A Coffee Loving Ancestor Emerges.....

Last week I received my good friend Pat's Vintage Ancestors book, and I just love the way everyone has continued the theme that Pat established at the very beginning.  One way or another, all her ancestors were involved in the tea business, and the stories created for them are just wonderful.  Of course I'd go with the flow, but with a tiny little twist.  My contribution to the Tilly-Lipton clan, one Hazel Tilly, was definitely the black sheep of the family; horror of horrors, she hated tea!

Here is my two page spread:

This is a very simple layout, almost like a scrapbook.  The background is a vintage coffee and tea adverstisement that I printed on lightly patterned vellum, cut to the size of the two pages, then split down the middle so that half is on each page.  After I wrote my story (in my head), I just went on a search for pictures to illustrate it.  Thank you, Pinterest!  Thank you, Google images!

Here's a closer look at the story, and remember you can click on any of the photos to get a larger image.

 

 

Hazel's travels took her all over the world, but it was in Denmark that she found true love, and married there.  Why Denmark?  I'll get to that later.

 

 

 

Now, what is the meaning of the statement on the coffee cup?  Does that hinge actually work?

 

 

 

Why, yes, it does!  And what secret is revealed?

 

 

 

It seems that the Keurig coffee maker empire had its roots in the union of Hazel Tilly and Henrik Keurigsen.  Who knew? 

 

What inspired my twisted tale?  I happened upon an article giving the history of the Keurig company (very interesting TRUE story, by the way), and learned that keurig is the Danish word for courage.  I already knew I wanted my ancestor for Pat to be a coffee drinker, and Pat and I both love our Keurigs.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Totally invented history, but still......

 

I can't wait to get the book back to Pat.  I know she's going to love it.  I've said it before:  maybe you can't choose your relatives, but in our little collaborative art journal world, your friends can choose them for you.