“Anybody that dies from gittin’ trampled to death at Wal-Mart is bound to want his money back on that. I know I would. That’s a bad way to go, there.” Eve Cleveland

Timeless Symbols of Protection:

In many cultures, the horn is believed to be the symbol of life and eternity. In ancient Italy the horn charm or amulet was worn in as protection against evil spirits and has also been linked to Celtic and Druid myths and beliefs. In pre-Christian Europe, animal horns pointed to the moon goddess and were considered sacred.

Italian Horn Urn Jewelry

The Italian Horn urn necklace is available in sterling silver, 14K gold. Comes with silk cord.

The fish symbol is representative of the Christian faith and has ancient roots in the Celtic and Druid culture. This discreet urn pendant holds a trace amount of ash, flowers, hair, or other small memento. Available in sterling silver and 14K gold.

Ithicus Fish Urn Jewelry

The Urn Garden was inspired by the women in my life that have been left behind, by their husbands and partners. My grandmother, Etta Mae was the first founding member. She’s the developer of the memorial garden concept that inspired this project. Etta lost Gene in 1995 to cancer after 50 plus years of marriage. A lot of history there, plus four kids. A year later, she lost her first born son. And now in her 80’s, she still rocks my world.

And then my girls: Three girlfriends- all widows before age 35. Within a two year period. All with young kids.

Donna was the first. She lived in an isolated area on 600 acres in Cherokee Nation, with her hub, two kids, goats, donkeys, five dogs, and few cats. Her husband, Jeff was killed in a car accident in 1996.

In 1997, my old roommate Jan (who’s BFF with Donna) was in the process of ending her marriage after 10 years and two little girls. It was rocky, and her husband wasn’t going quietly, he’d been stalking Jan and calling me at work trying to make sense of it all. On a Wednesday afternoon he called my office, clearly distraught, I knew I’d have to tell him that these therapy sessions were over. As the weekend neared, Jan was a little wary because she hadn’t heard from him and it was his weekend to have the girls. On Saturday morning, she journeyed to his place with kids in tow, and knew driving over, this would not be a good scene.

His car was there, but no signs of activity. She left the kids in the car and went inside. The house was dark and quiet. He was asleep on the bed. With a bullet in his head.

In 1998, Susan joined this sad club. She was left with a three year old son and no family in the area. Her talented artist husband shot himself at the end of December. JP was the one that dropped the bomb. He had to tell me three times, because I couldn’t grasp the message. I’m surprised he didn’t slap my face to snap me out of it. Not a Happy New Year.

Happily, with the exception of Etta, the girls have moved on, re-married and re-built their lives. None of these ladies have blogs, websites, or a crippling internet addiction like yours truly. But because of that connection, we’ll use this space to introduce you to a few recent members of the club that no one wants to join.

Widows Quest

A Widow For One Year

Final Reflections

Snickolett

Silicon Valley Moms

A View From My Garden

Tinker, one rich cat

After befriending an elderly widow, Margaret Layne, who died in 2003 aged 89, Tinker the stray, then eight, ensured he would never want for cat biscuits or chocolate drops again.

Under the terms of her will, Layne stipulated that the black cat would have the run of her three bedroom house in Harrow, Middlesex, as well as a £100,000 ($182,000 US) trust fund, with trustees appointed to deliver him food and milk daily.

The house will remain open to Tinker for 21 years, or until he dies, whichever comes sooner, after which it passes to the trustees charged with his care.

As Tinker soon discovered though, being rich is not without its perils: just months after his owner died, Tinker was moved to a safe house in mid-Wales after a series of death threats and calls from people jealous of his money.

Virgin Media

KALU THE CHIMP & Patricia O'Neill

It is the duty of every rich and elderly lady to change her will from time to time, if only to keep her family on their toes.

But pity poor Frank O’Neill. The former Australian swimming champion made a pilgrimage to the Sydney Olympics a few years ago - and while he was away his wife decided to leave her £40million (73 + million US) fortune to her pet chimp, Kalu.

Patricia O’Neill, the daughter of the Countess of Kenmore, had been close to Kalu since finding her tied to a tree outside the home of the Argentinian Consul-General in war-torn Zaire.

She took the chimp back to her estate near Cape Town in South Africa and although the animal initially seemed “terrified and traumatised,” she soon settled in.

Whether or not the chimp was aware she and Mr O’Neill were rivals is unclear.

“Every time I swam in the pool, she used to run up and down and hit me on the head, but we had a great relationship,” said a sporting Mr O’Neill. Kalu also stole his cigarettes and drank his beer.

Via Virgin Media

Paul Newman RIP

“Old Man, I gotta tell You. I started out pretty strong and fast. But it’s beginning to get to me. When does it end? What do You got in mind for me? What do I do now? Right. All right.”

Cool Hand Luke 1967

You guys! How did I miss it? Jerry Reed? Loved him, and had the 8-track to prove it.

