“Ask Mac.”

I heard that a lot when I was growing up.  My great-uncle Mac was the only man in the family who could actually fix something.  Build something.  Take apart something and put it back together.

Imagine the joy when he joined our all-thumbs-no-mechanical-aptitude-what-does-a-wrench-do family of readers and thinkers and singers and sailors.

Uncle Mac (center) delighting in one of his games, 1967.

Back in the early 1920’s, a young farm boy from upstate New York made his way to the big city, Providence, RI, to attend refrigeration school.  He rented a room in my great-grandmother’s boarding house and fell in love.

My Aunt Laurabel had previously eloped with “a bad man” (that’s all anyone in the family ever said) and, sadder and wiser, returned home with her young child.  How could she resist the gentle, sweet, shy and kind Donald MacKenzie?

Every December 20 I would call him for his birthday.  He loved those calls, but Aunt Belle would fret in the background and worry about how much the call was going to cost me.  I’d spent many hours learning about woodworking and power tools and the joy of Elmer’s glue in Mac’s basement.   He loved to teach me how to make things, but was deathly afraid I would hurt myself with the saw.  The only major tool he’d let me run myself was the jigsaw and even then, he hovered.  The coffee table he made me for in junor high is still in my living room.  The cart he made for my then 2-year old son sits under my Christmas tree.  When Mac made something, it was built to last.

He always wanted to know what was going on in Idaho.  I would beg him to visit, especially after Laurabel died, but he was deathly afraid of flying even though he wanted to see our home so badly.  I still have all of his letters, typed neatly on 1/2 sheet of white paper.

In honor of Uncle Mac’s birthday, I’m going to share Laurabel’s secret oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.  She uncharacteristically never shared the recipe*, but baked tins and tins of cookies for everyone in the family.  No one ever left her house without some to take home and hoard.

Happy Birthday, Unk.

Aunt Laurabel’s Secret Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cream together:

2 sticks butter (or 1 stick butter and ½ c. shortening)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 TBS molasses

2 tsp. vanilla

Combine:

2 cups flour

1 TBS cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

Stir in:                         2 cups oatmeal

2/3 cup raisins

1 cup (or less) chopped nuts

Drop by TBS on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

*this is the late Barbara Beshir’s recipe; when I first tasted her cookies they were exactly the same as Aunt Laurabel’s.  Lucky for me Barb was always willing to give out her recipes!

1953: Laurabelle, Uncle Mac and my grandmother

p.s.  See those dining room chairs?  Yep, those are the ones I’m recovering.  Wish that tablecloth was still around.  I think there are peaches on it.?