Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 3, 2019

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JUST FOR YOU!

Mountain View News Saturday, August 3, 2019 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side by Deanne Davis

TOMORROW IS OUR DAUGHTER, CRISSY’S 50TH 
BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE PIE! 

I hope you read 
Christopher Nyerges 
column in last week’s 
Mountain Views News, 
about when he and his 
brother did what they 
thought would be a 
good work, appreciated 
by the family, painting 
the Ohio farmhouse 
kitchen a lovely light 
turquoise blue. Not 
knowing any better, 
they painted it with 
flat paint instead 
of glossy and were 
then subjected to 
unreasonable amounts 
of ridicule from various 
family members. Let 
me quote a little bit of 
this...hope you won’t mind, Christopher... as this zeroes in on 
how we can positively or negatively impact those closest to us, 
our families:

“I began to think about how Uncle Joe responded and how he 
could have responded. I realized then, the great truth in the 
phrase that WHAT we do is of little or no importance, but 
HOW we do it is everything.... I realized how important such 
‘little things” can be, and I wondered how well I would do 
when my next opportunity arose. It is especially important with 
impressionable youth to do the very best we can to be a good 
example.”

Go back and look up last week’s paper online if you can’t find it 
in town and read Christopher’s excellent column on Page 5. This 
is so true, that the way we treat young people can affect them 
for life. 

I don’t know about you, but when it’s been over a hundred 
degrees, even with air conditioning, sleep doesn’t seem to 
come as easily as it once did and, it’s also one of those topics 
of discussion that one never intended to discuss. It certainly 
never came up when I was in my early 20=s and could stay up all 
night dancing, laughing and hurling myself into assorted other 
delightful activities. Then, with the arrival of babies - sleep, 
along with hot meals, was just a thing of the past that one hoped 
would return some time in the future. It hasn’t.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

My children, their children, my money, my soul,

When DID I last sleep through the night!

Then throw in my weight,

And the state of the state,

And my night brain is out of control.

This crowd in my head seems to hog the whole bed.

I wish they=d stay out in the hall!

My mind=s turned to mush, a musical gush,

A lyrical madhouse from Disney!

Aladdin meets Beauty in a verse from the Psalms,

My checkbook balance warbles along.

Then a long grocery list and a pain in my wrist

Keep me tossing and turning till dawn.

When 4 o=clock gleams,

That=s the end of my dreams,

And I=m left with these old movie scores.

The theme from Zhivago, a song from Chicago,

All of them great crashing bores!

It=s those little nasty foxes ,

Who keep spoiling all the vines,

And these nasty nighttime foxes

Are surely spoiling all of mine!

Warm milk doesn=t help it,

Nor thinking good thoughts,

Nor planning revenge on my foes.

This is just one more thing that getting older brings,

Till one finds sleep in eterrnal repose......I suppose.

Hope you’re all sleeping better than I am! It’s not too late to put 
in a tomato plant. Be good to yourself and drink a lot of water. 
Take heart: Fall is on the way. At least, I think it is. The picture 
is a bouquet of bright yellow daisies. They cheer up the entire 
house no matter how hot it is!

“Sunrises & Sunflowers Speak Hope” is here! 

Look for it on my book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

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

 “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter”

is also available on my book page and the apple cake recipe is in 
there!


KATIE Tse....This and That


TAN LINES

Ah, summer! A time when people flock to the 
beaches, or just their backyards, and work on 
their tans. By the time I go back to school I’m 
usually “brown as a berry.” Not because we’ve 
been to any exotic destinations, I just like to 
spend a lot of time outside.

While I enjoy being tan, I typically develop tan 
lines that correspond to my shorts and tank 
tops. I’m fine with that. This particular article, 
however, has to do with my dad’s unfortunate sock tan he acquired 
after changing up the kind of socks he wears.

My dad, bless his heart, wears shorts as long as the weather permits. 
Often he’ll be sporting shorts farther into winter than most would, 
which he claims is a form of season denial. Kind of like, “If you keep 
telling yourself it’s summer, eventually it will be.” 

The only problem is that he recently got a nice, new pair of tennis 
shoes and some socks that sit lower on his ankles compared to his 
old ones. Did I mention that he, too, spends a lot of time baking 
outdoors? So by the time he got these new socks, his legs had 
reached a nice golden brown. Kind of the color of burnt caramel. 
Or bread crust.

If this had happened to my husband, he would’ve worn socks that covered his tan line all through winter and hope for different 
results next year. I’m not going to say he’s vain, I’ll call it a heightened sense of fashion consciousness.

My dad, on the other hand, couldn’t care less if he’s got a big band of white flesh noticeably brimming over the top of his socks. The 
contrast between the two colors is like marshmallow against a graham cracker.

The story could’ve ended here, but my dad had an unfortunate incident at his dentist’s office regarding his boldly revealed pasty 
ankles. Let me start by saying that my dad’s new to this place. It’s not as if he and the people there have a cozy relationship spanning 
years. The sort of thing that allows for light-hearted banter and playful jabs.

Before the dentist got to my dad, one of his assistants could not help pointing out my dad’s tan lines to him! It was all in good fun, 
and she wasn’t mean about it in any way. My dad (and later I) thought it was hilarious. The dentist himself undoubtedly noticed 
also, but he’s got more restraint, I suppose.

It was the sort of experience that makes decent fodder for my column, and my dad now has bragging rights for having the absolute 
worst ankle tan lines in town. But if the same thing had happened to my husband, we probably would’ve moved out of the area 
by now.

* School’s almost back in session. What better way to kick off another academic year than checking out my novel, “A Year at Apex,” 
in paperback and ebook on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! Apex has it all --humor, romance, the human condition, and public 
education. Perfect for you and the educator in your life! 


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