Tartaglia is working on a cookbook to share her baking recipes.

By Robert Airoldi

Robert Airoldi

There’s bad news and good news for Patti Tartaglia, owner of Patti’s Perfect Pantry. “With deep thought and a very heavy heart, I have decided to retire,” she told us. “This was one of the hardest decisions of my life.”

After years working in the corporate world, she chose to be a stay-at-home mom for her two sons until they were in high school when she decided to go back to work. But at 50, she learned she was “too old and too experienced.” This realization made her look back to her interests and talents. “I always had a love for baking and science. I thought I should find a way to marry the two.”

She enrolled in a school dedicated to holistic nutrition. During this time she was diagnosed with celiac disease, a condition where gluten destroys the lining of your small intestine so it can’t absorb nutrients.

She began by making pies and selling them at The People and Planet Store that specialized in gluten free products. Eventually, she found a spot in Gilroy where she spent two years  before moving to Morgan Hill in November 2015.

“To all my wonderful customers, I want you all to know that you will always have my deepest thoughts and I will greatly miss you when I go. Thank you with all my heart,” she said.

Good news. Tartaglia is working on a cookbook to share her baking recipes.

Congratulations to long-time Morgan Hill Community Services Department employees who are set to retire in April. Lisa Rick, an aquatics coordinator, and Sergio Jauregui, a maintenance specialist, have been involved with or worked at the Aquatics Center since it opened in May 2004.

“It has been such a pleasure to work at such an amazing facility,” Rick said. “To see the youth in our community start in our swim lesson program, grow to participate in our swim team program and then have these same youth become teammates for the city as lifeguards, swim instructors and coaches has been so rewarding.”

Jauregui echoed the sentiment. “Since the opening day until now, this place has been a great part of my life,” he said. “I’m very proud to be a part of this place and community. It will be in my memories forever!”

Also recently retired is Dale Dapp, a city maintenance manager for eight years, who oversaw maintenance of parks, streets and city buildings.

Speaking of the Aquatics Center, the summer season is right around the corner. Check out the latest Recreation Activity Guide at www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/recguide.

In more news, the city has enacted watering restrictions designed to best manage the city’s potable water supply during the drought.

From March 1, 2022 through Oct. 31, watering is limited to two days a week.

  • Mondays and Thursdays for odd numbered addresses and properties with no address
  • Tuesdays and Fridays for even numbered addresses
  • Irrigation shall only be scheduled before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m.
  • Prevent runoff while watering
  • Each valve or zone shall run for a maximum of 15 minutes in any one day

In addition, the following apply:

  • Restrictions cover all potable water in the Morgan Hill city limits, including water from private wells.
  • The washing of vehicles is allowed with the use of a hand-held bucket or similar container or a hand-held hose equipped with a positive self-closing water shut-off nozzle or device.

Complete rules and restrictions can be found at www.mhvalueswater.com.

BookSmart Community Advantage has donated copies of the award-winning 1619 Project Book as part of their Diverse Books for Our Community’ program. The books, created by Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine, were presented to two local high schools.

The program aims to provide classrooms and school libraries with a variety of curated books that provide a more diverse variety of stories and images as well as books that directly address anti-racism and social justice.

The 1619 Project is The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning reframing of American history that placed slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. The project, which was initially launched in August of 2019, offered a revealing new origin story for the United States, one that helped explain not only the persistence of anti-Black racism and inequality in American life today, but also the roots of so much of what makes the country unique. Learn more about the book and the programs at www.1619books.com.

March is Women’s History Month, and the various branches of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of Santa Clara County — including Morgan Hill and Gilroy — are celebrating with a special webinar on the historic 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Educational Amendments Act. This law requires all genders equal opportunity to educational programs, activities, and financial assistance.

Morgan Hill branch AAUW member Suman Ganapathy asked us to invite our readers to the discussion of five Title IX experts. It takes place from noon to 1 p.m. March 19 on the webpage www.eventbrite.com/e/title-ix-50th-anniversary-celebration-registration-262100649097.

The moderator is Danielle Slaton, an Olympic medalist in women’s soccer and television analyst with the San Jose Earthquakes.