My Mother’s Day celebration had the usual niceties, which included greetings, a long-stemmed rose from church, texts, hugs, dinner in a restaurant (a first for us!), visits, gifts, a nap, and an assortment of cheesecake slices. What could be missing? Photographs! I was wearing a lovely top from niece Julie which she had under-grown, so I wasn’t ashamed of myself. Everyone else looked good, but I didn’t feel like pulling rank to demand a group photo. Not a single one of them would have jumped up and exclaimed, “What a good idea!”

Logan came over Mother’s Day Eve (not that there is such a title) and shared a luscious strawberry-chocolate cake for Easter/Mother’s Day. He readily agreed to pose with the cake. He will likely grow up to be a photo-hater, so I am going to take advantage of his willingness as long as it lasts. John, David, and I ate large slices of the cake that evening and enjoyed every bite. Thank you Shawn, Bob, and Logan.

The day after Mother’s Day, son John $pencer showed us his singing bowl from Nepal. It is a hand-hammered metal bowl, shiny and quite heavy. He put it on the table on a holder that looks like a chocolate-covered donut. He struck the bowl with what looked like a lint brush – a wooden thing covered on one end with felt. Quickly he began moving the felt end around the edge, making the bowl hum softly. I don’t know how long one would be played in Nepal, maybe until everyone is hypnotized.

$ let me try, and I couldn’t make it sing like he did. I shrugged and turned to David. David was a natural. He used the alternate way of holding the wooden thingy, using the wood instead of the felt to rub the rim. The tone was higher and louder. Bless him, David didn’t smirk at having succeeded where I failed.

As he put the bowl away, $ told us a player in Nepal would often sit Indian-fashion, cradling the bowl in his lap to play it. Several people might play their bowls at the same time, but he didn’t know an average number for a group. The instruments come in all sizes.

Even though there is no photographic evidence, I had a lovely Mother’s Day. Thank you, one and all.