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Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, February 16, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||
3 Mountain View News Saturday, February 16, 2019 KATIE Tse..........This and That WALKING SIERRA MADRE by Deanne Davis SO ROMANTIC... I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s is one of those loaded holidays that’s fertile with all sorts of horrible possibilities. I even second-guessed whether I should wish you a happy one in the first place, some people being so touchy about it. My husband and I have been married for nine years now, and we’ve reached that comfortable point beyond caring to plan anything grand for the holiday. It’s been a gradual descent to this level, but I’m glad we made it. Like most people, I seem to recall that we went out for dinner on Valentine’s when we were first dating. Almost as harrowing an experience as dining out on Mother’s Day. We swore we’d never do that again. Then we tried cooking. I, for one, am a horrible cook. That could be a whole article in itself! No matter how terrible you may believe your skills are in the kitchen, I can make you feel more confident by comparison. Anyway, for a few years we stayed home and my husband cooked. Bless his culinary heart. But the trouble is that he works far from home, and Valentine’s rarely lands conveniently on a non-work day. So, we decided to order take-out. That sometimes worked, but we always remember one year when we ordered ribs from a rib place. I mean, “Ribs” is in their title. Ribs is what they do. Wouldn’t you know that they ran out of ribs that night! Lesson learned... Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2019. I forget if I’ve mentioned in previous articles that we absolutely love Wing Stop! I don’t care how tacky that sounds. If you’ve never had the pleasure, I have only two words for you: Lemon. Pepper. Oh my gosh! Anyway, we haven’t had Wing Stop in a while and I was secretly craving it. So, my husband gets home from work a couple days before Valentine’s, smiles wickedly at me, and confesses that he has an evil idea of what to get for dinner that night. With an equally guilty grin I tell him I think I know what he has in mind. But he outdid me this year in planning the perfect celebration. Since what we order from Wing Stop makes for two nights’ meals, he suggested we pick it up Wednesday night so we wouldn’t even have to leave the house on Valentine’s! So that’s what we’re going to do (I’m writing this Tuesday evening). Pick up Wednesday, enjoy greasy wings in all their caloric glory, and reheat the rest the following night for Valentine’s. I have a nice cabernet that pairs well with mango habanero and seasoned fries. Maybe not everyone’s idea of romance at it’s finest, but that’s why my husband and I get along. “Love means eating hot wings together.” “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Charles M. Schulz “Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine.” Thomas Hood Valentine’s Day was a few days ago and I know all my readers were totally prepared with a card and a dinner reservation or you cooked your Valentine’s favorite dish, even if it was something totally off the wall like a beet soufflé. Put that out of your mind. Now think of chocolate. Now think of chocolate and champagne. Nice. Now then, when was the last time you read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous love poem? Probably not since you were in high school. Well, here it is and it’s pretty nice: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height I love thee to the level of everyday’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” Paulo Coelho “Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply.” Zane Grey I never actually said anything like that to my Valentine, the adorable, ever-patient, John, who is now residing in heaven where every day is Valentine’s Day, and love abounds all over the place. No, I never quoted Elizabeth Barrett Browning to him, but I wrote about love and I’m sure there are a few of you out there who haven’t done Valentine’s Day yet so it’s not too late to write a note or a letter to the person who is your own personal Valentine. Not to say I’m anywhere near Elizabeth, but I wrote about love like this… “The Best of Marriage” “I sit at your desk and look out your window at the sky. And I think of you and how much I love you. So many years we’ve spent together, mostly sunny with just a little bit of rain. I treasure these years which have flown by us. I’ve grown to love you, respect you, admire you, need you more with each one. There is so much about you that makes me want to be the best that I can be. It makes me smile each time you walk into a room. How many thousands of times have I watched you enter the space where I am, And each time I feel pleasure, delight, at just the sight of you. You make me laugh, you make me think. You make me challenge myself, you make me want to be the best me I can be. You’ve even taught me to enjoy college football... Go Trojans! I love just to talk with you, to exchange the ordinary stuff our days are made of, Conversations that are the flour and salt of life. You are ever in my mind. You are the other half of my heart. You are, very simply, the one person selected by God to be my lover, my friend, my husband. I have known you for more than half my life. The best half. We have shared all there is in life: Joy, sorrow, laughter, tears, death, birth, pleasure, misery, poverty, not quite so poverty, Pride in our children, and absolute disgust with them, And always, always we have had each other to hold on to.” Sometime today, if you haven’t already done it, tell your special Valentine how much he or she means to you. Kisses and holding hands are good, too…maybe even better than chocolate. Even if you totally blew off Valentine’s Day, it’s not too late to say I love you. 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 SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER During this period, the Sierra Madre Police Department responded to approximately 229 day and night time calls for service. Saturday, February 9 Responding to a neighbor’s call of a vehicle that had the rear window smashed, officers discovered that between 2/8/19 at about 7:00PM and 2/9/19 at about 8:50AM, unknown person(s) smashed the window removing personal items. This occurred in the 100 block of Esperanza Ave. Case to Detectives pending further information from the victim. 11:44AM A resident in the 00 block of Esperanza Ave. reported that her vehicle that was parked in her assigned parking space, had its rear window smashed by unknown person(s) with an unknown object. Case to detectives 3:14PM Officers responded to a call of a fight in-progress between two males at the intersection of Michillinda Ave and Sierra Madre Blvd. Officers attempted to contact one of the subjects. The male subject ignored the officer’s verbal commands and was uncooperative. As the officers attempted to place the subject in handcuffs, the subject resisted, requiring the officers to deploy a Taser before placing the subject in handcuffs. Officers transported the male subject to a local hospital for medical clearance, then to the Pasadena Jail for booking. Case to DA’s office 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||