Alien Tea Shoppe

Like just about everyone out there, I have a Facebook account.  One thing I use my account for is to peruse a group dedicated to the history of my town.  It's fascinating.  Tonight, I wondered if there was a page like that for the town where my parents grew up.  I found one and was not disappointed. I'm looking through the groups photo albums and after ten pages I see something familiar.  Very familiar in fact because it is my family's home; the one where my mother and aunt grew up and I spent most of my childhood there visiting my grandmother.  Actually it wasn't even the house, just the greenhouse.  I exclaimed, out loud, "Holy crap it's me!", which is just easier to say than "Holy crap that is the greenhouse in the yard of the house where my mother grew up!"  It became even stranger because some commenter's were talking about my family. 228 East Kingston Str, Laurel, Mississippi This house was originally white, though the very top...

I'm sure all of you are well aware of what I might be talking about by the headline of Ferguson, MO.  If not, I will briefly break it down.  A black male, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a white cop, Darren Wilson in August.  The community was upset.  People were supporting Brown by protesting or raising their hands and saying, "Don't shoot.".  People were supporting Wilson, because he is a cop.  Rioting also ensues.  Earlier this week Wilson was not indicted for killing Brown.  The community protests.  People are sad for Brown and his family.  People are happy for Wilson.  Rioting ensues. This is basically all I, or really anyone knows of this situation, because we were not there and have to rely on the internet to tell us things.  Those are the basics, though the story keeps changing from Brown robbed a convenient store, to Wilson only thought Brown robbed a convenient store.  That Brown was unarmed to that he wa...

So, today is Black Friday.  This is not really a tradition with my family, but I do have some thoughts. First, I ran across this video.  It's a bit weird, but really the main point here are the 1983 portions of the video.  That's me, as in my neck of the woods.  That's the mall in Biloxi (buh lux ee), Mississippi, which is two hours south from me.  So, I really adore seeing past news coverage on something near to me and a place I visited (not merely the mall, but the entire coast) a lot growing up.  Aww!  Needless to say, the video was definitely worth seeing, personally, for sentimental reasons. Also, I said Black Friday is not really a tradition with us.  My very ancient maternal grandmother, however, did participate in Black Friday.  Shopping at the mall in Laurel.  She found it fun.  It probably wasn't even as "hectic" or "crowded" as the 1983 portions of that video.  She, however, was the only one in my entire family to ev...

Kitty and me; 1980 So, I mention a lot that cats are sort of a big deal in my life.  They are a big deal for several reasons.   I've never known a life without cats I would cry if they were taken from me in my baby time My first word was Kitty We've always had a lot of cat family members My childhood job was to be mid-wife to our pregnant cats I was in charge of accepting or denying possible kitten adopting applicants My family is big on taking care of, feeding and healing injured strays But they are also a big deal where the entire family is concerned. They are family, not pets They are equals, not lesser than We go out of our way to construct elaborate kitty homes for them out of cardboard boxes, pillows or blankets We consider them to be royalty We consider them to be special We say 'hello' every time we pass them in the house We spend a lot of time with our cats Every cat has an official name, several alternate names, back stories, likes...