georgecarlin.com

Earlier in July, Carlin’s daughter Kelly and his brother, Patrick, spent a weekend scattering his ashes at his favorite haunts around the country. They stopped in front of the nightclubs he played in New York City, and sprinkled his ashes over the water at a summer camp in New Hampshire where, as a child, Carlin received a necklace for winning the drama competition. He was wearing it the day he died.

Accompanied by old friends from the neighborhood, they also stopped at a park on the edge of Harlem where Carlin grew up.

“The wind blew him around a little bit when Kelly threw his ashes,” Patrick Carlin recalled.

“It was beautiful and touching. I really felt like my dad was smiling very large at the moment,” she said. “I knew I was doing him right.”

Read more on ceremonies and helpful tips for scattering ashes.

Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

BEIJING (Reuters) - Misty May-Treanor had one worry when she came through customs on her way to the Beijing Olympics: what if they confiscated her mother’s ashes?

American May-Treanor sprinkled some of her mother Barbara’s ashes on the beach volleyball court in Athens when she and Kerri Walsh won the semi-final and the final and she was determined to do the same in Beijing.

After winning the semi on Tuesday, and finals last night, May-Treanor pulled out a camera film canister and sprinkled some more of the ashes on to the sand in the Chaoyang Park stadium.

“My Dad packed it for me and I was like ‘What if they take it in customs as I go in?’ but it was all fine,” May-Treanor said after the match. “We can’t leave her home alone.”

(Reporting by Jane Barrett)

The best thing about August 2008? The mild weather. Maybe it’s the payoff for extreme storm activity earlier this year (and the last two years).

Also?

The Olympics.

Oh yeah, and good health.

Other than that? August has been a bit of drain mentally and financially. Full of challenges.

And it’s not over yet. We’ll talk later.

The Good News? It’s making me stronger and more creative.

Speaking of creative minds: Jetpacks creates art in his cube. He still keeps a tidy desk.

Today’s Tip for Better Living: Stop wishing your life away.

Isis is usually shown with her arms spread, always ready to receive. She covered a lot of territory. I was first introduced to Isis as a kid through the magic of television.

My favorite was Wonder Woman, who always prayed to The Mighty Isis.

Lynda Carter

Check that wingspan:

Powerful? Isis was the Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, law, and funeral rituals. One of the most popular goddesses in Egypt, she had her own priests and many temples were built in her honor.

We’ve commissioned several styles of urns in the image of Isis for families to use as a keepsake urn for small portions of ash, flowers, or jewelry, or for smaller pets. We’ve had several cat owners purchase these for their cats named….Isis.

Isis Pet Urn

One of our newer urn styles is inspired by one of the oldest images: The Arc of the Covenant.

Ark of the Covenant Urn

A Wild Ride

The June Bugs (or Japanese Beetles?) invaded the garden and got busy breeding and munching.

It’s hard to believe that the Egyptians worshiped the dung beetle. The scarab symbol is commonly found in hieroglyphics and jewelry designs.

So we have a love hate relationship with the scarab. Urn Garden commissioned a scarab urn that appeals to pet owners (cat owners especially) and families that want a keepsake urn.

Green Scarab Urn

Last week I had a client who had been corresponding with me using two different email addresses. When client requested an invoice to be emailed, I had to ask, “Should I use the xxx@ address or donkeydik@xxxx?”

No Lie.

Three Beautiful Things

1. Hummers flying in your face while languishing in the swing

2. popping sweet cherry tomatoes off the vine

3. Pure Gold

The feeding begins. The hummingbirds are off the nest and ravenously attacking the feeders. Very busy training for the trip.

If you love the spirit and energy of the hummingbirds, we have an urn match.

Hummingbird Urn

Our Cloisonne Hummingbird Urn, blends strength and beauty; copper and hand painted fired enamel to create the ancient art of Cloisonne, one of China’s major contributions to the world’s fine arts.

In Native American myth, the hummingbird is a truthful bird that represents beauty, harmony and enjoyment.

That’s a fact!

Politicians had been talking for years about the need to replace the Oregon State Hospital, but didn’t get serious about it until a group of legislators made a grim discovery during a 2004 tour: the cremated remains of 3,600 mental patients in corroding copper canisters in a storage room. The lawmakers were stunned.

“Nobody said anything to anybody,” said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, who dubbed the chamber “the room of lost souls.”

The remains belonged to patients who died at the hospital from the late 1880s to the mid-1970s, when mental illness was considered so shameful that many patients were all but abandoned by their families in institutions.

After doing some research into the story, Photographer David Maisel got in touch with the hospital administrators – the same hospital, it turns out, where they once filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – and he was granted access to the room in which the canisters were stored.

Maisel set up a temporary photography studio inside the hospital itself. There, he began photographing the canisters one by one.

His book, Library of Dust, will be released later this summer.

Tip of the Hat to: Cleanser

Rev. Robert Shields (1918 – 2007) was a former Minister and high school English teacher who lived in Dayton, Washington. He left a diary of 37.5 million words chronicling every 5 minutes of his life from 1972 until a stroke disabled him in 1997.

Excerpts:

July 25, 1993
7 am: I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin.
7.05 am: Passed a large, firm stool, and a pint of urine. Used five sheets of paper.

August 13, 1995
8.45 am: I shaved twice with the Gillette Sensor blade [and] shaved my neck behind both ears, and crossways of my cheeks, too.

From Wikipedia

Regarding the earlier post on watering the lawn, in Oregon 200-300 urine filled bottles are found along I-84. Police suspect long-haul truckers are to blame.

Smoke em if you got em.

Step out on the veranda, NYC style.

Enjoy the day!