Three astronauts who united the world 50 years ago

 "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

                                           — Neil Armstrong, astronaut and to walk on the moon

AUBURN, Maine — This date, July 20, 1969, was the day the world’s denizens looked up instead of down on each other.

Three dedicated and gutsy astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, road a Saturn V rocket all the way to another celestial body — the moon — over a period of eight days.

It was a watershed moment for humanity, where many of us remember where we were when Apollo 11 raced through space at 24,791mph. This daring endeavor kept us staring at that hunk of glowing rock in the sky 50 years ago until all three astronauts safely splashed down on July 24.

Back in Revere, Mass., four sleepy children threw blankets and pillows on the parlor floor at 17 McClure Street and waited impatiently for the brave Armstrong to emerge from the lunar module Eagle, while Collins hovered above the moon in the command module Columbia.

My father, Al Blasi with his wife, Louise, took their usual positions on the couch as four tired children struggled to keep their eyes open in a dark parlor with only a black-and-white TV glowing like a beacon on that historic evening.

Waiting for Armstrong to put his feet on the powdery surface of the moon was agonizing for this drowsy nine-year-old. Every now and then, my father went around the room and nudged us awake, but the sandman cast his sleepy spell on us as we fought a losing battle with him.

When Amstrong stepped out and eventually put his footprints on the moon, my father shook us awake. I just stared at the screen as Amstrong cautious stepped down the ladder and made the world proud. My father understood what was happening 238,900 miles away from Earth, and he made sure his children also understood this was a moment to be witnessed by all humanity.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam war raged, racism had come to a head and three leaders – President Kennedy, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated in a decade where civil unrest was rife and its violence spreading to the streets of America.

America was in need of an event that would bring us together — at least for a few moments. 

Despite tumultuous events transpiring across the nation, NASA went ahead with the program that would thrust three human beings across the dark void of space.

Fast forward to now and the country remains widely divided thanks to its own pathetic leaders, whose vitriol has revived racism and all the hate that accompanies this malevolent affliction.

We are at another crossroads and the world seems to be spinning off its access fueled by needless hostility toward one another, and yet, new discoveries are being made despite the stupidity that surrounds us all.

I am sitting here listening to Sinatra’s smooth voice and wondering if another life-changing event is on the horizon to stop the madness.

For naysayers who believe space exploration is a waste of time, I would tell them that it is as necessary as the discovery of fire and the wheel. It is worth the price to see what is out there and serves as a reminder that we are just another small rock in a expanding universe that doesn’t give a damn about us.

So take a moment to look up at the moon to honor three men who put their lives on the line for exploration and discovery, as well as unite earth’s troubled denizens, who are in dire need of coming together again for the sake of humanity.

Blanching the morning away; Hair we go

"You must give to get, You must sow the seed, before you can reap the harvest."
                                                                                                                                  -  Scott Reed

And there is more on the way.

AUBURN — When the blanching process was first explained to me, my thoughts turned to cryogenics and all those poor souls entombed in canisters like bags of frozen broccoli in an ice box.

Talk about freezer burn!

I didn't consider blanching vegetables for the winter until I extended the width of our garden this season. I was counting on a larger harvest, which seems to be coming to fruition. In the last few weeks, I have harvested nearly two dozen of summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers, and the vegetables keep on coming in spite of the persistent forces of Mother Nature. 

We just can't get enough of the green stuff that grows in my pristine soil.

Blanching vegetables is not a difficult process. You simply plunge fresh-picked vegetables into steaming water for several minutes, remove them and plunge them into ice water for another several minutes. The shocked vegetables are dried and packed into a freezer bag. Before you shove the bag in a freezer, the air must be sucked out of the bag with a straw to vacuum seal the contents.

This method of preserving vegetables keeps the stuff fresh for months.

A couple of mornings ago, Terri researched the art of blanching on the Net. She really did her homework because I was not in the "know" even though I am a master gardener.

She persuaded me to give it a try even though I wasn't sure if I had the patience to spend a morning freezing vegetables. But my stack of zucchini and summer squash was piling up on the kitchen counter, and I wasn't about to let it rot. I put too much time into a garden to watch my vegetables go bad.

We set up kind of a conveyor belt and agreed to work together. We got into a groove and completed the task in an hour.

I did all the cutting — because I am really good with a sharp knife — in the kitchen, off course. I sliced and diced nearly two dozen summer squash and zucchini in minutes without cutting off a finger.

The large steaming pot was in place and another pan of ice water was on stand-by

We lowered a pile of summer squash into the boiling pot and stared at the clock for three minutes.

Now I knew how Mission Control felt when the Apollo astronauts returned to earth after each mission. It was our first time out blanching and we were a bit apprehensive. 

We quickly scooped up the hot vegetables and dropped them in the freezing water and waited another five minutes.

Terri got the freezer bags ready after the vegetables cooled. She held each bag open and I tossed them inside, but before they were sealed, I stuck a straw in the bag and used my mighty lungs to suck out the air.

By the time we finished we had four huge freezer bags loaded with vegetables.

And the harvest will continue until October - weather permitting — of course.

Hair we go

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

- Hair, the musical

Whenever Terri announces she is getting a haircut, I usually don't get that excited. To me, getting a haircut is like brushing my teeth.

I do it because I don't like long hair. Some men can get away with long hair. I look ridiculous. And I am not a big fan of facial hair. Clean cut always works for me. It makes my hair more bouncy and manageable.

I know I would have never made it as a hippy. 

Over the years, Terri has tried many hairdos, and although I am biased, I never saw her with a bad haircut.

So when Terri returned from the haircutters, I had my usual comments ready when she presented herself.

"Well, what do you think," said Terri, just outside the door.

When I looked through the screen, I didn't move. My eyes snapped wide open and a devilish grin slowly appeared.


Her new-look was stunning.  The usual comments wouldn't work here.


"Oh wow," I said! "You look great."


The truth was she didn't look great. She looked unbelievable in her new do.


And my devilish grin still hasn't gone away.