Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 19, 2015

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 19, 2015 


Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, 
and behold, Everything is softer and more beautiful.” 

Norman Vincent Peale

It’s true, isn’t it! We’ve been walking Sierra Madre 
early in the mornings, yes, it was 46 degrees this 
morning, and enjoying the lights that our neighbors 
leave on through the night. Across the street, Susan 
has wreaths that are brightly lit in all colors. Lisa 
and Craig are mostly red lights this year, with 
lighted candy canes and bright white snowmen on 
the gate pillars. Our lights are magnificent, on top 
of our fence, circling the gate wreaths and spilling 
over the terrace wall. My lighting expert, John, has 
outdone himself this year.

 Have you seen Star Shower? Amazing lights 
in green or red that light up the entire front of 
houses and all their trees. And we don’t have one! 
Carefully creeping up onto our neighbor’s lawn, 
shortly before 6 a.m., to see what that device was 
which was creating all these nifty lights, we saw 
“Star Shower” on it, raced home, went to the source 
of all good things: Amazon.com, and there they 
were! All sorts of Star Shower devices. And none 
in stock to be shipped immediately to us. Delivery 
date: December 31st! Seriously? So, we tried the 
next best thing, Home Depot. “No....” the nice lady 
in Christmas decorations said, “we’ve been out of 
those and there won’t be any more this year.” Que 
lastima!! “You might try CVS,” she said. So we 
did. Nope. So we’re enjoying everybody else’s Star 
Shower and, frankly, lusting after them.

Next year, friends and neighbors, we’ll be lighting 
up the night, too!

 We’ve been driving slowly around town admiring 
everybody else’s lights. There are some very artistic 
folks here in Sierra Madre, doing beautiful things 
with lights. If you don’t have anything important 
to do after dinner tonight, hop in the car and 
drive around town. There’s a really nice display on 
Montecito and on Mountain Trail, too. Actually, 
everyone’s house looks so beautiful. If your lights 
are up, give yourself a high five.

 Worst thing ever... our microwave died. After 
serving us faithfully for some twenty years, it 
just quit heating our oatmeal, melting our butter 
(I’m making Pumpkin Cookies, Christmas Jam, 
and Cranberry bread, all of which require melted 
butter or sterilized canning jars. Yes, I know there 
was life before microwaves, but it was awful, which 
reminds me once again that I have no trace of 
Pioneer Stock in me. My sister-in-law, Pat, makes 
the best Pumpkin Bread.

PAT’S PUMPKIN BREAD

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 15-oz can solid pack pumpkin

Mix all that together in your mixer.

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. each: ground cloves, cinnamon (generous 
tsp) nutmeg, baking soda

. tsp. salt

. tsp. baking powder

Mix this group of dry ingredients together and add 
to the pumpkin mixture, mixing till it’s all well 
combined. You can add dried cranberries, nuts, 
raisins, or nothing at all if you’re a purist. Bake 
at 350 for about an hour and you’ll have five or so 
small loaves or a couple of larger loaves (use those 
disposable foil pans). You can wrap ‘em and freeze 
‘em, or wrap ‘em to give away. Your house will smell 
divine and people will beat a path to your kitchen 
to get some of your pumpkin bread. (Recipe from 
Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of Laughter).

 Have you been down to City Hall to see the 
new landscaping? It looks great and the rain we 
had Sunday night made it all look shiny and new. 
Took this little guy’s picture in there. He’s ready for 
Christmas. And last but certainly not least, our float 
association needs volunteers to sign up to decorate 
the 2016 float during the week of December 26-31. 
For guidelines go to HYPERLINK “http://www.
smrosefloat.org” www.smrosefloat.org and 
don’t miss A Christmas Memory at the Playhouse. 
Whether you’re shopping, baking, or decorating, 
enjoy every minute!

 “The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and 
of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the 
picture window of the soul, and we look out upon 
the world’s busy life and become more interested in 
people than in things.” Thomas S. Monson

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 
Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
available there…

 Christmas is coming! You’ll need gifts!

ROSE FLOATS BLOOM AT THE 

SIERRA MADRE PUBLIC LIBRARY

 Creativity and fun are in store when children gather at the Sierra Madre Public Library to create mini rose 
floats on Monday, December 21 at 10:00 a.m. Youth of all ages will hear about this year’s entry and create 
their own rendering based on this year’s Sierra Madre Float. The Sierra Madre Rose Float Association 
donates materials and helps with the Library’s mini float event each year. “Find Your Adventure” is the 
theme of this year’s Parade.

The Sierra Madre Public Library will be open on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 10:00 a.m. to 
2:00 p.m. 

 The Library will be closed from Friday, December 25 through January 3 and will reopen on Monday, 
January 4 at 11:00 am. 

Read, Discover, Connect @ Sierra Madre Public Library

 

 The Library is located at 440 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024, (626) 355-7186, www.
sierramadre.lib.ca.us 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com