Just an abundance of culture this Saturday:

• Altadena Baptist Church has food trucks and family activities, 5-8 PM Saturday.
• The Summer Concert grand finale, The Walking Phoenixes with The Red Mutts:  Johnny Cash and country tribute with classic rock 'n' roll, what could be better? Producer Robert Klomburg says that there'll be a special surprise guest that will bring people roaring to their feet,

from gloriana casey

A man named A.A. Milne he wrote
of Winnie, the Pooh bear.
A man named Tim Dundon, he has
some compost large— I swear!

And now there is a garden gate,
of iron and stained glass.
With magnifier center struck,
an eye feast, come to pass.

Two artists Ray Cirino there
and with Leigh Adams work ,

• File a change of address form in your name to divert mail and gather personal and financial data.
• Steal credit card payments and other outgoing mail from private, curbside mailboxes.
• Lift driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, or other identifiers from checks.
• Steal mail, especially envelopes containing bill payments,

Altadena and Sierra Madre CERT teams will go head-to-head in competition Saturday.

But it’s a friendly competition: the Community Emergency Response Teams will compete in training exercises in a family-friendly community event at Sierra Madre Memorial Park, 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, from 10 AM-3 PM.

CERT team members will compete in putting out small fires,

In Altadena, where we don't have a professional theater space, we have to use libraries and cemeteries.  It works, tho'!  Our column is up at the Pasadena Sun.

by TImothy Rutt

In about the past hour (writing at 6:15 PM) the weather has turned from blue skies to clouds and hot, humid breezes.  The National Weather Service has issued a thunderstorm and flash flood warning for our area, but so far it seems like the high desert and mountains will be most affected.  Radar for our area (pictured) looks like we’ll catch the edge of it:

FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA 522 PM PDT SUN SEP 9 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OXNARD HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR…

The Sheriff Support Group’s summer concert series had a big finish for the season Saturday night with a visit to the past with The Walking Phoenixes and opening act The Red Mutts.  Pictures after the jump.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OXNARD HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR… EAST CENTRAL LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA… * UNTIL 415 PM PDT * AT 345 PM PDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL…AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED 10 MILES EAST OF PEARBLOSSOM AND 7 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LAKE LOS ANGELES.

• What’s that smell?  Some folks in the LA Basin could smell it (we couldn’t, but our smeller isn’t that good).  LA Times says the mystery smell could be a fish die-off in the Salton Sea.
• Night flight:  even tho’ it’s authorized now, the National Forest Service opted not to use night flights to put down the Williams Fire.  Steve Scauzillo reports that not everybody was happy about that in PSN.

by Timothy Rutt

The Pasadena area League of Women Voters will present a free public forum on the 11 propositions on the November ballot.

Titled “Are You in the Know?” it will be held Oct. 6, 9:30 AM-noon at the Women’s City Club, 160 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena:

A team of League members who have studied the measures in depth can help people separate fact from fiction regarding the hotly debated,

Ballard says:

Being a Southern California native, I have resided in this area all my life. I have been painting in watercolor since the mid-1980’s and attended many workshops with well known watercolorists whom I admired. In the summer of 2005,

There will be an Altadena Crest Trail Restoration Working Group (ACTRWG) Meeting 7pm, Tuesday, 11 September 2012. 

Location: Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive, just west of Lake Avenue, next to the Sheriff’s Station and across the street from Rite Aid.

Please join us to welcome Lorrie Bradley, L. A. Dept. of Parks & Recreation’s new Park Planner for Special Trails Projects to the ACTRWG.

Registration opens on Monday, August 27, 2012, at Loma Alta Park, 3330 North Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, CA 91001, (626) 794-8811 and Crescenta Valley  Park, 3901 Dunsmore Avenue, La Crescenta,

The Bob Lucas Branch Library is at 2659 N. Lincoln Ave. 

The hit movie "The Hunger Games" comes to the Altadena Main Library Friday afternoon to wrap up the library's summer movie extravaganza.

