Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

cremation

Sir William Wallace

One of our clients shared the story of Sir William Wallace, or just “Wallace” to the many friends and family that knew him. Even the three cats he shared a home with are grieving.

Wallace was a well-heeled English Mastiff, large and imposing but gentle in spirit. He was the soccer and rugby team mascot, unofficial therapy dog, companion and major drooler.

Wallace was only five years old but impacted many lives. He died over the weekend from an autoimmune disorder. Wallace was a big boy, weighing in at 200 pounds and his owner needed an adult urn to accommodate his friend plus a few mementos.

His owner knows that in the future he’ll get another dog, but is re-thinking the breed. Wallace was a hand-full based on his size, and near the end it was a team effort to handle him. Not to mention the yearly interior painting that took place, based on the volume of drool that Wallace produced! Despite these minor details, Wallace was a pampered pooch who shared a bed with his owner and one of the cats, owned the couch and was loved by all.

The neighborhood is planning a memorial garden filled with mums this fall in Wallace’s memory.

RIP big boy.

Strawberry Fields Memorial Garden

Urn garden greeting

Today we are touring the Strawberry Fields Memorial Garden in New York’s Central Park. When Yoko Ono and John Lennon lived in the Dakota Apartments, this was one of their favorite places in Central Park.

Today, this 2.5 acre area of the park is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon and named after his famous song “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Yoko Ono donated $1 million toward the re-landscaping and maintenance of Strawberry Fields after it was dedicated to Lennon’s memory in 1981. The memorial garden is home to over 120 different species of plants and trees with a tear drop shaped path that runs through the garden.


The “Imagine” mosaic is a gift from Italy and is a replica of a famous mosaic in Pompeii. The only change from the original is the inclusion of “Imagine” in the center of the mosaic and has become a popular place for visitors to place flowers, pictures and tokens in memory of John Lennon.

On a personal note, Sunday night is now not only Must See TV (HBO), but also our new guilty pleasure: PostSecret .

Today’s tip for better living: Imagine.

The Power of Purple

Tim Totten wrote an interesting post on color. We study color here in the garden as well. Last time we checked blue was still America’s favorite hue.

Regarding funeral service, the color is changing. From darkness to light.

In the urn world, we noticed that the ladies love shades of purple. So we offered a line of purple urns and are one of the few distributors to do so.  When we expanded our line of pet urns, we wanted to offer stylish urns in blue and purple, so we manufactured an exclusive line, our True Blue and Violet Inspiration and the families have responded.

purple cremation urns for ashess

If I examine my own purchasing power, I scan the shelves on the health and beauty aisle for the purple packaging of the Aussie hair care products. My gym bag, Nikes, bedspread, hand soap, scissors…..All various shades of purple.

Love it or hate it- the symbolism of the color Purple:

Royalty and Spirituality: Purple is royalty. A mysterious color, purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. The opposites of hot red and cool blue combine to create this intriguing color.

Nature of Purple: Purple has a special, almost sacred place in nature: lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often delicate and considered precious. Because purple is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool color it has both warm and cool properties. A purple room can boost a child’s imagination or an artist’s creativity.

Too much purple, like blue, could result in moodiness. I read where purple can also symbolize mental illness and violence!

Culture of Purple: The color of mourning for widows in Thailand, purple was the favorite color of Egypt’s Cleopatra. It has been traditionally associated with royalty in many cultures. Purple robes were worn by royalty and people of authority or high rank. The Purple Heart is a U.S. Military decoration given to soldiers wounded in battle.

Can’t Get No Satisfaction

We’re still digging out from the remodeling project, tedious, but liberating.

Two customer service issues with Amazon and Alltel have taken their toll.

As an Amazon merchant, we’ve had some issues regarding payment and communication and recently terminated our seller account. Amazon is difficult to do business with on the merchant level. After digging down deep for a phone number, I was connected to a rep in India and then transferred three times to someone who would “put a note in my file”. That’s what they said a month ago. Hmmmm. Suspicions confirmed…..

Alltel: Second visit in four days. The phone store experience has become reminiscent of a visit to the DMV. Silly me, I went to one of the smaller “satellite” stores thinking it might be less busy than the main location. Bad idea. The reps are pleasant enough, it’s the clients that are surly. Saturday, get new phone and revise contract.

