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Mountain View News SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE: The Social Side by Deanne Davis

Weather Wise


It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since 9/11, that day of infamy when terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade 
Center and the Pentagon. It occurred to me that there is an entire generation of people who weren’t in shock for days after 
this horrific event and who have heard of it but not experienced that day and all that has happened since. I so enjoyed 
Catherine Adde’s article about her life at that time. Thank you, Catherine. Like so many others, including Ms. Adde, I can 
tell you exactly where I was when I heard the news. No, we will never forget.

This past Labor Day weekend was so nice! It rained! We were all so happy to see drops falling from the sky on our parched 
and thirsty land. Every bit of greenery is shouting thank you! And, just another bonus, the kids are all back in school. Yes, 
there have been cases reported of dancing in the streets. In case you didn’t know, Labor Day became a federal holiday in 
1894 and is celebrated by parties, cookouts, parades, athletic events and an all-around feeling of relaxation and happiness. 
Speaking of happiness, Starbucks has Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Trader Joe’s has sourdough pumpkin bread and I am longing 
for a piece of pumpkin cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. The picture today is of a really splendidly diabolical pumpkin. 
The perfect match for Part 2 of…

A Halloween Horror Story

As you may recall, the owner of the Pumpkin Patch planted some broken, cracked and just generally not really prize-winning 
pumpkin seeds in the far corner of the Pumpkin Patch. As the season progressed, he discovered that those seeds had 
produced thicker, stronger and somehow menacing pumpkin vines. The owner was just a little uneasy around those vines 
and the pumpkins they were producing. “Ridiculous!” he thought. “They’re pumpkins. That’s all, just plain old pumpkins.” 
But were they?

July came and went. The pumpkins in the middle of the field grew fat, bursting with orange life. August arrived. The 
pumpkins grew to such gigantic size that the owner visualized pictures of himself in the newspaper standing next to a 
pumpkin – his pumpkin – that weighed more than the heaviest pumpkin in North America: “Tiger King” grown by Travis 
Gienger and weighing in at a staggering 2,350 pounds.

September sauntered in and several of the pumpkins would need industrial strength forklifts to move them. The owner was 
delighted. Meanwhile, over in the damaged seed corner, the pumpkins were strangely dark, oddly shaped, and not nearly 
as large as the sumptuous orange ones. A prize-winning pumpkin should look exactly like Cinderella’s fairy-tale carriage;

perfectly round, bright shiny orange. The damaged seed pumpkins were more Amber, Spice, Clay, Rust and Bronze than 
orange and tended to be anything but round.

October at last! The owner put ads in the newspaper and banners at the entrance to the Pumpkin Patch. “The Pumpkin 
Patch will open on Saturday, October 3rd! Come one, Come All!” Friday night, October 2nd, the owner walked through his 
beautiful Patch one last time to be sure all was in readiness for the hordes of pumpkin seekers he was sure would arrive in 
the morning. And he went to bed and dreamt satisfying dreams of large bank deposits and happy families streaming out of 
his Patch holding his pumpkins in their arms.

Saturday dawned. The owner arose early, enjoyed a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee with a pumpkin bagel and went out to 
survey his pumpkin kingdom. He was aghast! All his beautiful, enormous, prize-winning orange pumpkins were smashed,

squashed, squished, their seeds and innards spilled out on the ground. Strangely, the damaged seed pumpkins had migrated 
to the center of the field, squatting triumphantly amidst the carnage, many of them stained with traces of pumpkin insides 
and seeds. These pumpkins were sated, stuffed with the flesh of all the highly favored, pampered and petted orange pumpkins. 
They had grown huge, their dark green leaves and vines coiled ‘round their carnivorous, cannibalistic nutmeg and cinnamon 
colored – dare I say it? Bodies?

All potential pumpkin buyers reeled back in horror when they approached the gates of the Pumpkin Patch, fled to their cars 
and sped away. The owner of the Pumpkin Patch developed a horrific migraine, took to his bed and wept quietly. Walking 
outside the next morning, the owner was shocked to see all the carnivorous, cannibalistic pumpkins were gone. The field was

deserted. With tears in his eyes, he plowed under the wreckage of his dreams. He never bought another package of pumpkin 
seeds.

“Pumpkins may seem benign, with their smiling jack-o-lantern faces,

but what horror may lie inside their hollow shells.”

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

There are treasures there! Trust me!

Including “Just Desserts” A Fall Fantasy of Pumpkins Gone Wrong!

6-Day Forecast Sierra Madre, Ca.

 Sun Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Mon: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60ss 

Tues: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Wed: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s

 Thur: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s 

 Fri: Sunny Hi 90s Lows 60s

 Forecasts courtesy of the National Weather Service

SIERRA 
MADRE CITY 

COUNCIL 
MEETING

SEPTEMBER 17, 2026

The Brown Act provides the public 
with an opportunity to make public 
comments at any public meeting. 
As an alternative, public comment 
may be submitted by e-mail to publiccomment@
sierramadreca.gov by 
3:00PM on the day of the meeting. 
Emails will be acknowledged at the 
City Council meeting and filed into 
public record.

 A copy of the posted agenda and a 
live video stream of the meeting can 
be found on the City’s website at sierramadreca.
gov 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.


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