Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, January 26, 2019

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Mountain View News Saturday, January 26, 2019 


KATIE Tse..........This and That


WALKING SIERRA MADRE by Deanne Davis

FIELD TRIP!

What was your favorite field 
trip when you were in school? 
For me probably the most 
memorable ones were when 
we went to Catalina Island in 
sixth grade (?) and Washington DC in eighth. I know 
for a fact I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the latter at 
the time, but it was memorable, none the less.

 A bunch of the grades at the school where I work 
went on field trips last week in the RAIN! (Which, 
for you as the reader, is now about two weeks ago.) I 
asked one of the primary teachers how it went, and 
she smiled when she told me it was fine. But inwardly 
I was thinking, “Better you than me!” I’ve got my 
hands full enough with her kids in the two half hour 
sessions I see them! I salute her. Nerves of steel, that 
woman has...

 The middle school students went to the Getty 
museum on Friday. (They beat the rain, so that was 
good.) I assumed it was the Getty in LA, but they 
actually drove all the way 
to the one in Malibu! Now 
THAT is adventurous, to 
say the least. Traffic out that 
way is a killer. Add to that a 
bus load of large, hormonal 
teenagers, and you’ve got 
the perfect recipe for a 
migraine, if not worse. My 
husband and I are blessed 
to live here in town, and 
he used to work near that 
area. Needless to say, he 
was always super up to date 
on local and national news, 
listening to the radio for 
hours during his endless 
commute.

 So I asked my middle 
school students what their 
favorite thing was at the Getty Villa. I, for one, love 
the Getty in Malibu! The art’s great and all, but 
what I find most breathtaking are the buildings and 
grounds --gorgeous! The last time I was there was 
years ago with my husband. We had gone to the Villa 
restaurant and he fell in love with the Roman Burger, 
which is saying a lot, because my husband is a real 
burger connoisseur. He doesn’t just throw around 
burger accolades for nothing.

 So back to my students. Most of them laughed and 
said all the nudes made them uncomfortable. I found 
that a bit hard to believe since I think at least half of 
their families let them watch R-rated stuff. But their 
embarrassment was kind of cute, regardless. 

 Apparently the Getty Villa has a lawn maze that’s 
pretty exciting, and a train that takes you up the 
hill...? Don’t blame me if this is wrong information, 
I’m taking it straight from the kids’ mouths. None of 
them got to try the Roman Burger. They missed out. 
But just like I wasn’t old enough to truly appreciate 
DC, they probably aren’t to the same level of burger 
refinement to truly appreciate the complex flavor 
nuances of the Roman Burger.

 My mom’s a retired 3rd grade teacher, and one 
of her most harrowing field trip stories was when 
four classes got stranded in gridlocked traffic on 
a bridge on the five freeway. They were en route 
to the Griffith Park Planetarium. It had started to 
rain and there was a major accident up ahead. A 
big rig had flattened a small coup. Miraculously, 
the driver of the smashed coup survived and leapt 
from his vehicle once the emergency crew pried it 
apart using the “jaws of life.” By an almost equally 
blessed miracle, none of 
my mom’s students had to 
use the bathroom! That 
would’ve been a disaster. 
They were stuck on a bridge 
at the time, so you can 
imagine their options...

 My mom tells a story of 
another teacher she worked 
with who took his upper 
graders out hiking in Eaton 
Canyon on a Friday. It got 
dark and the bus forgot to 
pick them up! This was in 
the days before cell phones, 
so this poor teacher had to 
wander around Altadena 
asking to use people’s 
phones in the surrounding 
community. Great!

 But probably one of my favorite field trip stories 
comes from my mom’s friend, Florence, who 
taught special ed. If you’ve worked in special ed, 
you know that they usually use a special bus that 
is shorter than your regular-sized bus. Apparently 
the school had chartered both long and short buses, 
and Florence’s kids somehow made their way onto 
the long bus and didn’t want to get off! It must’ve 
felt like a real treat for them to be on the “Big Bus.” 
I don’t know how she managed to get them off and 
onto the short one, but there was probably food 
involved. And it probably wasn’t anything close to 
a Roman Burger.


“Hope is the thing with feathers,

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard,

And sore must be the storm,

That could abash the little bird,

 That kept so many warm.” Emily 
Dickinson, 1830-1886

This is it, friends and neighbors...the last, the very last 
word on resolutions for this New Year.

There’s a concept going around, brought to my attention 
by Michelle Griep, successful author and blogger. Look 
her up, check out all her books and be amazed. I’ve 
quoted her before as she’s always right on the mark. 
Anyway, the concept is to pick one word to be your 
New Year’s resolution or mission statement for the 
year. There was even a book a few years back: My One 
Word: Change Your Life With Just One Word by Mike 
Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen. This is so cool as you can 
immediately dump those high-minded and probably 
impossible resolutions like reading all the great books 
in one year. Seriously? Have you ever looked at the list 
of Greatest Books? Here’s the first few: 

 

1 . Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. 

2 . In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. 

3 . Ulysses by James Joyce. 

4 . The Odyssey by Homer. 

5 . War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. 

6 . Moby Dick by Herman Melville. 

7 . The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. 

