Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, January 14, 2017

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Mountain View News Saturday, January 14, 2017


Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis


“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your 
head with silver liquid drops. 

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” Langston Hughes

“Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the 
earth; without rain, 

there would be no life.” John Updike

We are loving the rain, and you probably are, too. It’s 
so nice to wake up at night and hear rain falling on 
the parched leaves of the avocado tree outside our 
window. Everything looks so green and beautiful 
around town and all the trees are looking like they 
might decide to live after all. 

 You can’t really tell from the picture, but this rose 
is a beautiful pale yellow, which I picked yesterday 
morning from one of our three remaining tree 
roses. Yes, friends and neighbors, we have gone 
from an all-time high of about 80 roses ‘round and 
about our place to 8. The spider mites have defeated 
me, but this rose is so beautiful I might just hang 
in there with the five last remaining roses below 
the wall. There’s a big pot with nothing in it on the 
front terrace where I might put in another rose 
tree. What’s that thing Albert Einstein said about 
insanity: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and 
over again and expecting different results!” That’s 
me and roses.

 The orange tree has oranges and the lemon trees 
have lemons, but due to the drought and not enough 
water, they are half the size they should be and I 
haven’t tried one of the oranges yet, but am hoping 
they are sweet and delicious. Maybe I’m holding off 
on peeling one as I’m not up for the disappointment 
if they aren’t good.

 The 50-plus year old camellia in front, that I 
figured was on its last legs, has two pink and white 
striped blossoms and many buds on it and the new 
camellia is covered with buds. Rain is grace, indeed! 
The rye grass seed our landscape maintenance 
expert, Gerardo, sprinkled around last Spring has 
sprouted with a vengeance and we have green lawn 
all over the place. Of course, the weeds are also 
sprouting alarmingly, but we’re ignoring those for 
the moment. 

 Winter class session starts at Creative Arts 
Group on January 16th and if one of your New 
Year’s resolutions is to try something new you’ve 
never done before, this might be a good place 
to start. Adult classes include ceramics, drawing 
and painting, jewelry fabrication, enameling and 
more. You can take a look at their website: www.
creativeartsgroup.org for a list of current classes. 
Children’s classes, too. Check it out!

 Our library is focusing on space all of February, 
when the One Book, One City program starts. 
It’s “Rise of the Rocket Girls – The women who 
propelled us from missiles to the moon to Mars.” 
Author, Nathalia Holt, will be on hand for a meet 
and greet on Saturday, February 25th at 7 p.m. 

 In case another of your New Year’s resolutions 
was to read more, the following is an excerpt from 
A Treasure Map, A Drunken Owl & 47 Rattlers in a 
Bag – True Tales of early California and Mexico – 
The gold fever never lets go!

 “A Long Forgotten Tragedy… The Fever Never 
Lets Go”

 “My Mexican partner at the time, Tomas 
Alvarado, called Don Tomas, and I were camped on 
a hillside above a gulch where we had staked our 
unofficial claim, and each day worked away at our 
dry washer, panning out the heavy sand from the 
bottom of the riffles, elated with the yellow nuggets 
and dust we found. We sold for $20.00 per ounce, 
Mexican currency. The peso was worth fifty-five 
cents of a U.S. Dollar at that time. I was the only 
gringo in the community of about forty Mexicans. 
We packed in our food by burro, and usually our 
water as well, from a much larger camp fifteen 
miles west, near the Pacific Ocean. All in all, there 
were approximately 600 prospectors spread over a 
twenty-five mile square area that was the latest “El 
Dorado,” who were, for the most part, a hard-bitten 
collection of misfits, adventurers, army deserters 
and criminals. Now and then, a woman would 
follow her man into this wild, rough country, and 
they were fought over or passed around. They came 
to provide a little comfort, and to cook for their 
husbands. One of these was a beauty, probably in 
her late teens, who kept camp for her husband, a 
big, very dark, pock-marked, but muscular man 
who certainly had more Indian than Spanish blood 
flowing through his veins. In the evenings after Don 
Tomas and I had eaten our supper and were resting 
by the fire, the girl, Rosita, would come down the 
hill and seat herself on a big mesquite log, which 
was our only piece of furniture, warm her bare feet 
by the fire and amuse us with tales of her girlhood 
in Mexico City; far away stories of life in a convent, 
innocent escapades with girlfriends, and running 
away with Francisco, marrying him and coming 
to this wilderness to find gold.” To find out what 
happens next...... 

 A Treasure Map, A Drunken Owl & 47 Rattlers in 
a Bag – True Tales of Early California

 Is on Amazon.com on my book page – 
DeanneDavis@amazon.co

1-2-3 PLAY WITH ME: A PARENT-CHILD 
WORKSHOP AT THE SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY

Sierra Madre Public Library’s fun and interactive 
five-week Parent/Child Workshop starts this 
month. 

 This free program for parents and children 
from birth through 36 months features different 
aspects of parenting, including early literacy, 
speech, hearing and language development, child 
development, nutrition, music, play, and health. 

Sessions allow parents to spend time having fun 
with their young children, develop a network of 
other parents, and interact with specialists on 
child development. 

 Always popular, the workshop series at the 
Library will take place on Wednesday evenings: 
January 11, 18, 25, February 1, and 8. from 6:00 
to 7:30 pm. Sessions include toys, crafts, books, 
and play, in addition to discussions of parenting 
issues and concerns. Enrollment is free, but pre-
registration will ensure your spot in the program. 

For more information, please call Christine Smart, 
Youth Services Librarian at (626) 355-7186. 

 

 Read, Discover, Connect @ Sierra Madre Public 
Library, 440 West Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, 
CA 91024, (626) 3557186, Text: 626-662-1254, www.
cityofsierramadre.com/library


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