain
Wild Roses
Immigrants
After The Show
Mother Dear
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day 1992
Shot: In No-Man’s Land
90s MAN
The 90s
Aunt Nora’s Apartment
Native Rights
Intolerance
Poetry
Xma s Letter
Son Wed
Diana
Letter
Santa Is Coming
February Rain
Sensed
Tagalong
Hawaii
Me
Twin Towers
Keep Burnaby Clean
Litter Bug
Pocket Watch
Stone Child
Seabird
February
My Favourite Author
Social Media
Dance of the Jazz Addict
The Post
Unspoken Words
Dictionary
Little Mountain
Vancouver—Spring
Mirror
Perthshire
Summer Wanderings
Wind
Sunset
The Woods
Passing By
Sunday Morn
Fall
Haiku
Friendship
Spring Celebration
Summer Garden
Season of Leaves
Christmas Memories
Winter Wonderings
Grandma’s House
Stories For My Grandchildren
Kaleidoscope Bird
Natasha and the Crystal Necklace
Nergard the Teddy Bear
About The Author
MY LETTER TO YOU
Dear Grandchildren:
I am writing this, my story, to you as a letter because I have written letters all of my life. I want you to know my story and how it came about. You were born Canadian and not Scottish. Through my letters, you will gain insight about me and, as result, about your heritage. The past is with you at all times and the future is yours. Having made notes and written this, I will include stories for you, so you can glimpse what life was like in “my time.” Understand, one never really knows a person. What is revealed is what yourself has come to know .
G’ma
 
Rita and her Grandchildren
DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this book to my loving husband Wally, my three handsome boys Marty, Greg, and Keith, and all my amazing grandchildren and family, without who there would be no story.
Thank you, Wally, for changing my life! Together we created new and wonderful adventures in Canada.
 
Marty, Greg, Keith, Rita and Wally 1972
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This book was written by Rita throughout her life in journals and on scrap pieces of paper.
Years later, it was lovingly compiled by Karen Agabob and Lisa Chan.
Special thanks to Marty Agabob at Levitated Lens for his assistance with the photos and to the many who helped proof read and edit the stories.
MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND MY FAMILY
CIRCLE OF TIME
 
First hours to nevermore, I came screaming into the world, followed by my twin.
“Another set of twins, Mrs. McLaren.” The nurse smiled.
We had joined the family circle.
My twin brothers were two years and two months older. My eldest sister told me that she would march us down the street, one boy, one girl, just to see the reaction to double double vision!
I never thought of myself as I ; it was always we . Many names we were called—the Scottish weans , meaning “bairns” (small child), was computed to Weanies, and the older boys were the Wee boys. For my sister and me, “the twin girls” was always our reference point.
Family—we all search for our identities within our families. From the minute we are born, pieces of paper declare our statuses: male, female, son, daughter, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin.
The story of one’s life begins, but not in the instant of birth does it begin. The umbilical cord to one’s past is never severed.
Our birth country makes us what we are. Can it be so?
Where does the circle start, or when? The house at Corsie was part of my circle, part of my childhood. My mother’s family owned it for two hundred years. The house still stands, but no family of her name lives there now.
My elder sister was the first member of the family to start a new circle. Wartime wedding, enter stranger, brother-in-law, duly documented. Then nephews—one, two, and three. My mother moved around the circle to become Grandmother, then Great-Grandmother.
The circle broke, my aunt said, when my brother died. The family is a circle within circles , thought I.
A new land with new customs. New family, new circle, more documents. The world from outer space must be seen as a circle streamer, linking past, present, and future families to one another.
Past to present comes. Know that past is always present; that’s it—the mystery of the circle solved!
 
Front: Sandy, Donald, Mom (Elizabeth) Back: Rita, Anne, Marion
 
Dad (Daniel) McLaren
MARION AND RITA

 
 
 
OUR HOME

 
House at Corsie
CO RSIE
I was the seventh child of eight children, first born of a set of twins. This was the beginning of the paper trail that is modern life. My sister and I were born on November 8, 1935, in Perth, Scotland, in a country soon to be at war.
During the first four years of my life, we lived in town. Then we moved off to the country, where the Corsie years began. Corsie belonged to my mother’s side of the family. As she had so many children, the old aunties deemed it appropriate that my mother and her family live more isolated.
So out into the country we went to live. We lived in a two-hundred-year-old solid stone house with three-foot thick walls. We could see the village from the foot of our garden and an open hill from the back door of our house.
There was no running water in the house and we had to fetch water with a bucket from a spring in our garden. Rainwater would be collected in huge barrels at the side of our house. I have no recollection of the work that such conditions made for my mother.
She had her chair on one side of the fire, and my father’s was on the other. There would be a kettle on the hob 1 and a teapot on the fender 2 . There was also a coire 3 in front and freeze 4 in the back.
We would all sit at the kitchen table in high-back chairs. The floor of our house was stone slab, and wooden beams ran across the ceiling. My mother had some lovely china cups, thin as tracing paper. You could hold them up to the light and see right through them. There was a blue and white china ornament of a little girl, very Victorian in style.
There were also posters on the wall with messages of “Being Good.” Paraffin lamps cast a soft glow over the rooms.
You could see out to the hill from the double wooden back door when open. The door had a bar that slid out of three-feet-thick stone walls to keep it secure at night. The hall also had a stone floor. Stairs led up to the bedroom and faced you as you came in the door. The skylight at the top provided a wonderful view of stars at night and the countryside in daylight.
 
Corsie home
 
Corsie drawing b