If humans had longer lifespans, today would have been the 142nd birthday of my great-gramma, Minnie Etta Brown (McCubbin). She was born in 1884 during the Victorian era, and died 99 years later in 1983, just after the disco era ended. I am lucky that she was a part of both my childhood and adulthood. It’s no wonder I’ve always been fascinated by the Victorians – I’ve personally hugged one. I remember her little house in Eagle Rock, California. I learned about outhouses there – when I was a kid, she didn’t yet have an indoor toilet. But it was a good, cozy home nevertheless, and became the inspiration for Robin’s gramma’s home in “The Secret of Tarragon Alley”, one of my short stories in “Full Steam Ahead“.
