Not All Stuffy in Those Days.

I rediscovered this old album today. It is in a sorry state. It was in a garage for a few years, and it shows. It belonged to my father's grandmother.

She had lost a husband when she was quite a young mother of four children. She did not think she could replace my great grand father, but after a while she met a wonderful man and they ended up getting married.

They went on a very long honeymoon, to wonderful places, some wild and unsophisticated, some smart. There are descriptive and very affectionate captions to a lot of the photographs.

She had this album made up and dated for the time they had away.

I love that she called it Happiness. That is so un Victorian. She wanted everyone to know. And I love that I, as a descendant many many years later I can see this evidence of such a good time, and a very good match. So I don't just put it in a pile, thinking, 'Oh, a load of old photos, interesting, but.."