Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 7, 2016

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 7, 2016 


Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis


“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, 
love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my 
mother is that sweet flower of love.” 

 Stevie Wonder

 Mother’s Day is Sunday. You’ve still got time to 
buy your mom a card and, guys, the mother of your 
children deserves one, too. My mother (pictured here 
with daughter, Crissy) is in heaven now and so is my 
mother-in-law, the lovely and loving Leila Jamison 
Davis – a woman who embraced me and loved me 
the very first time she set eyes on me and ignored the 
fact that I had runs in both stockings and was wearing 
a really pooped corduroy suit with a terribly baggy, 
rump-sprung skirt. My husband, the very thoughtful 
John, told me shortly before we left work that we were 
going to meet his parents that night with no warning 
at all. So, daughter, Leah and I will be taking the 
only mother we have left, her mother-in-law, Elaine 
Holmgren, a charming and delightful lady of 94, down 
to the Cheesecake Factory for a slice of cheesecake and 
a split of champagne. 

 Exceptional mothers are all around us. Many of 
them are our own personal daughters. If you know 
an exceptional mother...and let’s face it, anybody who 
can deal with a five year old who is having a tantrum 
because her favorite outfit is still in the wash, without 
losing her temper, is an exceptional mother. If you 
know an exceptional mother, buy her a card, a flower, 
a glass of wine and a piece of cheesecake, tell her she’s 
amazing and you appreciate her.

 Having just returned from a twelve day visit to Wylie, 
Texas to visit our youngest daughter, and exceptional 
mother, Crissy, her husband, Chris, and their two 
little girls, Jessie and Emily, I am happy to report that 
East, West, Sierra Madre is best! Wylie, Texas was the 
recipient – about four weeks ago – of one of the worst 
hailstorms in their history. In fact, Crissy’s pastor at the 
First Baptist Church of Wylie – a splendid young man 
and terrific preacher, Kris Segrest, who rode his Harley 
right up onto the platform when he first arrived as 
pastor...but that’s another story...said the community 
was thinking of changing their name from Wylie to 
Blue Tarp as practically every house has a blue tarp on 
the roof covering up damage from the softball-sized 
hailstones. Yes, softball-size! Windows in practically 
every house are boarded up, folks are staying with 
friends, in hotels and anyplace they can find shelter. 
However, Wylie has shown itself to be a community 
of compassion, friendship, and help. Walmart has 
donated food galore, a local car dealership has made 
available miles of blue tarp and neighbors are meeting 
and helping neighbors they’ve never met before. Chris 
and Crissy will need a new roof as will practically 
everybody else in Wylie, but at least they don’t have 
holes in theirs. We may have an occasional earthquake, 
friends and neighbors, but we sure don’t have to worry 
about softball-sized hail falling on us. 

 What a weekend we have ahead! The Kentucky 
Derby is Saturday and should be an exciting race. 
Here’s something you might not know: Only ten 
jockeys in Kentucky Derby history have won three or 
more times and three of them are in this year’s race – 
Gary Stevens, Kent Desormeaux and our own Victor 
Espinoza – the 2015 Triple Crown winner, who will be 
aboard Whitmore. Fingers crossed that Victor wins his 
fourth Kentucky Derby.

 Saturday morning is the Fire Department’s annual 
pancake breakfast starting at 7:00 a.m. and they’re 
suggesting a $5 donation. Seriously? $5 for all the 
pancakes and sausage you can eat? And Coffee? And 
juice? What a deal!

 The 54th Annual Sierra Madre Art Fair, put on 
by the Friends of the Sierra Madre Library, will kick 
off in Memorial Park (322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.) 
on Saturday, May 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and 
continue Sunday, May 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
Don’t miss this. The Fair will showcase 80 artists, 
including Featured Artist Sarah Moore. Her work 
is fabulous and I’m so hoping that the guy who was 
there a couple of years ago with the hand blown glass 
pumpkins will be back. I’m still kicking myself because 
I didn’t buy one then. There will be music – I’m really 
jazzed about this: Bravo Celli the teen cello trio I talked 
about a few weeks ago right here will be playing Sunday 
from 10 a.m. to noon on the Southeast Lawn. Food 
galore, too. Proceeds will benefit our own fabulous 
library.

 Enjoy this beautiful weekend filled with sunshine 
and absolutely no softball-sized hailstorms anywhere 
in our future. Good luck, Victor!

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
available there and would be a great Mother’s Day gift.

JULY 4TH PARADE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Sierra Madre, CA. – May 4, 2016 – The beloved 
community tradition is back for another year! The 
Sierra Madre 4th of July Parade is an all-American 
celebration taking place in an All-American City. 
The parade, held every year to honor our nation’s 
independence, will be part of a full schedule of 
events taking place over the holiday. It will feature 
performers, classic cars, marching band, youth 
participants on festive bikes and so much more. 
Members and organizations from around the 
community are invited to participate in the parade, 
taking place from 10:00am – 12:00pm on Monday, 
July 4, 2016.

 The parade route will begin at the corner of Sierra 
Madre Blvd. and Sunnyside Ave., and will travel 
the length of Sierra Madre Blvd. ending at Sierra 
Vista Park. Participation in this year’s parade is 
open to people of all ages: the young, the young at 
heart and everyone in between. As an added bonus, 
parade registration is free for all participants! The 
application fee for this year’s parade has been 
waived thanks to a generous donation from the 
event’s title sponsor, The Kensington.

 Registration is now open. Applications must 
be submitted by Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Due to 
staging concerns, late entries will not be accepted. 
The parade registration form can be found online 
at: https://sierramadre4thofjuly.wordpress.com/
parade/. To ensure your application is accepted, 
please be sure to complete all fields in the form 
before clicking the page’s ‘submit’ button.

 For more information about the parade 
or registration, please contact the 4th of July 
Committee at: 4thofjulysierramadre@gmail.com 
or call the Sierra Madre Community Services 
Department at: 626.355.7135.

 Don’t forget to share your best photos 
from the event on Instagram using 
#sierramadre4thofjulyparade or tag us @
cityofsierramadre!


SHARE SOME 

GOOD NEWS! 

 “The Kindness of Strangers” feature encourages readers 
to share their stories. I can assure you, they will be 
uplifting especially in contrast to all the the challenges 
and issues we have to deal with daily. So, if you have 
something you would like to share, please submit it to: 
editor@mtnviewsnews.com. It doesn’t matter where you 
were or when it happened. Share your good expeiences in hope that it might bring a little joy and/
or inspire someone.

 -Susan Henderson, Editor/Publisher MVNews


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