Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, January 28, 2017

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Mountain View News Saturday, January 28, 2017 


Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it 
rain.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, ya gotta put up 
with the rain.” Dolly Parton

Remember how Garrison Keillor used to open the 
most popular story on his weekly radio program, The 
Prairie Home Companion? “It’s been a quiet week in 
Lake Woebegone...” It has not been a quiet week here in 
Sierra Madre or anyplace else for that matter. My weather 
prognosticator and son-in-law, Chuck Seitz, tells we 
had 2.6” of rain last Saturday, and he’s forecasting last 
Monday’s storms will total around 3.5 inches. Those of 
us who have been praying for rain need to stop now and 
send prayers of gratitude for all we’ve gotten and ask for 
a little respite! 

 Congratulations to Citizens of the Year, Rod and Joan 
Spears. The dinner honoring them is this Saturday night 
at Nano’s. Should be a great evening celebrating two lovely 
people who add a lot to our community. Congratulations 
also to our new City Manager, Gabriel Engeland, who 
will be working hard to fill the shoes of our former City 
Manager, Elaine Aguilar, who did an amazing job keeping 
us on track for the last nine years.

 Speaking of Nano’s, J J Jukebox, featuring Rich 
Johnson, Barry Schwam, Mike Gallegos, Mike DeLeo 
and Steve Cipriani, were there rockin’ a full house last 
Saturday night. Some famous sage once said that the 
music you loved in high school will be your favorites 
all the rest of your life. They were right. All my favorite 
music is what J J Jukebox does best. These guys specialize 
in the best of the 50’s and 60’s, with an occasional foray 
into the 70’s and 80’s. They’ve added some new (old) 
favorites, Good Lovin’ (The Rascals), Run Away (Del 
Shannon’s huge hit), and the Beatles Hard Day’s Night 
and Can’t Buy Me Love! It went from good to really 
really good there at Nano’s! Folks were dancing, there 
were a few adult beverages and Twist & Shout was better 
than ever before. J J Jukebox calls this the “In Bed By 10 
Tour” and kicked off their last number at 9:15. Thanks 
again to my ace field reporter, Chuck, for his coverage. 
We love J J Jukebox but couldn’t be there ourselves last 
Saturday. Next time for sure.

 Possibly as many as a million people were expected 
to participate in The Women’s March on Washington 
last Saturday and Sierra Madre was represented by our 
great-granddaughter, Catherine Sophia Davis, her mom, 
Alexandra, and her mom, Pam Kemp. Catherine is our 
daughter, Leah’s, granddaughter. She is 9, the cute blonde 
girl, and in this picture she is joined by her best friend, 
Melia, and Melia’s mom, Julie. Alexandra said it was an 
amazing experience. They were able to see many of the 
monuments, but we don’t know if they got as far as the 
Smithsonian. One of the highlights of my life was a trip 
to D.C. some years ago when my best walking buddy 
and occasional engineering expert witness, John, and I 
were there for him to express his views on some weighty 
question while I got to sightsee. Conquering the Metro 
system was a huge victory, making my way successfully 
to the National Gallery where I spent hours wandering 
through the Impressionist exhibit. I treated myself to 
an elegant lunch at the Cascade Café and felt like such a 
world traveler. It was Spring, the weather was beautiful, 
we wandered around the city, taking in monuments 
right and left and, as Alexandra said, it was an amazing 
experience.

 “While much of America seems to be getting more and 
more divisive, I’m going to be holding doors for strangers, 
letting people cut in front of me in traffic, greeting all I 
meet, exercising patience with others, and smiling at 
strangers. I’ll do this as often as I have the opportunity. 
I will not stand idly by and let children live in a world 
where unconditional love is invisible and being rude is 
acceptable. Join me in showing love and respect to others. 
Find your way to swing the pendulum in the direction of 
love, because today, sadly, hate is gaining ground. Love 
must begin somewhere and love will overcome hate. 
Imagine the difference if we each purposely love a little 
more.” This quote, attributed to Ben Carson, was put up 
on Facebook by my Huntington Beach daughter-in-law, 
Michon, mom of three year old Caleb and almost two 
year old Brady. We like it. Also, we have decided to pray 
daily for our President that he will seek wisdom. “Learn 
to be wise, develop good judgment and common sense...
cling to wisdom – she will protect you. Love her – she will 
guard you.” Prov. 4:5-7 Can’t hurt!

