Ziti

 I made a big batch of Ziti for dinner one night last week. I don't think I ever make it the same way twice.

This time I put in a layer of spinach.  The sauce is peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, basil, oregano, s&p, large can diced tomatoes, small can tomato paste, water, and sugar to cut the acidity.  I had four large sweet Italian sausages from Green Mountain Smoke House in Windsor, VT that I cooked up then sliced.

pictured before last layer of sauce

The layers are sauce, half the cooked ziti pasta, spinach, grated mozzarella cheese, sausage slices, some sour cream, the rest of the pasta and sauce, then the rest of the cheese and parmesan on top of that. I baked it at 325 for 45 minutes but it could go into a 350 oven for 30 minutes.  I was just ahead of schedule making dinner on a night that Dan goes to chorus practice.

I made such a large amount because I have surgery scheduled at the end of next month on my right thumb and carpal tunnel.  I'm going to be out of commission in the kitchen for some time and whatever I can do  to make it easier for Dan then, I must try to do now.

below in the oven

On the table

Dished on my plate.  We had sour dough bread with it.

It was delicious.

I divided up what remained into three more meals and froze them.

Poinsettia

 The poinsettia I purchased for Christmas 2020 kept growing so in the years since then I have repotted it to a large pot.  Summer time it sits on the front porch.  It's become a bit scraggly and leaves are tiny compared to what they were but I don't have the heart to toss it.

Especially now that it has red "bloom" leaves showing.

I have two more poinsettias that I got this past Christmas and I may just pot them in with the 2020 plant.

What would you do?

The final set from 50s, 60s, ad 70s.

 Must send a big thank you to Marilyn who keeps me informed with all these oldies and goodies she sends me.

1st-2nd I walked a mile each way to school and came home for lunch each day.  That was in Lancaster, PA.  In Kensington, MD for 3rd - 6th grade I rode a bus but 7th-9th I walked and it was farther to the junior high than to the elementary school.  The only time I walked or ran home from elementary school was for a civil defense drill.  They had us practice running home and as I think back on that it was to die at home with our parents if we had a nuclear attack. We lived in a suburb of Washington, DC.

I still carry a road atlas along with us because the GPS doesn't always get it right.

Who still has one?

I do remember eating at McDonalds when it was something new. They had walk up windows. I do remember thinking how good the hamburgers and fries tasted.  Now? Can't remember the last time I had either of those.  Have had breakfast there when we've been traveling and that's all that was around.

It takes a village ...

Never saw one of these.

They always did.

Hope you liked this look back.  I didn't include all of them - just the best.

I do have one apology about these photos - they only feature people of one color. There must be a source that shows the diversity of our country's experience during the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  Anyone know of one?

I went looking after I wrote this and found three on this site.  Here's one which I would title Sandlot Baseball.

An Old Photo

 My one surviving uncle, by marriage, on my father's side just celebrated his 100th birthday.

The photo below was from June 1946 when John married my Dad's youngest sister, Ada Reba, youngest of 9 children. 

My paternal grandparents are on the left, Omar, age 61 and Ada, 60. I don't know the ages of Uncle John's parents, but they look older than my grandparents. Her dress may indicate she was Old Order Mennonite, but I don't know for sure.

My grandmother was dead before this couple celebrated 10 years of marriage.  I remember my mother crying when she got the phone call that Grandma had died.  It was a very long distance call from Lancaster, PA to Dumaguete, Philippine Islands in 1954.  I was just 3 years old.  I have no recollection of this grandmother as we left the US to travel overseas when I was going on 2.

I haven't seen my Uncle John since 2013 when my mother died.  I send him a Christmas card every year and did send a 100th birthday card in January.