One of my cousins posted a link on my Facebook page she thought I might be interested in. It was a link to a news story about a couple of guys who have started a business packing relatives' ashes into bullets and shooting them out, as a way of scattering their ashes. Only a small portion is used and the families can decide what they want to do with the rest. It was, indeed, an intriguing story and interesting way to deal with human remains.
I'm against guns. However, I didn't think it was a particularly bad way to be disposed on. At risk of sounding flippant, which is not my intention, it seemed like one last joy ride.
There is concern these days about overcrowding in cemeteries. Cremation is a solution. However, not everyone wants to be cremated. Furthermore, it goes against the religious beliefs of many. Even with cremation, the ashes have to go somewhere, be it in an urn, a cemetery or scattered.
My mother-in-law's ashes sit in an urn at my father-in-law's house. Apparently, when he passes away, their ashes are to be mingle and scattered. It's kind of romantic, except for the fact, that I remember my mother-in-law telling me years ago that she wanted her ashes to be buried under a rose bush. Perhaps when the time comes, I'll remove a little of hers and put them under my David Austin so she can finally have her wish. I hope that when the day comes to finally scatter their mingled remains it's not a windy one. I've heard that the lovely notion of scattering ashes can come back and hit you in the face - literally - if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. That is one of the things I like about the notion of scattering by shooting; it eliminates having your relatives' ashes become a mouthful.
My sister and I researched and stewed over what to do with our mother's ashes. For a short period of time they sat in a box on her sofa in exactly the spot where she used to sit. When I went to her house to sort her things and prepare the house for sale I liked having her there. I imagine my father-in-law feels that way. Ultimately we put my mother's ashes in a cemetery near her house, facing the sea and looking out over the school where she used to teach and where half of her grandchildren go. They sit in a wall, rather than taking up ground space.
Since putting my mother's ashes into the cemetery, I've only been to visit a handful of times. Considering the fact that I'm down there often dropping the children at school this speaks volumes. I know there are many people out there that get comfort out of visiting their relatives graves or plaques. I'm not one of them. My mother is gone but I carry her in my heart. In the months following her death, she came to me in dreams. As I cleaned out her house, I had conversations - albeit one-sided! - with her. There is a lovely photo of her on her plaque but it's not her, it's just some plaque in a graveyard.
Despite being Jewish, a people that bury their dead, I love the idea of scattering ashes. It seems like the ultimate "ashes to ashes". Furthermore, I have to admit, I kind of like the idea of having that joy ride out of the barrel of a gun!
Here is the link that my cousin sent me.
Holy Smoke
Cheers.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
The Good Old Days
I'm in the process of writing my first novel. It's set in 1979 and my protagonist has travelled back in time from the present. One of the things she struggles with is the lack of digital technology. Whilst the novel is in no way autobiographical, I know I would struggle, too. I love digital technology!
The situation my protagonist finds herself in led to an interesting discussion between Husband and me the other day. Thinking about shows that had been on TV we began to wonder what it would be like to live in a 1970's house. It was purely hypothetical because there is NO WAY I intend to try that experiment!
Looking around our lounge room we concluded that only the television and lamps would remain plugged into the walls. No wonder our house, which was a typical family home when it was built in 1980, feels so small now; it wasn't built for all the extra stuff.
The kitchen would have only had the fridge, toaster and kettle. There may have been a radio where the television sits in our meals area.
Teenage Daughter and The Boyfriend would have had to endure phone conversations on a phone that would have been plugged in to the kitchen wall and I would be writing my novel by hand. I'd actually have to go out to do the banking and probably use the bus to get there because we may have only had one car.
With that all in mind I remarked that there must have been far fewer carbon emissions in those days. Husband was unconvinced citing the fact that industry was less regulated - if at all - and older appliances were less energy efficient. I suspect he's right. I still wonder, however, if regulation and energy efficiency have made that much difference. I honestly don't know - I'd need to see stats on it. There are definitely far more electrical/digital items in use than ever before so that has to increase electricity usage.
We meandered away from technology to food in the course of the discussion and then on to manufactured goods. I thought of all the food in the house and could see very little difference between what I purchase now and what was in the fridge and pantry when I was growing up. I don't believe in buying convenience foods and there has been a huge increase in them in the last thirty or so years. The big difference for me, however, is that back in 1979 consumers could be more confident that the food they were buying was grown, made and owned by local businesses. The thought of carrying the Ethical Consumer Guide would not have crossed my mind; it's very unlikely it would have been necessary at the supermarket at all.
Cheap imports are not a new phenomenon. Thirty years ago, they existed. People bought them and they quickly fell apart - the goods, not the people, of course. There was a choice. Now it is extremely difficult - sometimes impossible - to find locally manufactured goods. It's even more difficult to find locally owned companies.
Having written all that, however, I'm now going to go and do my internet banking on my computer!
Cheers.
