Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, April 21, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, April 21, 2018 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE


“Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to 
be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life 
do not last. The spring rains will come again.” Sara Ban 
Breathnach

 “In days of yore, Opening Day of the baseball season 
was special, signifying that spring had come at last. 
Today, however, Opening Day sort of dribbles into 
existence, and the spiritual start of Spring now belongs 
to the Masters Golf Tournament where the azaleas, 
magnolias and dogwood bloom.” Frank Deford

 According to all reliable sources, baseball season, as 
least as far as the Dodgers are concerned, isn’t going too 
well so far.

 Spring starts for me when the lemon trees outside 
our kitchen window are covered with blossoms and 
bees and hummingbirds in record numbers feast 
at this table set before them. Have you noticed the 
Hawthorne blooming all over town? Those pink 
flowers are another bee and hummingbird buffet and, 
if you sit quietly, you can enjoy these little guys flitting 
from blossom to blossom. We need them, too. Of 
course you already know that bees perform a task that 
is vital to the survival of agriculture: pollination. One 
third of our global food supply is pollinated by bees. 
Simply put, bees keep plants and crops alive. Here are 
just a few of the things we love best pollinated by bees: 
Almonds, apples, apricots, avocados, blueberries, 
cantaloupes, cashews, coffee, cranberries, cucumbers, 
eggplants, grapes, kiwis, mangoes, okra, peaches, 
pears, peppers, strawberries, tangerines, walnuts and 
watermelons.

 Life without avocados? Seriously? Coffee?? Eek! I 
make it a practice to help bees out of the water when 
they fall in and have planted milkweed, which they 
like, and try to stay out of their way so we don’t have 
an encounter of the most unpleasant kind. My son and 
I are both highly allergic to beestings and have to have 
medical help if we fall afoul of one of them. So, needless 
to say, I am a bee’s most distant admirer!

 Since my best friend and roommate, John, changed 
his address to heaven, I’ve been in the “let’s clear some 
of this stuff outta here” business. I don’t know if you’ve 
noticed, but there’s a move afoot, mostly in decorator 
magazines I think, lauding people who are moving out 
of their big comfortable houses into tiny places which 
any self-respecting dog would reject as being too small. 
Having occupied the same house since 1970, which 
was perfect at that time for my adorable, very handy-
can fix anything, husband, our four children, a series 
of German Shepherd dogs, the occasional unhappy 
cat and me, it is now way too big for just me. All the 
children have grown up, have their own homes and I’ve 
been out of the pet business for years. The house sits on 
2/3 of an acre featuring what used to be beautiful lawns, 
roses, gardenias, azaleas, fruit trees and now that we’ve 
had a little rain, even the back lawn which I thought 
was a goner has shown signs of coming back to life.

 When I think of “The Joys of Less,” what comes to 
mind is that I really should give my bread machine 
to the Salvation Army as I haven’t made bread with 
it in probably ten years. So I did, along with a lot of 
mismatched mugs, plastic wine glasses, towel sets in a 
color I don’t simply adore anymore, a bunch of really 
nice cookbooks that I never cooked a single thing out of, 
salad bowl sets, chip and dip sets, 15 decorative pillows, 
3 gravy boats – who needs 3 gravy boats! And I’ve passed 
along a lot of John’s outdated stuff to our daughter, Patti, 
who is having a yard sale soon.

 Cleaning out my closet is a great idea. There are 
sweaters I haven’t worn in years, some even have 
shoulder pads! T-shirts with stains, pants that never 
did fit well but every time I open the door to do that, I 
close it again and go do something else. The moment is 
going to hit me, though, when I’m ready to tackle that. 
Ugh! 

 Tuesday Trivia at Corfu last Tuesday was a lot of fun. 
I think the next Trivia night will be April 24th. I’m really 
enjoying this a lot and you guys need to come out and 
try it. It starts at 6:30 and they have wine, beer and great 
food. Here’s a question for you: Which five of the eight 
listed sports will be included in the next Olympic Games: 
Baseball, Golf, Surfing, LaCrosse, Karate, Sportclimbing, 
Cricket, Skateboarding. Answer: Baseball, Surfing, 
Karate, Sportclimbing and Skateboarding.

 Spring is a great time to walk Sierra Madre... flowers 
abound and bees and hummingbirds. And you might 
even see a splendid rock garden like the one my neighbor, 
Javier has put together.

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

Kindle books of all sorts and hardcover Tablespoon of 
Love are on there!

 Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! Take a 
look!

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

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


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