• How did we miss this?  The paranormal website The Vike Factor reports a red spherical object was sighted hovering over Altadena from 11 PM to 1 AM on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning this week.  Yikes!
• Gail Murphy at RIPE Altadena tells us that they can squeeze a few more into the Square Foot Gardening Class (sorry, we couldn’t resist), to be held Sunday from 2-5 PM.  More information here.
• Reader Doris Finch says that,

From the LA Sheriff's Dept:

CERT TRAINING CLASS Hosted by LASD and the Regional Community Policing Institute-CA

October 16, Saturday  0800-1600

October 19, Tuesday 1830-2130

October 20, Wednesday 1830-2130

October 21, Thursday  1830-2130

October 23, Saturday 0800-1600

LOMA ALTA PARK
3330 N.

The Altadena Urban Farmer’s Market is,  according to organizer Gloria Putnam,  “a place for selling home-made and home-grown stuff.”  Putnam describes it in the market’s Facebook page as a place to “encourage more local food production, and make that food easily accessible to Altadena residents.”

“The idea is to really ask this question: to what extent can Altadena feed itself?

The Altadena Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (ACONA) held its second meeting on Wednesday, and it couldn’t have been better. Speakers who had experience and wisdom from years of running neighborhood associations presented to Altadenans who were looking to make their block a “neighborhood.”

Jeff Sedlik of Brae Watch (http://braewatch.org/) presented an incredible neighborhood mapping tool that allows neighbors in their enormous Watch area to find others immediately by simply clicking on their house,

The initimate space of the  Altadena Ale & Wine House (Altadenablog sponsor) was elbow-to-elbow last night with “Thee First LA Limerick Festival” hosted by radio personality Mimi Chen.  Above, Ben Isaacs and Jeff Goode make their contributions to an hysterical (but frequently unprintable) selection of rhymed tales about men from Nantucket and the like.

• Altadena-based Adventurelink, an online firm that specialized in booking adventure travel, went on the auction block Friday in a foreclosure sale.
• Paul Pringle in the LA Times has a story on transcripts of dispatches by the Forest Service in the early hours of the Station Fire.   The Times’ review showed that officials did not dispatch planes right away, even tho’ requested by a commander on the ground.

We are a local support group for San Gabriel Valley area mothers of children with food sensitivities and food allergies. Our hope is to provide a nurturing network for each other to share our collective experiences, knowledge, and information with each other.  We will meet on Oct. 8,  at 10 AM. at Garfield Park in South Pasadena.o

For more information,

Los Angeles County's after-school activities program in Altadena, formerly based in Farnsworth Park, is moving this year to Loma Alta Elementary School.

Angie Calleros, recreation service supervisor, said that the move was based on convenience (most of the children who participate come from Loma Alta School) and parent demand.  "Like any parent,

Danny’s Farm, 3064 1/2 Ridgeview Dr., is looking for support for its annual Pumpkin Festival, to be held Sat., Oct 23, 1-4 PM. The festival includes arts and crafts, the petting farm, farm activities, carriage rides, and music. There will also be free pumpkins for special needs kids (while supplies last).

Admission is $5, and Danny’s Farm is looking for sponsors for families who could not otherwise attend.

And the National Weather Service screams:

FIRE WEATHER WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT SATURDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY EVENING FOR GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS AND VERY LOW HUMIDITIES FOR THE SAN FERNANDO AND SAN GABRIEL VALLEYS…  .STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA THIS WEEKEND BRINGING VERY HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS.

The Altadena Library presents “Remnants: The Art of 3D Scanning” by Michael E. Stern as October’s art in the Community Room.

Michael Stern is drawn to textures, shapes and intrinsic design qualities of decaying organic or inorganic materials. What began as an exploration of Macro Photography grew into an exploration of the differences between a traditional camera lens and a scanner, and what came to be were interesting and beautiful images rich in color and texture.

Come to the Altadena Library District to celebrate Teen Read Week in October. This year’s theme is Books with Beat and we will be celebrating with three exciting programs:

Mon., Oct. 18, 3:30 PM: teens will try to Beat the Odds with a great gaming program that encourages the spirit of competition.

Wed., Oct. 20, 3:30 PM:  we offer Film Beat a program that will highlight a movie with a musical theme.

The Altadena Library is at 600 E. Mariposa.

… open for the season(s) is this year's Holi-Dena page, a separate listing of places to go and things to see during the holiday season from Halloween to New Year's.

If you have an event for any of these holidays coming up, drop us a note, and we will put it in our calendar. 

For every five books your child reads, they receive and achievement award and a certificate for a free hamburger or cheeseburger.