Rated PG-13, the dystopian tale tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, who is chosen by her society to compete with other teenagers in a winner-take-all death match.  It will be first of a projected four film series.

Altadena Sheriff’s Captain John Benedict is seeking community members and business owners from all Altadena census tracts to serve on the Altadena Sheriff’s Station Community Advisory Committee (CAC). CAC members provide counsel to the Altadena Sheriff’s Station and serve as a liaison between the Altadena Sheriff’s Station and the wider community.

At regular monthly meetings, CAC members discuss issues that require attention,

The LA County Dept. of Parks and Recreation is offering a free field trip to a concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre Saturday, along with free transportation from Loma Alta Park.

“Dustbowl Revival” (bluegrass/jazz music) will be performing in the morning concert at the Ford.  Sixty free tickets for the bus and concert will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis Saturday morning at Loma Alta Park,

We'll be at UC-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and points between today, so entries will be light.

by Timothy Rutt

On the heels of today's e-waste roundup, John Smith of Neighbors Empowering Youth (NEY) says that their instructional building at 2662 N. Fair Oaks Ave. has been authorized as an e-waste facility,

"As you know Neighbors Empowering Youth's mission is to provide computers and technology training to students in low-income families in the Pasadena,

The roundup, sponsored by Church of the Nazarene and Neighbors Empowering Youth (NEY),  will benefit the Charter Oaks High School girls’ soccer program.

Most common electronics will be accepted or anything that plugs in or uses batteries. Household batteries and flourescant bulbs will not be accepted.  

• A-peel: Altadenan food and gardening writer Emily Green recently put up her tent to sell citrus fruit at the Altadena Farmer’s Market, and tells her tale at the LA Weekly (spoiler: bourbon makes everything go better).
• Owen Brown’s body: We look forward to Owen Brown’s marker eventually returning to its rightful place at Little Round Top, but did you know there’s been some talk about moving Owen himself?  

Does stress at your job or in your relationship cause you to overeat? Does lack of sleep or low energy prevent you from exercising?  Find out how YOU can create your healthy balance in this stress filled world with holistic health Coach Tina Thornton. Learn about your unique needs to achieve optimal weight, reduce food cravings, increase sleep, maximize energy,

Our first mention of the Station Fire was a note in passing on Aug. 26, 2009, when it was still small.  By the next day we (and all of Altadena) could think about little else as smoke filled the air, neighborhoods were evacuated, visible flames lit the night sky — and the press, largely, yawned.

Despite some personal challenges at the time, we decided that this was above anything else was what this website was here for.  

• Altadenan vs. autism: In an article in the NY Times,  Moises Velasquez Manoff looks at recent advances in understanding the cause of autism.  In part he looks at the work of Caltech scientist (and La Solana resident)  Paul Patterson, whosr research seems to indicate that at least a subset of autism may be caused by the mother’s own immune system.
• Wellness workshop tonight: There’s still some room for tonight’s introduction to Emotional Freedom Technique and Voice Dialogue workshop today by Revvell Revati.  

View West Nile Virus Activity in the San Gabriel Valley – 2012 in a larger map

Current interactive map of West Nile Virus activity.

from the San Gabriel Valley Vector Control District

Five of eight mosquito samples collected from the City of Monrovia tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV) Aug.

by Joe Piasecki
Pasadena Sun

It takes more than medicine to keep a city healthy, according to a report issued Monday by the Pasadena Health Department.

The 2012 Pasadena/Altadena Quality-of-Life Index examines a broad range of health indicators, from the availability of fresh vegetables to unemployment rates,

Now that PUSD is back in session, the Eliot Middle School PTA has announced some important upcoming events:

The first all-parent joint meeting will be held Wed., Sept. 5, 6-8 PM in the Parent Room.  All parents and guardians are encouraged to gather on the first Wednesday of the month to hear from the principal and discuss matters of importance to the entire community.