With the arrival of Spring, thoughts turn to the beauty of the blooming outdoors and the tasks of cleaning up flower beds and tidying up the lawn. Some of our clients are planning to reserve a small space in their gardens for a memorial stone to pay tribute to a loved one. One family chose to pair a memorial stone with a planting of daisies to commemorate an April birthday. Another client chose a natural river rock stone personalized with baseball artwork to honor a brother who loved the sport. In addition to high quality marble or granite, the river rock can be engraved with names, dates, and artwork to reflect hobbies or passions. Sometimes stepping stones are used as a path marker or placed around a bird bath to create a serene setting for wildlife.
Small plaques with a poem or verse could be mounted on the wall or desktop for those that don’t have a lawn or the time to maintain a garden and want to create a memorial on a smaller scale indoors. You could combine live potted plants, silk arrangements of favorite flowers, photos, or framed mementos to add interest and keep the memory alive.
The ghost of Tupac stole the show at Coachella Sunday night and now discussions are under way to possibly take a virtual version of the deceased rapper on tour. Is this the beginning of the tour of dead celebrities? Is this concept creepy or cool? An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal explains the process and technology used in resurrecting Tupac.
Duck Dynasty is my new guilty pleasure, and after watching a couple of episodes I could tell right away that the Duck Commander, Phil Robertson and his son Willie, who serves as the company CEO are both educated and savvy businessmen.
I’ve learned a few things watching the show, like how many species there are of duck, the fact that ducks have keen eye sight and the great lengths the hunters go to to blend in with the environment, including not showering or washing their clothes during hunting season and of course, the art of duck calling.
To celebrate the life of the outdoors man we created camouflage cremation urns in three patterns: bass fishing, woodland print, and a marshy print with flying water fowl for the duckaholics. The urns are solid brass that are dipped in the same coating used to camo trucks, ATV’s, and other outdoor gear and make a fitting tribute for the fisherman or hunter. Until that day comes though, happy hunting!
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Seems like I hear this phrase a lot lately. I don’t use it, because I’m not sold on it. But for years, I’ve heard others say it with conviction. Kanye squeezed a hit out of it.
Christopher Hitchens confirmed my uneasiness with his essay on the subject in Vanity Fair. “Before I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer a year and a half ago, I rather jauntily told the readers of my memoirs that when faced with extinction I wanted to be fully conscious and awake, in order to “do” death in the active and not the passive sense. And I do, still, try to nurture that little flame of curiosity and defiance: willing to play out the string to the end and wishing to be spared nothing that properly belongs to a life span. However, one thing that grave illness does is to make you examine familiar principles and seemingly reliable sayings. And there’s one that I find I am not saying with quite the same conviction as I once used to: In particular, I have slightly stopped issuing the announcement that “Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
There’s an interesting discussion going on at an the Escapees RV Club where one of the posters asked this question:
“What would you do if you or your spouse died and you are a long way from home or where your family is located? Do any of you have any plans for such a situation? If so what are they?”
Some of the answers in the forum advocate per-arranging with a funeral home, and allowing for transportation of the body and vehicles if necessary and other incidentals that people that travel and live an RV might factor in.
We’ve had a few situations with clients who were traveling and death occurred. Two of which were honeymooners. One lady who had been married for two weeks lost her husband in Puerto Rico and had to wait 10 days before she could bring him home.
The term “Home Going Service” was foreign to my ears. I’m familiar with the “going home” theme in funeral service that used the imagery of birds in flight. It’s a popular style in urns and caskets. A few weeks ago, I first saw the term used on a memorial website and asked the owner about it. She explained that a homegoing service is a celebration and is common vernacular in the African American community, originating in the South.
A few days later, Whitney Houston died and I heard it everywhere. When I turned on the television Saturday, the funeral was on and I was hypnotized by her Home Going Service. Through the miracle of television I felt the power of the Home Going and was moved by the spirit of the service. Dionne Warwick did a beautiful job and what an orchestration it must have been for the funeral director, who I assume was the lady in the gold jacket.
So back to my friend Kim who runs the Elegant Memorials website. She specializes in funeral templates for Home Going services and can help you create your own style of funeral programs.
Finally, I want to tell you how much I love this picture that was used for the obituary of Rosie Lee Autmon who passed away on 2/13/12. RIP. And? Celebrate life!
The loss of a pet can be so painful. If you’ve lost an old friend, please accept our sympathies. Whether you plan to bury or cremate your pet, you can create a fitting memorial for your furry friend. Pet urns that honor the personality of your pet are available, as well as pet memorial stones that can be placed in a memorial garden or flower bed.
Fresco of Dolphins from the bronze age excavations on the Greek island of Santorini
Even the ancients appreciated the playful spirit of the dolphin as images reflect from excavations found in the Greek ruins. Playtime is an important part of the dolphin culture and we’ve tried to capture that spritely element in quality carved marble cremation urns.
Dolphin Keepsake Urn
The dolphin marble cremation urns have a smooth sparkling finish and are hand carved by Italian artists and are designed to use as a keepsake urn to hold a small amount of ashes.
Dolphin's Duet Keepsake Urn
Although many of the marble cremation urns are imported, the Dolphin’s Duet Keepsake Urn is made in the USA and is features crisp navy and white details, edged with a border of shells, and dolphins splashing in the ocean waves.
Back at the end of January I was reading an East Coast blogger that had stumbled upon a couple of dead dolphins on her beach walk. Now, it seems like a phenom of beached dolphins has developed in that area. From this blog post another blogger was inspired to create a Decomposing Dolphin color palette based on Siren’s descriptions and pix. It’s twisted yet attractive and I’d like to share it with you now:
Another mystery are people who pay to swim with dolphins and stingrays. If it happens naturally, great, I’ll go with it and try not to freak. But I’m NOT going to pay to get in the tank. I’ve been saving this article to back up my theory: Dark Secrets That Dolphins Don’t Want You to Know.
