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Mountain Views News Saturday, June 22, 2024


Weather Wise

WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side

by Deanne Davis

6-Day Forecast Sierra Madre, Ca.

“Green was the silence, wet was the light. The month of June trembled like a butterfly.”

Pablo Neruda

“Just living isn’t enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom

And a little flower.” Hans Christian Anderson

Speaking of butterflies, my daughter, Leah, has been having success this year with her 
Monarch butterflies. She has had several go through all their stages and achieve full 
butterfly-hood.

The picture today is of one of her charges who has emerged from his cocoon and 
is getting ready to flap his wings. This is so amazing, friends and neighbors, as the 
Monarch is having a tough time. They migrate from 1,200 to 2,800 miles from northeast 
United States and Southeast Canada to the mountain forests in Central Mexico, but 
their population decreased by 59% this year occupying only 2.2 acres during the 2023-
24 winter season, where they occupied 5.5 acres the previous season. We can thank 
Leah and other Monarch enthusiasts who do their best to help these guys grow from a 
tiny egg to a full-grown butterfly. Plant milkweed. These picky eaters will only eat and 
lay their eggs on milkweed. 

Before we leave Father’s Day behind, I came across a few facts you might not have heard:

A woman, Sonora Smart Dodd, wanted to honor her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who raised his six 
children as a single parent. In 1909, she proposed the idea of Father’s Day as a way to show appreciation for all fathers 
do for their families. Her idea caught on and the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, WA on June 19, 1910. 
It’s now a tradition in many countries around the world.

My dad was quite a renowned artist, a world traveler, an undercover agent for the CIA, a colonel in the Chinese 
army, a writer, a lime grower, a terrific gardener, a fascinating guy with an endless supply of life experiences to relate 
and a lot of fun. In his 80s he set off on a huge container ship for a trip around the world and ended up being third 
mate for the last half of the trip. 

The following is part of a piece he wrote entitled: “How to Become an Artist.” (By Kim Weed)

“When I told my parents I wished to be an artist or cartoonist, and they got through laughing, in

some seriousness they asked me if I wanted to starve to death. I thought about it and decided that

I would one day open up my own “fixit” shop for repairing broken things, which was,

apparently, my sole talent. When I was sixteen I took a chance and entered a statewide

competition for a scholarship at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles by submitting a

portfolio of my work. I thought it was a genuine miracle when I got the letter telling me I had won.

I packed a bag, drew out my life savings of $52, and headed for Los Angeles. For two years, on

the edge of starvation, I attended Chouinard free of charge. At the ripe age of eighteen, I set

myself up as a freelance illustrator and took in any kind of art work that came along, including

animation, mural painting, gag cartooning, men’s fashions, paste-up and newspaper advertising

illustration. It included meeting short deadlines, late hours, considerable humiliation and ego

bashing, along with poverty, but I was able to keep from sinking, though barely.

As World War II loomed on the horizon, I got a fair paying job in an aircraft factory and never

looked back. I was a sailor, aircraft mechanic, and after the war, thanks to the GI Bill, went to

college and, in time, became an aerospace engineer, later an intelligence agent and traveled

throughout the world. Now here comes the good part…

When it was no longer necessary to grub out a precarious living by drawing, it was suddenly a

lot of fun, and I never stopped for the next fifty years, sometimes profitably, sometimes not. I

was lucky enough to illustrate books, paint portraits, work in all the graphic media, enter

competitions and paint hundreds of pictures just for fun, some of which won prizes, while others

found their way into countries across the seas. So, when someone asks me how to become an

artist, I have to say, “I don’t have the slightest idea or foggiest notion!”

My sister, Heidi, and I miss him so much and I’m sure, even a week later, you’re still thinking about your dad, too. 

You’ll notice my book page on Amazon contains the title, “A Treasure Map, a Drunken Owl and 47 Rattlers in a 
Bag.” These are stories of my grandfather, as handed down to me by my father. They are harrowing tales of carving 
out farmland in lower California. 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Where you’ll find the Emma Gainsworth Kindle novelettes, 

Along with other goodies like “A Treasure Map, A Drunken Owl

And 47 Rattlers in A Bag” True Tales of Early California

“The happiness of too many days is often destroyed by trying to accomplish too much in one day. We would do well to 
follow a common rule for our daily lives: Do less and do it better.”

Dale E. Turner

 
Sun Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Mon: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Tues: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Wed: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s

 Thur: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Fri: Sunny Hi 80s Lows 60s

Forecasts courtesy of the National Weather Service

SIERRA MADRE CITY MEETINGS

SIERRA MADRE CITY 

COUNCIL MEETING

June 25, 2024 5:30pm

THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD 
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS!

As part of the City of Sierra Madre’s 

COVID-19 transparency efforts and The 
Brown Act provides the public with an opportunity 
to make public comments at any 
public meeting. Public comment may also be 
made by e-mail to PublicComment@CityofSierraMadre.
com by 3:00 p.m. on the day of 
the meeting. 

Emails will be acknowledged at the Council 
meeting and filed into public record. The 
public may also comment in person at the 
meeting.

The meetings will be streamed live on Foothills 
Media website at foothillsmedia.org/sierramadre 
and broadcast on Government 

Access Channel 3 (Spectrum)..



1630 AM EMERGENCY RADIO & 

Free on-air publicity for local events

 Sierra Madre’s EMERGENCY radio station is now accepting scripts for 
Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about community events. PSAs 
will be broadcast on the air at no charge. The station operates 24/7 and can 
be heard at 1630 on the AM dial.

 Any local non-profit or non-commercial organization can have their 
event information broadcast to the public on Sierra Madre Community 
Information Radio. The station covers the city of Sierra Madre, plus 
surrounding areas of Pasadena, Arcadia, and Monrovia. 

Your event must:

• Benefit a non-commercial or non-profit entity
• Be open to the public
• Be of general interest to local citizens


Just 
write a Public Service Announcement that describes your event and 
e-mail it to radio@cityofsierramadre.com. 


MEMORIAL PARK FROM 6 PM - 8 PM. 
BE SURE TO BRING YOUR BLANKETS AND LAWN CHAIRS. 
SIERRA MADRE COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT (626) 355-5278SUNDAY, JUNE 23SUNDAY, JUNE 9SUNDAY, JULY 14SUNDAY, JULY 21SUNDAY, JULY 28SUNDAY, JUNE 16SUNDAY, AUGUST 11SUNDAY, AUGUST 4KELLY RAE BANDPAT O’BRIEN & THE PRIESTS 
OF LOVE4 LADS FROM LIVERPOOLTHE TOKENS 
THE PLATINUM BEATELVIS BY HARRY SHAHOIANTHE ELEMENTS BLUESTHE SKINNY TIESPURCHASE 
YOUR CONCERT 
PICNIC FROMFree Summer ConcertsISSEI FOUNDATIONCONCERTSPONSORSDONNALEGGE
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