Fun video of Jerry at the lake in 1982, doing Amos Moses.

Enjoy the smooth sounds of Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins. Sorry, couldn’t embed today.

From Wikipedia:

Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – August 31, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, country guitarist, session musician, songwriter, and actor who appeared in over a dozen films. As a singer, he may be best known for “Amos Moses”, and “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot”, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972 and “East Bound and Down”, the theme song to the film Smokey and the Bandit in which he portrayed the “Snowman”, Cledus Snow.

In 1967, Reed notched his first official country chart hit with “Guitar Man,” which Elvis Presley soon covered. Presley had come to Nashville to record in 1967, and one of the songs he was working on was “Guitar Man,” which Reed had written and recorded. “I was out on the Cumberland River fishing, and I got a call from Felton Jarvis (then Presley’s producer). He said, ‘Elvis is down here. We’ve been trying to cut ‘Guitar Man’ all day long. He wants it to sound like it sounded on your album.’ I finally told him, ‘Well, if you want it to sound like that, you’re going have to get me in there to play guitar, because these guys (you’re using in the studio) are straight pickers. I pick with my fingers and tune that guitar up all weird kind of ways.’”

From the Tennessean: There were plenty who never knew of Mr. Reed as anything more than “The Snowman,” or as the coach in The Waterboy. He was funny, and an entertainer, he fully understood that most of the general public didn’t know that he was one of the most compellingly original guitarists of all time, and he was fine with all of that.

Mr. Reed’s only regret regarding the guitar was that his declining health meant he could no longer play. Making music would have been a comfort in his final months. Instead, he enjoyed the company of family, and the visits from old friends.

And on an August day, Reed told his old friend, Bobby Bare something he’d been thinking a lot about: the fact that everything he’d ever dreamed had come true.

Reed died in Nashville from emphysema.

I’ve been wanting to do a tribute to Brooks Stevens for sometime. I ran across an article from 1991 and saved it, started doing research and was in awe of his achievements. Many of today’s modern conveniences that we all take for granted? You can thank Brooks Stevens.

Brooks Stevens
June 11-1911 to Jan. 4 1995

1936- The Birth of the Clothes Dryer:

A Wisconsin manufacturer was puzzling over an easier and quicker way to dry clothes. The idea was a crude, heated box with a rotary drum that could spin clothes dry. Brooks Stevens, a rising industrial designer before the world knew it needed one, told the manufacturer there was just one glaring problem.

“You can’t sell this thing,” Mr. Stevens said. “This is a sheet metal box. People won’t even know what it is. Who’s going to pay $375 for what looks like a storage cabinet? Put a glass window on the door, get some boxer shorts flying around in there, put it in the stores and it’ll take off.”

What a dream!

And the list goes on:

• 

  The steam iron, no more sprinkling.

• The snowmobile

• 

  The Outboard Motor

• 

  The mass-marketed Jeep/Woodless Willy

• 

  The Lawn-Boy power lawn mower

• The 1950 Harley-Davidson motorcycle whose virtual twin is still being sold today
• The Hiawatha luxury train
• The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile
• Cars for automakers from Alfa Romeo to Volkswagen
• The first wide-mouth peanut butter jar that allowed people to get to the bottom of the container
• The Miller Brewing Company logo.

• 

  Imagine Life Without It

He was one of the first to use color in appliances, first out of boredom with black and white and later out of disgust with what he calls “that rash of avocado green business in the 50’s.” He popularized the turquoise appliances of that age.

A Good Looking Chainsaw:

“What it meant was that product design had to be something more than pure function,” Mr. Stevens said. “The argument from an engineer would be, ‘If it sawed the wood, that’s good enough.’ But we say that if it was a good-looking chain saw it would be much more palatable. ”

He Thinks My Tractors’ Sexy

“What man worries about how a tractor looks?” an engineer asked him regarding a jazzed-up design for a Milwaukee company’s farm tractors. “If it plows the field, that’s enough. ” In the end, Mr. Stevens’ curvaceous tractors with the teardrop fenders became so popular that farmers even took to driving them to church.

Skeptics remain who consider his work trickery and packaging and style over substance.

For the Bus and his brethren

Claire Rudholm

My friend Kristen sent me the beautiful story of Claire Rudholm, also known as Tara, who passed away in 2004. After a stage-4 cancer diagnosis she was given ‘weeks to months’ to live, she was only 33. Tara expressed a desire to return to southern India to the Sivananda ashram where she had lived and worked as a karma yogi. She requested a full traditional Hindu cremation, and that her remains be spread along the holy Ganges river. Through email and snapshots, Tara’s friends documented the 5- 1/2 weeks in the ashram, her death, cremation, and a little bit about the ceremonies that followed. It’s a very touching and beautiful send-off.

Tara's Last Journey