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
available from me!

 Kindle readers, give yourself the gift of: 

A Treasure Map, A Drunken Owl & 47 Rattlers in a Bag – 
True Tales of Early California

 It’s on Amazon.com on my book page!

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


SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY WINE AND CUISINE 
TASTING – A PERFECT VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT IDEA 

Friends of the Sierra Madre Library are pleased to 
announce the 47th Annual Wine and Cuisine Tasting 
Benefit. The event will be held on Friday evening, 
February 17, 2017, from 7:00-9:30 pm at Alverno’s historic 
Villa del Sol d’Oro, located at 200 N. Michillinda Avenue, 
Sierra Madre, and will be an elegant affair featuring more 
than two dozen vintners providing magnificent wines 
along with local restaurants offering imaginative and 
delicious foods and desserts. Musicians and magicians 
will serve as entertainment. The featured art this year is 
an original block print by Sierra Madre Artist, Melanie 
Campbell-Carter.

 Tickets to the premier event are $80 and allow 
admission at 6:00 pm. Those at the premier event will enjoy 
a variety of wines from Thornton Wines, a California 
winery, and gourmet hors d’oeuvres from local Sierra 
Madre restaurant Sierra Fusion. In addition to this lovely 
wine-cuisine pairing, there will be a gift basket drawing 
and entry into the main event. Tickets to the main event 
are $60 and provide admission at 7:00 pm. Both are on 
sale now at the Sierra Madre Public Library, The Bottle 
Shop, Savor the Flavor, Arnold’s Frontier Hardware & 
Gifts, and can be purchased on-line at eventbright.com.

 The Benefit is sponsored by the Friends of the Sierra 
Madre Library, an all-volunteer organization dedicated 
to supporting our community Library. All funds received 
from this event support the Sierra Madre Library. 
For more information about the event or Friends of 
the Sierra Madre Library visit our website at www.
sierramadrelibraryfriends.org 

SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY BEST USED BOOK SALE

Friends of the Sierra Madre Library are pleased to 
announce the upcoming Best Used Book Sale that 
will take place on Friday, February 3 between 3:00 – 
7:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 4 from 10:00 a.m. 
– 2:00 p.m.). This is our annual VINTAGE sale. We 
have been collecting interesting and collectible books 
especially for this sale. Featured in the Basement will 
be many SIGNED, FIRST, and LIMITED editions 
from the past. There are also several fascinating sets 
to choose from, such as the Imperial Dictionary of 
Universal Biography which is thought to be from 
1890, America: Great Crises in Our History (1923), 
The Nazis of Germany (1978), and the Smithsonian 
Scientific Series (1938).

 We recently received a large donation of SIGNED 
Robert B. Parker books (Spenser, Jesse Stone); some are 
First Editions as well. As always, we will have a large 
collection of “Coffee-Table Books” on cooking, art, 
contemporary culture, history and sports on the table 
in the basement. The shelves are full of fiction and non-
fiction books in every genre.

 The parking lot will include a huge collection of 
vintage FATE magazines. Some date back to the 
1970s and include strange tales such as UFO sightings, 
paranormal experiences and unexplained phenomena. 
Children’s and teen books will be sold from $.25 - $1.00 
in the parking lot and small paperbacks are $.25 each or 
5/$1.00. Our popular $1.00 Bargain Books will include 
some vintage books as well.

 The sale will be held behind the Sierra Madre Library, 
440 West Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre. The Book 
Sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Sierra Madre 
Library, an all-volunteer organization dedicated to 
supporting our community Library. All funds received 
from this event support the Sierra Madre Library. 
For more information about the event or Friends of 
the Sierra Madre Library visit our website at www.
sierramadrelibraryfriends.org 

 We look forward to seeing you and talking about 
books 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