I imagine I’ll be waxing poetic in the coming months as I close out my 60’s and turn 70 in June. I’ve been browsing old family photos of late, reminiscing and missing family members long since passed. I haven’t spent any time out at the farm since early December so I think it’s about time to get out there for a little R&R. 

There are still a few things out there that belong to my family. The new owners have been kind and haven’t needed the space. But, sometime in December, my Uncle Bud asked if I could bring something to him…or at least get it out of the house in case there was a fire or some unforeseen tragedy.

That something was my Uncle Bob’s nutcracker.

Now…this thing isn’t like the Christmas Nutcrackers we have on the windowsill in the family room here at Marshmallow Ranch. No…this is the coolest thing. Obviously homemade, with well worn boards and what looks like the base of an old nightstand. The mechanism itself looks like some sort of Rube Goldberg Machine. 

I can remember my Uncle Bob sitting in the chair at the front window where I love to sit and knit. In the winter when he couldn’t get out and pound rock or work the garden, Grandma had him hull walnuts. His hands were stained a deep bronze for months. Once the walnuts were hulled, they were spread out on newspapers in the basement to dry. 

Uncle Bob carried that nutcracker upstairs to the seat by the window. He’d carry the dried walnuts up in a five gallon bucket. Then he would laboriously crack them into a bowl where Grandma would carefully pick the nut meats out of them into a separate bowl.  Several weeks worth of work produced maybe a couple of quarts of shelled walnuts. 

Now, this is where the magic happened. My uncle Bud’s favorite treat in the whole wide world was Raisin Filled Cookies. Grandma cooked the raisin filling on the stove top and stirred in toasted walnuts then placed a spoonful of the filling between two soft cookies and baked them. They were never my favorite growing up, but I learned to appreciate them as an adult, although I prefer pecans as walnuts make my mouth blister.

I think I’ll make my Uncle Bud a batch of Raisin Filled Cookies and take them with me when I deliver his prize. I know he’ll love that. I’ve lost all but two of my mom’s siblings. Uncle Bud is the baby and is doing really well…still building things like saw mills and machines that put Rube Goldberg to shame. My Aunt Rosie fell and broke her hip on Christmas Eve so she’s healing up after surgery, ready for rehab. 

We aren’t getting any younger. And there will be more and more of those terrible phone calls letting us know someone we love is gone. I’m not really sure how I feel about turning 70. I mean, the alternative isn’t very good so I’ll take what I can get. The woman in the mirror has more wrinkles, but I LOVE her grey hair! I don’t feel sad, per so. It’s more like, I’m being reminded that I’d better not put off the things I want to do because there isn’t as much time to do them now. That’s what’s making itself more clear to me. I have a sense of urgency…but in a good way.

?

“Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done: He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.”

Psalm 37:5-6 MSG