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...

My California Mom, 1970s Even though this post is about California to an extent, we first have to begin in Mississippi.  The capital of Jackson and surrounding area's, as well as the small town of Canton.  In 1995, the film adaptation of John Grisham's novel, A Time To Kill, was being filmed.  I was only fourteen, so my story does not start here, although this is the beginning. My sisters then boyfriend, a Jackson native, was a locations scout for the film.  So she went a long with him to help and ended up being an extra in the film.  She was just out of college, so had plenty of time to drive up there and stay; to be a part of all of the filming.  While my sister encountered all of the major players they were not really on speaking terms.  Three people from that film, however, would have a hand in her life. The first was Octavia Spencer.  Now, she's a big deal, but then she was just a beginning actress with a small bit role in A Time T...