Today, I planned a weekday 10 am visit for a simple accessory exchange, should be in and out. Count on a minimum 30 minute wait. Both days, customers are stacked up with lots of huffing and puffing going on. Three agents to service the masses. Saturday, they had a greeter to take names and route the traffic. They don’t answer the phone, which rings incessantly, but the ring tones blend in with the hip hop dance club music they play overhead. The kids love it.

Prior to the first visit, I made several attempts to call ahead to get the store hours, the recording does not divulge that information. Today, I saw two people stomp out of the store swearing they’d never use AllTel again.

Maybe they should expand the lounge area and serve cocktails while people are waiting. Or hire a few more agents. Saturday, my rep was demonstrating the phone internet features and pron proceeded to download in my face. Whoops! Krazy Kids!

On a brighter note the folks at urngarden.com have added a wholesale module for funeral directors to log-on and order the cremation urn styles that families WILL BUY. We’ve mined the data to show you what customers prefer in your area and you can build around it.

Today we’ll examine Florida. Most funeral homes in the USA carry the two standards Birds in Flight (I call it “Free Bird”) and the Classic. Both have matching 3″ keepsakes and are the most popular cremation urns sold in the Sunshine State from 2005 to present.

Speaking of memorial keepsake urns- from the 3″ brass standards to the cremation urn jewelry gold heart pendant, they all do well. Family packs of keepsake urns in quantities of 4-6 are a popular choice and we’ll mix and match if desired. Call me or call your supplier, but make it a point to stock the cremation urn styles that families prefer.

Celtic keepsake urns- we have an exclusive line that we’ve added in the last year.


Florida Families also purchased: Blue Swirl and Irish Rose .
Urn Garden blue urn

Florida families are doing the tree dedications and adding a bench or statuary as a cremation memorial.
Urngarden memorial stones

Clearing the Emotional Clutter Pt. 2

HOW TO FREE YOURSELF OF MEMORY CLUTTER

* Realize that if you let go of an item, you do not let go of that person. People do not live on through material items.

* Hold on to items that only bring back positive memories, not painful ones.

* If there are items that encourage you to keep up a ritual based on grief, consider letting it go and focus on the positive instead.

* Make sure your space has a great representation of the past but also leaves room for you to celebrate the present and plan for the future.

* Keep the items that truly represent your loved one. To help, use this three-step process:

Step 1: Place all items in another area.

Step 2: If you’re looking to renovate a room, decide how you want to feel in that space.

Step 3: Sort everything into three categories: charity donations, keepsakes and items for a memory chest.

After almost six years, one family began the process of letting go of their young son. They begin with suitcases of his clothes and find a T-shirt that brings back painful memories of the end of his life. “Three years of our life was pain, and that’s like a memory of him. That’s still him,” his mother says.

“You have to separate the pain from the memory of your son,” organizational expert Peter Walsh says. Slowly, she lets go. “The thing is now this will be used by kids who need clothes. It will be put to great use by others who are less well off than you,” Peter says.

When deciding to keep certain things, that were part of the family routine, Peter wants to make sure this ritual is not unhealthy for the family. “The big focus in this is that stuff has power over you,” Peter says. “My concern [is] that often in touching things or looking at things they [are] connecting to the grief of the experience.”

Five hours later, the family finishes with four boxes of joyful memories.

When they described what they wanted in a home office, the family told Nate they wanted it to be functional but still honor their son’s memory.

Nate turned Jake’s old bedroom into a cheerful, organized office for the entire family. The new space is inviting. Calming blue walls, one of which is covered in cork with family photographs and mementos from the past, but room for the future picture perfect moments.

Nate and Peter pulled out all the stops for a memory chest using a beautiful armoire from “Remember when we gathered everything that you wanted to keep into the memory chest pile?” Peter says. “It’s important to understand that those things that you wanted to keep can be stored anywhere as long as they’re stored with honor and respect. And in the case of the room, the armoire’s the perfect place for that.”

On the other side of the room is a matching armoire to organize office supplies. “There are two cabinets, one’s past, one’s present and future,” Nate says.

The family loves the tribute and says they are glad the room is no longer a shrine. “It’s more of a healthy room….it’s not stuck in 2001. Now it’s 2007 and forward.”