The situation my protagonist finds herself in led to an interesting discussion between Husband and me the other day. Thinking about shows that had been on TV we began to wonder what it would be like to live in a 1970's house. It was purely hypothetical because there is NO WAY I intend to try that experiment!
Looking around our lounge room we concluded that only the television and lamps would remain plugged into the walls. No wonder our house, which was a typical family home when it was built in 1980, feels so small now; it wasn't built for all the extra stuff.
The kitchen would have only had the fridge, toaster and kettle. There may have been a radio where the television sits in our meals area.
Teenage Daughter and The Boyfriend would have had to endure phone conversations on a phone that would have been plugged in to the kitchen wall and I would be writing my novel by hand. I'd actually have to go out to do the banking and probably use the bus to get there because we may have only had one car.
With that all in mind I remarked that there must have been far fewer carbon emissions in those days. Husband was unconvinced citing the fact that industry was less regulated - if at all - and older appliances were less energy efficient. I suspect he's right. I still wonder, however, if regulation and energy efficiency have made that much difference. I honestly don't know - I'd need to see stats on it. There are definitely far more electrical/digital items in use than ever before so that has to increase electricity usage.
We meandered away from technology to food in the course of the discussion and then on to manufactured goods. I thought of all the food in the house and could see very little difference between what I purchase now and what was in the fridge and pantry when I was growing up. I don't believe in buying convenience foods and there has been a huge increase in them in the last thirty or so years. The big difference for me, however, is that back in 1979 consumers could be more confident that the food they were buying was grown, made and owned by local businesses. The thought of carrying the Ethical Consumer Guide would not have crossed my mind; it's very unlikely it would have been necessary at the supermarket at all.
Cheap imports are not a new phenomenon. Thirty years ago, they existed. People bought them and they quickly fell apart - the goods, not the people, of course. There was a choice. Now it is extremely difficult - sometimes impossible - to find locally manufactured goods. It's even more difficult to find locally owned companies.
Having written all that, however, I'm now going to go and do my internet banking on my computer!
Cheers.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Doing a Year 12 Formal semi-ethically
Teenage Daughter had her Year 12 Formal the other night. Here are all the things about it that fitted into the Footprints Project.
- Her dress was second hand
- She borrowed shoes, jacket and handbag
- Twenty two of her friends met locally and hired a bus to take them into the city and back later
- All the jewellery she wore she already owned or borrowed for the occasion
- The make-up she bought will last quite some time since she rarely wears make-up
- Her corsage was not bought from a chain store but I don't know where the flowers were grown
The things that were not so ethical.
- The amount of product and heat that went into her hair!
- The hair clip
- The make-up was bought from the Body Shop whose parent company is L'Oreal.
- The nail polish
For the most part, I think we did well. I'm particularly proud of my daughter for wanting to try to do it as ethically as possible.
Cheers.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Vinegar weed killer
Our front garden currently smells like salad dressing! I read on the internet a little while ago that straight white vinegar makes a good weed killer so we tried it on the weekend. Some of the weeds responded almost immediately and wilted like cucumber in a dressed salad. Others, however, show no signs of distress. Proprietary weed killers take up to two weeks to work so we'll see what happens with the vinegar.
We decided to try it because we thought it would be preferable to weed killer. Our reasoning was that we ingest vinegar so how harmful could it be to the wildlife in our garden, including our dog and two cats. You may be wondering why we feel the need to poison the weeds at all; why not just pull them up? Those of you who have seen our garden already know the answer; neither Husband nor I have a single green thumb cell between us. We detest gardening and the harder the work, the more we avoid and loathe it. Add to the mix that our life of chauffeuring Teenage Daughter and Teenage Son around to their various weekend commitments means we get little time to keep on top of the weeds the way one needs to when pulling them up.
When I went to put something in the recycle bin after the big salad dressing spray, I have to admit the number of empty vinegar bottles in there bothered me. We went through four two-litre bottles and only did a fraction of the front garden. Yes, that certainly is an indictment of our gardening! However, the bigger picture is that herbicides are very concentrated. It can take quite some time to get through a two-litre bottle because only a small amount of it is mixed with water and sprayed on the weeds. I honestly don't know but now I'm wondering environmentally which is actually worse; to use so many plastic bottles, all of which use energy to be made and recycled, in an attempt to be eco-friendly or to use a product which may be more harmful but ultimately more eco-friendly in its packaging. It's something I need to research further. If anyone knows or knows where to look, I'd appreciate your input.
Cheers.
We decided to try it because we thought it would be preferable to weed killer. Our reasoning was that we ingest vinegar so how harmful could it be to the wildlife in our garden, including our dog and two cats. You may be wondering why we feel the need to poison the weeds at all; why not just pull them up? Those of you who have seen our garden already know the answer; neither Husband nor I have a single green thumb cell between us. We detest gardening and the harder the work, the more we avoid and loathe it. Add to the mix that our life of chauffeuring Teenage Daughter and Teenage Son around to their various weekend commitments means we get little time to keep on top of the weeds the way one needs to when pulling them up.