8 . Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

I repeat, Seriously?? There are some of you out there 
who have read these, but most of us are happy with a 
new Stuart Woods or James Patterson thriller, or maybe 
a new John Grisham or a Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts 
or an Amy Tan. Lots of us like to just pull out an old 
reliable like Agatha Christie. Here’s one I’d really like 
to read: “Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the 
Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who 
You Were Meant To Be,” by Rachel Hollis. Here’s a 
new one by Rachel Hollis that we need, too: “Girl, Stop 
Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan For Embracing and 
Achieving Your Goals.” Guys, you can read these, too. 
We all need a little encouragement of the “get on with 
it!” variety.

 The word I picked last year is: HOPE!

 And I’m going to pick it again this year. I’m going to 
lean heavily on HOPE to help me make wise decisions 
about my future. I’m HOPING for a number of children 
I know who have medical problems: Brooklyn, Jake and 
our own Jessie. I’m HOPING that this year will bring 
what they all need in the way of healing.

 So much has been written about HOPE:

 “HOPE is the little voice you hear whisper “maybe” 
when it seems the entire world is shouting “no!” 

 “H.O.P.E. – Hold On, Pain Ends”

 “The only difference between those who threw in 
the towel and quit and those who used their energy to 
rebuild and kept it going is found in the word...HOPE.”

 “Once you choose HOPE, anything is possible.” 
Christopher Reeves

 “Where there is HOPE, there is faith. Where there is 
faith, miracles happen.”

 “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. 
Nothing can be done without HOPE and confidence.” 
Helen Keller

 The picture is of our new great-granddaughter, 
Addison Noel Johnson, who was born August 24th. 
Here she is selecting her very first Christmas tree. Can 
you think of anything more hopeful than a brand new 
life?

 So that’s my word again for the year, HOPE. I’m 
hoping you’ll pick one that will work for you. 

 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the 
LORD, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a 
future and a HOPE.” Jer. 29:11

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis – check 
out Noah & The Unicorns...or maybe The Vuillaume 
Violin

 Both available there, along with other goodies!

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

FRIENDS OF THE SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY 

BEST USED BOOK SALE


SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER

During this period, the Sierra Madre Police Department responded to approximately 309 day and night 
time calls for service. 

Monday, January 14 

Residents in the 300 block of E. Alegria reported jewelry missing from their residence following a 
repairmen working at their home. Case to Detectives pending further information 

Tuesday, January 15

 At about 9:30PM, officers provided assistance to the Monrovia Police Department in the 700 block of 
Foothill Bl. with a disruptive male that was becoming violent with his family. During the contact, the 
male failed to follow officer’s commands and began to physically resist the officers. As a result of the 
resistance, officers had to subdue the male. He was ultimately placed on a mental evaluation hold at a 
local facility by the Monrovia Police Department 

Wednesday, January 16 

Officers responded to a disturbance call in the 100 block of E. Montecito Ave. at about 12:07AM, where 
the person reporting heard yelling and loud crashing noises. Officer’s arrived and discovered that a 
female house guest assaulted an adult male resident. The resident placed the female under private 
person’s arrest. The female subject was transported to the Pasadena Jail. Case to DA’s office 

Thursday, January 17 

At about 9:02AM, officers responded to the 300 block of N Lima St regarding a structure fire. The 
Sierra Madre Fire Department along with other assisting Fire Departments responded. During the 
investigation, an elderly male was discovered deceased inside the residence. 

The upcoming Friends’ BEST USED BOOK SALE 
will be held on Friday, February 1 from 3:00-7:00 
p.m. and Saturday, February 2 from 10:00 a.m. – 
2:00 p.m. Featured this time will be our annual 
VINTAGE collection. We will have a large amount 
of attractive and valuable classic books for sale on 
the Basement table and on our shelves. In addition, 
there will be some fascinating historical sets such 
as the 1918 set of True Stories of the Great War 
and Jefferson and His Time, a study of all things 
Jeffersonian, as well as Carl Sandburg’s biography 
of Abraham Lincoln. A beautiful collection of 
The Bibliophile Library of Literature, Art and Rare 
Manuscripts (DeLuxe Limited Edition) will also 
be available. For fiction, we have a set of Charles 
Dickens books and The Works of Edgar Allan 
Poe. Look for classics with vintage drawings and 
illustrations and some charming children’s titles 
with beautiful artwork as well as our usual collection 
of Nearly-New books on the Basement shelves.

 The Parking lot will also feature a number of 
Vintage books in our Bargain Book boxes where 
you may find old favorites for only $1.00. Small 
paperbacks are $.25 each or 5 for $1.00 and 
Children’s and teen books are priced from $.25 - 
$1.00 in the parking lot. DVDs, CDs and Audio 
Books will be HALF-PRICE at this sale. AND 
DON’T FORGET OUR SATURDAY BAG SALE 
IN THE PARKING LOT. Fill a large grocery bag 
all day for only $5.00!! 

 The sale will be held behind the Sierra Madre 
Library, 440 West Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra 
Madre. All proceeds are used for services, 
acquisitions and programs of the Sierra Madre 
Library. We look forward to talking about books 
with you at the Best Used Book Sale!


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