JANUARY 2006 January 1 is Mom’s birthday and I was determined to make sure Mom had a SURPRISE for her birthday.   I contacted Shirley, a friend of mine that lives in Washington near Mom and asked her if she would be interested in delivering.  Shirley is a person that mirrors my personality, always looks for some fun prank to pull on someone and loves to kid around with anybody around her.  She would be perfect to deliver those BLACK BOWLS back to Mom on her birthday!! She dropped the BLACK BOWLS into a Birthday bag and drove over to Mom’s house.  Shirley had some problems in locating Mom’s house as she drove around the block 3 times before Peggy’s husband, Norm flagged her down.   Peggy ran over with her camera as Shirley rang the doorbell to capture that Kodak moment!   When Mom saw the bag that Shirley had in her hands, she told her that she was NOT taking that gift as she knew what was in it!  Peggy laughed and told Mom, “Oh yes you are!”       Black Bowls Saga by Joan Cook   2006 Continued   JULY 2006 Last July, Rod and I flew into Everett to attend my niece’s (Lisa) wedding.  I was thinking how it was such a shame to waste our trip without some BLACK BOWLS memories.  But since Mom still had the BLACK BOWLS, I got to thinking of how I can create another Kodak moment with the BLACK BOWLS.  The wedding was over; I had time on my hands to think up some ideas. Mom had a hair appointment, Peggy and I thought it would be good time to do a scavenger hunt for those BLACK BOWLS in Mom’s house.   We looked high and low yelling to each other “Did you find them yet?”   In Mom’s hall closet there was a bag stored in there and when I peaked inside, I found my prized BLACK BOWLS!!   BINGO!! Peggy and I raced out of Mom’s house and ran back over to Peggy’s house.  We replaced the stickers and wrapped them up real nice in a box with real pretty wedding wrapping paper.  Lisa and Kyle had arrived back from their honeymoon and had plans of unwrapping their wedding gifts after dinner that evening.  I stuffed the prized box behind all of their gifts. That evening, as Peggy handed out the gifts to the bride and the groom to unwrap and she made sure she saved that special box until last.  When Lisa received the last gift, she announced that the gift had her grandmother’s name on it.  Mom took the gift and said, “Why would anyone give me a gift when it was Lisa’s wedding?”  She looked at Peggy, and then she looked at me with a look of confusion.    Mom said, “This can’t be the BLACK BOWLS, as I have them!”   Peggy and I slyly looked at each other with a smug look of satisfaction. When she found the BLACK BOWLS inside the box, she announced that these were not the original BLACK BOWLS and they had to be duplicates.   Peggy and I assured her that these were the original BLACK BOWLS. Her mouth dropped and she asked how we got them.  After we explained we made it our mission to find them, she shook her fist at us.     Ahhh, another Kodak moment!!! This chapter is in loving memory of Clay, my cousin, who delivered the BLACK BOWLS to Mom in December 2003.  For a delightful person who has such a zest for life a GREAT sense of humor, he will be missed greatly!      OCTOBER 2006 The following morning after Halloween, I was backing out of the garage with the car and I noticed a package sitting by the garage door.  I picked up the package and dropped it inside the house and figured that Mom must have sent me chocolates since she always finds an excuse to send me chocolates around the holidays.  After work that evening, I opened the package and was totally surprised to find the BLACK BOWLS and little containers of chocolate raspberry sticks.  The containers broke during shipment, but the chocolates were still good to eat. I realized Mom had caught me off guard and accomplished her mission. When I confronted Mom about the return of the BLACK BOWLS, she told be rather sternly “You will never be able to find the BLACK BOWLS in my house ever again!”   I laughed and told her “We will wait and see”!