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Ma Manda
Amanda Maes was born on September 06, 1899 in Patos, New Mexico. Her parents were Cornelio and Constancia Sambrano Maes. Amanda's great grandfather, Querino Maes was among four families that moved from southern Colorado to New Mexico in the early 1800's (see "Noverta").Cornelio met and married Constancia in El Paso, Texas and then later moved to Patos, New Mexico, in Lincoln County. Constancia's parents, Prudencio Sambrano and Adeliada Alvillar were probably from Mexico. Amanda married Granville L. Richardson on August 27, 1915, and moved to his home in Arabela, New Mexico.
Amanda had about three different names her grandchildren used for her. She was either "Ma Manda", "Gramo Manda", or just "Gramo". Ma Manda, as I called her, always wore a plain white or light colored apron over her dress. She pinned the straps to her dress rather than using straps over her arms. She never wore pants. Ma Manda was afraid of the thunder and lightening, and when she thought she saw a cloud that looked particularly menacing, she would smooth down her apron (a mannerism she displayed quite often) and say "Hay! Que zumbido trae esa nuve!" (My! That cloud is humming so loudly!) This would quickly be followed by her running into the house to retrieve her butcher knife, which she would use to slice the air in the direction of the cloud. Next, she grabbed some salt in her hand and made a cross in the air with the salt in hopes the cloud would go away. Her son, Albert (my Dad), who loved the rain, said he always wondered why she wanted to stop the rain, and secretly hoped the exorcism wouldn't work. Ma Manda had other rituals depending on the type of weather she saw. During a lightning storm, she called for help from Santa Barbara to guard against the lightning bolts by saying, "Santa Barbara Don Seya, libra nos del rayo y la sentia." To the demon in a whirlwind, she said, "Ponte las cruces, Machiche!" and made the sign of the cross with her thumb in front of her.
My memories of my grandmother, Ma Manda, began when we lived across the road from her and my grandfather. She was much more stern than Pa Bill. my grandfather, and the grandchildren were often in trouble with her, but we all loved her and all the goodies she kept for us. She rationed the goodies out to us depending on our behavior. The house had a large kitchen and two rooms besides the enclosed front porch. Both rooms contained beds--there was no living room furniture, so guests would sit on the beds when visiting. Until the late 50's, when my father built an indoor bathroom, a wooden outhouse stood behind the house. Even after getting the indoor plumbing, Ma Manda still kept el vasin (the chamber pot )under her bed. She had two little storage closets, one on either side of the front porch of her house, that were always locked. In there she kept all her secret treasures. We always loved it when she would take her keys and go to the front of the house to get us a treat. Around Christmastime she always had a little bag full of hard candy, nuts and an orange for us. For some reason, most of the time the hard candy was all stuck together in a big blob, but we didn't care. It was exciting to see her smooth down her apron and reach into the pocket for her keys because we knew she was headed for her hiding place.
Ma Manda had her own recipe for what we now call "Granny Cookies". They were a sort of sugar cookie, but they were soft. She rolled out the dough and cut the shapes with a drinking glass, and she wasn't particular whether all the cookies were round or not. Many of them had an arc-shaped part missing on the side, because she would re cut all the dough left after she had cut the initial batch. We didn't care what shape they were in either because I have never tasted any other cookies as good as hers. She baked them in her Montgomery Ward wood cookstove which my family still owns. I remember once, when I was visiting, I asked her for the recipe. She gave it all to me, but the measurements she used were in fingers, dashes, and handfuls. Needless to say, my cookies didn't turn out anything like hers.
Ma Manda was widowed in 1963 when Pa Bill died of cancer and lived alone for many years. My cousin, Marcella, lived with her and helped her for awhile so she could remain at home, but eventually she required the care of a nursing home. Her house had been rented from time to time, but in 1981, just having been divorced , I decided to move back from Albuquerque to Ruidoso, my hometown. Ma Manda's house in Hondo was vacant, so my dad asked me if I wanted to move myself and my sons into the house. I jumped at the chance and lived there for about two years. The porch had been opened up and the two locked closets were gone, but Ma Manda's Montgomery Ward cook stove still graced the kitchen.
During that time, I was visiting my Aunt Lucera (Marcella's mom), who lived on a ranch in Alamo Canyon, not too far from Hondo. Aunt Lucera had made a batch of the cookies like Grandma Manda used to make. I asked Aunt Lucera for the cookie recipe and she told me she had never given the recipe to anyone else that had asked, but she felt it was time to pass it down. She gave me the recipe in cups and teaspoons and measurements I could understand. I couldn't wait to go home and try it out in Ma Manda's old Montgomery Ward stove. They came out perfect! My Aunt Lucera passed away the following summer at the age of 56, a year and a half before her mother.
Ma Manda died on November 4, 1984 in Roswell, New Mexico, at the age of 85. Her old stove sits in a place of honor at my sister, Barbara's home, in Ruidoso, New Mexico--and it still bakes "Granny Cookies" better than any modern stove ever could!