For more details, visit the children’s desk at the main library, 600 E. Mariposa St., or the Bob Lucas Branch Library,

Leah Leddy is offering this weekly moment of peace:

An invitation to give yourself the gift of silence and space, to practice presence with the support of community.  Nondenominational meditation with no prescribed goals or method.  Half- hour silent sit followed by optional half-hour sharing in circle.  Experienced and beginning meditators welcome! 

We were struck by this article on coyotes in the NY Times (no story is real until it happens in New York).  Since coyotes are neighbors and frequent visitors  here, it's worth reading. 

Coyotes in the Eastern U.S. apparently cross-breed with wolves, and so they bigger than the ones we have, but they're all extremely adaptable,

• What WAS all that police activity around Windsor last night?  Pasadena police chased a reported stolen car that ended up in Altadena.  City News via PSN has details.
• The Coffee Gallery received a “5 Golden MIc” award from the makers of this short, well-made video (altho their website doesn’t seem to be working).
• Coffee Gallery doyenne Donna Barnes-Roberts also tells us that she has one opening for her Monday evening watercolor classes,

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Altadena Schools, the collection of some 150 volunteers who are hoping to create an Altadena Unified School District: the organization says it has mailed out over 10,000 postcards in a recent direct mail campaign and put 75 new yellow and black signs around town.

The Los Angeles County Dept. of Parks and Recreation is accepting team registrations for a Thanksgiving Adult Co-ed Softball Tournament to be held on Sat., Nov. 20 at Farnsworth Park.

Tournament format will be a double elimination with winner-takes-all championship.  This will be an eight team tournament, so register early!

Entry fee is $160 per team, 

The Folly Bowl, 1601 E. Loma Alta Drive, will hold a concert of the “Music of India” on Sun., Sept. 19, at 6 PM.

Admission is $15 donation, $5 only for students.

You may bring a picnic, pillow and blanket. Please take your trash with you. We have wildlife in the garden!

Performers are  Jagan Ramamoorthy ( violin) , Paul Livingstone (sitar), and Subhajyoti Guha (tabla).

Jagan Ramamoorthy is a senior disciple of the legendary gayaki-ang violinist,

The festivities start at 6:45 at Farnsworth Park, and the smart money says to get there early, because it will be packed.

Among the events will be a remembrance of 9/11, and the auctioning of a tribute photo, with proceeds to go to the Sheriff’s Support Group.

California State Senator Carol Liu, the Liu Crew of volunteers, and TreePeople will be planting trees on a residential street as a way of honoring the National Day of Service on Sept. 11, 2010. 

In September 2009, President Barack Obama declared September 11th as the National Day of Service and Remembrance of the terrorist attacks in 2001. 

The workshop is ideal for participants looking to develop their skill at chronicling their life stories, assist others who hold valuable oral histories in preserving their written history, or who want to jumpstart a variety of writing in a supportive as well as inspiring environment.

We have some last-minutes-of-summer family activities going on, so entries will be light over the next few days, but we'll keep on the important stuff.

• 
  PSN tells us that the General Accounting Office is now gearing up to investigate the Station Fire, after the prodding of Southern California lawmakers.  We particularly hope they find out why the Forest Service withheld dispatches in the early hours of the fire from federal investigators.
• California Chronicle has an article on the Pasadena Master Chorale’s upcoming concert and their favorite venue, the Altadena Community Church.
• Altadena Crest Trail Restoration Working Group (ACTRWG) will have a presentation on the status of trails at the Cobb Estate,

Organizer Kate Sullivan is staffing the refreshment table. UPDATE:  Food was contributed by Panera (bagels & assorted cream cheese),  Whole Foods (box-o-bananas, orange juice, milk, half &

About 400 people enjoyed the evening in the Farnsworth Park Amphitheater Saturday night listening to the sounds of Randy Caputo’s Legends Show Band.  They played tributes to many of the artists of yesteryear including the Andrews Sisters, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich to name a few. 

But before they got started, they paid tribute to the fallen heroes of 9-11. 

“Arthur. the Hound, the Tree and Tom.”

by gloriana casey / September 2010 in Altadena

Now Arthur, Cat of Camelot
was one day snoozing sound.
When Hound from hell, it startled him,
and up the tree he bound!

The Hound was captured, home he went,
but on my goodness,

• “Quackery, Snake Oil, and Flim-Flam Medicine”  on Thurs., Sept. 16, is the second in a series of four salons presented by the Pasadena Museum of History at the Altadena Country Club.  (The whole series explores the cultural world of Victorian/Edwardian era Pasadena as featured in the museum’s current exhibition on Eva Scott Feynes).  Historian Walter Nelson looks at patent medicine, phrenology, and other delights.  PSN’s Mickie Mills has a feature article here and you can find out more on Thursday afternoon’s presentation here at the museum website.