Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, October 21, 2017

Mountain View News Saturday, October 21, 2017 3 Mountain View News Saturday, October 21, 2017 3 
Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis 


“Dear Great Pumpkin, I am looking forward to your 
arrival on Halloween night.
I hope you will bring me lots of presents. Linus van Pelt” 


Even though Charles Schulz, creator of the immortal 
Peanuts has changed his residency to the heaven-side, his 
kids, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty and Linus 
still show up in our newspapers, which is a good thing. 
What would Fall be like without Lucy holding the football 
for Charlie Brown, promising that this time she won’t 
yank it away at the last minute, leaving him flat on his back 
with all the air punched out of him. Or Linus sitting out in 
the pumpkin patch with Sally, Charlie Brown or Snoopy, 
convinced that if his pumpkin patch is the most sincere 
pumpkin patch that the Great Pumpkin will rise up with 
his bag of toys and bestow gifts upon him. His friends are 
skeptical. We would be, too.

In our neighborhood, we have the sincerest pumpkin 
patch every year when our neighbors down the street, 
the Parkers, grow the most awesomely huge pumpkins. 
No, they aren’t those thousand pound babies that you 
see on TV, actually, this year’s winner was over 2,000 
lbs, but these guys are pretty big. When Halloween rolls 
around, the Parkers and assorted friends carve them into 
fantastical creations: Cinderella’s coach, the body and 
head of a black widow spider...yes, they add twenty foot 
long legs, a lamp for a skeleton to read by, and just plain 
scary jack-o-lanterns. 

In days of yore, when our kids were young, they’d 
rummage through the house and create costumes for 
themselves, one of the best being our son when he was 
about twelve, dressed in one of my old maternity dresses 

– yes, should have been donated years ago, but outta sight, 
outta mind - a cascade wig of curls, all the makeup in 
the world and a pillow stuffed up inside his underwear 
to create the baby on the way. They were hobos, clowns, 
hippies and sometimes, just, “I’m not sure, mom said it 
was the fifties!” They’d hit the streets of our neighborhood 
where everybody knew them and gave them cookies, 
pennies, apple cider, a few Hershey’s kisses and the 
occasional Snickers bar. A massively good time was had by 
all, they came home covered with sweat and chocolate, sat 
down, compared the take, did a lot of trading, and ate all 
they wanted that night. Every year I assured them that I’d 
put all the rest in the freezer and they could have a couple 
of pieces every day. Every year they totally forgot about it 
and life went on. 

It was fun, they were safe and it was no big deal. Now we 
love seeing the littlest kids, out with their mommy and a 
brother or sister in a stroller. They are adorable, say thank 
you with just a little prompting...or a lot of prompting...
and are happy with a Tootsie Roll. Later we lock the gate, 
turn out the porch light and see what’s left. Tootsie Rolls, 
by the way, go really well with a nice glass of Chardonnay! 

As always, I’ve been on the lookout for the best 
scarecrow. I absolutely love this guy, Conductor Lenner. He 
comes equipped with a dandy story about how he became 
a scarecrow and he’s got a miniature train he’s guarding. 
You’ll have to hunt him down yourself and be sure to take 
a minute to park your car and read his story. Halloween is 
just a couple of weeks away, be sure you indulge yourself 
with a pumpkin latte, a pumpkin bagel, some pumpkin ice 
cream and maybe even a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. I 
know I’m going to!

John Davis, best friend, husband, and walking buddy of 
mine passed away October 9th. If you missed last week’s 
Mountain Views News, John’s memorial service will be 
Saturday, November 4th at 1:00 p.m. at First Church of the 
Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena 91107. In 
lieu of flowers, donations to World Vision’s Clean Water 
Project would be greatly appreciated. John’s ID/Pledge 
Number is D10002667. The address: World Vision, PO 
Box 70399, Tacoma, WA 98481-0399. 

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

“A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
now available at 

Sunrise Books + Coffee at Pasadena First Church of the 
Nazarene – just down the road on Sierra Madre Blvd.

Kindle readers, give yourself the gift of: 
Just Dessert: A Fall Fantasy 

It’s on Amazon.com on my book page!

Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd 

HELP TRIM THE SIERRA MADRE CHRISTMAS TREE! 


Preparations are underway to decorate 
KerstingCourt for the Winter holidays! Join in theholiday spirit. Purchase an ornament for the Sierra 
Madre Community tree and help raise funds for civicimprovements.

It’s easy just visit Leonora Moss (9 Kersting Court) 
or the Bottle Shop (58 W Sierra Madre Blvd) and 
fill out a postcard and leave your donation. Checks 
should be payable to Sierra Madre Community 
Foundation. Volunteers will be decorating 
Kersting Court in mid-November for the holidays 
and in preparation of the Support Small Business 

Saturday and Sierra Madre’s Holiday Winter 
Events. Program Sponsored by the Sierra Madre 
Community Foundation and Sierra Madre Chamber 
of Commerce 

Sierra Madre Community Foundation is a charity 
singularly devoted to Sierra Madre. SMCF solicits 
donations to enhance our community by making 
direct grants, both large and small, to worthy 
people and organizations that might otherwise be 
overlooked and also assists other community groups 
in collecting and distributing funds for programs 

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