Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

memento mori

Making Amends With My Father

On this Father’s Day weekend, my father is much on my mind — oddly, because that wasn’t the case when he was among the breathing, and I haven’t thought much about him since his death, seven years ago this month.

Last month I wrote:

He was sensitive, almost to a fault. He was caring and giving. He was cold and unyielding. He was a charmer and a cruel man, heartfelt and heartless.
modern memento mori
I pulled out this photo, this memento mori, for a couple reasons. It is the only picture I have of my father and the three sons he had with my mother; my father’s wife pulled out her camera not long after we had all arrived and said, “This will be the last time you boys are together with your daddy.”

If I do not understand him or make my peace with him I’ll be stranded in the thorny forest and the boon will elude me. This I know for certain…

About the author: Ron Davis is a writer and news producer and resides in Springfield, MO.

Cremation Urn Memorial Jewelry

Early examples of mourning  jewelry were found in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Black and white enameled heads or skulls were often set into both rings and brooches and worn to signify a period of mourning after the death of a loved one.

The Death’s Head motif (skull) was still used on mourning rings as late as the 17th century. A ring presented after the execution of King Charles I in 1649 shows a portrait of Charles I on one side and a skull and a crown on the other. Inside the inscription reads, “The glory of England has departed.”

The presentation of mourning rings was a status symbol in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wealthy specified the ring design and quantity to be made in their wills.

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and naval official (1633-1703) willed that 129 mourning rings be given away at his funeral.

Either he had a large family or a huge ego.

Urn Garden is pleased to launch a contemporary line of urn rings, inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry.

Keepsake Cremation Urn Ring

Ashes in the Ink

Back in the day, cutting edge technology allowed our families to pose with the dear departed and record the moment for posterity.

memento mori

That idea faded and seems creepy now, but what about the background noise I heard this weekend? Snippets of  reality tv with the Jackson Family Show trying to coordinate a very public gold- plated memorial service.

Or the bit of a tattoo road show, featuring a gentleman who mixed a trace of his loved one’s ashes into the ink and had a portrait style memorial tattoo on his chest.

At the quieter end of the spectrum, one of our clients does design work in a memorial garden at a hospital in upstate New York, had this good word to say about our personalized river rock garden stone.

river rock memorial stone

“Both the stone itself and the workmanship — is lovely and has become the new standard in our Memorial Gardens.”

 

Jewelry Trunk Show

Eternity Symbol

Today’s jewelry show features more mourning jewelry from the Victorian age.

Skull Mourning Ring
Ruby & Diamond Skull Mourning Ring
Vintage Mourning Jewelry
Vintage Mourning Jewelry

Plaited hair woven into the eternity/infinity symbol..serpent style! These styles are a lost art and are very collectible. Recently I talked with a funeral director in Ohio who collects the hair art. She wondered if the community come out for an exhibit on Memento Mori….at the funeral home?

cheap cremation urn jewelry for ashes

And then we have the modern designs of cremation jewelry that blend the ancient symbols of circles, wings and feathers and leaves the skulls and scales in the past:

Eternity Urn Necklace
Eternity Urn Necklace
Infinity Urn Necklace
Infinity Urn Pendant

Winged Urn Necklace

Urn Garden Cremation Jewelry

You CAN Take It With You

Today we bring you a list of items that families have placed in the casket of their loved ones compiled by an Ohio funeral director :

  • fishing rods
  • bow and arrow
  • golf clubs
  • golf balls
  • basketballs
  • autographed baseballs
  • baseball gloves
  • baseball, football and basketball uniforms
  • unloaded handguns, rifles and shotguns
  • decks of cards
  • bingo cards
  • lucky pennies
  • room keys from Las Vegas
  • cigarettes
  • marijuana joints
  • pet rocks
  • favorite books
  • a tape recorder
  • a glass eye
  • sexual devices
  • jewelry
  • fruit
  • nuts
  • photographs
  • leaf collections
  • coin collections
  • Penthouse, Playboy and raunchier varieties of magazines
  • Cremated remains of cats and dogs
  • Panties
  • Money