This is my mum, Rachel Aitken, taken in Elder Park which was just across the road from my grandparents' house in Drive Road, where mum was born in June,1931.

What can I say about my mum?

Today she lives in her wee flat in Largs, having moved from Bearsden some years ago, after she retired from work. She is always on the go, here, there and everywhere, using her pensioner's ticket to jaunt around Glasgow and beyond, just like her aunties used to do in their time. You never quite know where you're going to bump into her, but quite often it might be Braehead, since she can get a quick, direct bus there for free. She can even make a pound doing the trip if she gets on the first bus of the day, enough to buy a meal in IKEA. She does like a bargain and knows where to get good buys.

So what do I remember about my years growing up........

I remember mum's shopping bag when she came home from work, and all the good things that she brought home in it for us.
I remember the knitting she taught me to do at a very early age. I could do fair isle patterns when I was as young as eight, thanks to mum's careful teaching.
I remember when our Evan was born and we saw her in hospital with our brand new baby brother.
I remember learning to bake  and enjoying sponges, scones, date cakes and treacle dumplings.
I remember going shopping with mum on Saturdays, into town to Sellyns, Dalys, Wood and Selbys, Trerons, Frasers and Lewis's.
We shopped, had coffee or more likely tea, then headed home with any purchases we'd made.
I remember her fur coat, her lovely green pippadee suit, which she still has, which she couldn't have worn when my dad was alive because he wouldn't let us wear green!
I remember the time she had a glorious wig, and went to have a facial with my Auntie Bloss.
I remember the time she was learning to drive, with my dad as her teacher, and she stopped the car and got out and didn't want to get back in again with him.
I remember the many many times she got me out of a pickle and saved my bacon and was there to haul me onto my feet again.

I have so many memories of my mum during my childhood-enough to fill a book, or hundreds of web pages. I'll content myself with the above for now and finish by saying.......

There's no-one quite as special as my mum. Every day I have time to spend with her is a treasure to keep forever.