When I went to put something in the recycle bin after the big salad dressing spray, I have to admit the number of empty vinegar bottles in there bothered me. We went through four two-litre bottles and only did a fraction of the front garden. Yes, that certainly is an indictment of our gardening! However, the bigger picture is that herbicides are very concentrated. It can take quite some time to get through a two-litre bottle because only a small amount of it is mixed with water and sprayed on the weeds. I honestly don't know but now I'm wondering environmentally which is actually worse; to use so many plastic bottles, all of which use energy to be made and recycled, in an attempt to be eco-friendly or to use a product which may be more harmful but ultimately more eco-friendly in its packaging. It's something I need to research further. If anyone knows or knows where to look, I'd appreciate your input.
Cheers.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Shopping at Gaganis Brothers
Every year, around this time, we go to Gaganis Brothers to stock up on some of the stuff we'll need over Passover. We use a lot of almond meal at this time and it is much more economical to buy it there than at the supermarket. Bigger quantities are available so there is less packaging, too.
When I'm there I ask myself why I don't shop there regularly. It's a wonderful shop that sells just about every food imaginable. I could buy things in bigger quantities thus reducing packaging. Furthermore, after awhile my pantry would be so full that I could go less often, thus creating fewer emissions.
The emissions is one of the reasons I don't go there every week. However, I think I've just solved that problem by realising that I'd end up going less often eventually. The other reason is that, when I'm at the supermarket, I walk around with The Ethical Consumer Guide in my hand so I know what I'm buying. At Gaganis much of their stuff is bought in bulk and bagged into their own store labelled bags. I don't know if I'm buying goods which have been supplied by unethical companies. That is not an insurmountable problem, however. All I have to do is ask!
Food for thought - pun intended!
Have a great weekend.
When I'm there I ask myself why I don't shop there regularly. It's a wonderful shop that sells just about every food imaginable. I could buy things in bigger quantities thus reducing packaging. Furthermore, after awhile my pantry would be so full that I could go less often, thus creating fewer emissions.
The emissions is one of the reasons I don't go there every week. However, I think I've just solved that problem by realising that I'd end up going less often eventually. The other reason is that, when I'm at the supermarket, I walk around with The Ethical Consumer Guide in my hand so I know what I'm buying. At Gaganis much of their stuff is bought in bulk and bagged into their own store labelled bags. I don't know if I'm buying goods which have been supplied by unethical companies. That is not an insurmountable problem, however. All I have to do is ask!
Food for thought - pun intended!
Have a great weekend.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Planning Ahead
It can be a tad difficult to be spontaneous on Footprints. We don't just want to jump in the car and go somewhere or rush out for take-away or pop up to the IGA for a chocolate bar due to fuel emissions. I have to confess that the latter still happens which really annoys me because unethical chocolate bought on a bike is still unethical chocolate. But that's for another blog, another day.
I've mentioned before that Katy over at The Non-Consumer Advocate "batches errands", as she calls it. That's what I try to do now, too. So this week, I made a list of all the errands I needed to run and the best way to do it. I had originally thought I'd have to make two separate trips in different directions so I could get to the credit union. I realised, however, that, although it's not in Marion where I thought I needed to go, I could still get everything in the smaller shopping centre where my credit union is. Even better, another errand I had to run was in the same direction.
So, yesterday afternoon, I went to the credit union, bought two birthday presents and dropped something off to someone in the area in probably less time than it would have taken me to find a parking spot at Marion - well, almost. AND I didn't have to drive as far.
I couldn't have done it without a little forward planning!
Cheers.
I've mentioned before that Katy over at The Non-Consumer Advocate "batches errands", as she calls it. That's what I try to do now, too. So this week, I made a list of all the errands I needed to run and the best way to do it. I had originally thought I'd have to make two separate trips in different directions so I could get to the credit union. I realised, however, that, although it's not in Marion where I thought I needed to go, I could still get everything in the smaller shopping centre where my credit union is. Even better, another errand I had to run was in the same direction.
So, yesterday afternoon, I went to the credit union, bought two birthday presents and dropped something off to someone in the area in probably less time than it would have taken me to find a parking spot at Marion - well, almost. AND I didn't have to drive as far.
I couldn't have done it without a little forward planning!
Cheers.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Another driver on the road
Teenage Daughter is a learner driver. When she first got her learners' permit, we had to take her out separately so she could drive on quiet streets. I used to worry about the emissions we were creating. Fortunately, now she is doing a lot better. She still has a long way to go to get her license but her driving practise can now be incorporated into other outings. For example, I wanted her to do a long drive on the weekend and intended for her to drive into the city and back. Husband needed to get to the airport and was going to order a taxi. It was a no-brainer really; forget the taxi and let Teenage Daughter do the airport drive instead of driving into the city. The airport is chaotic at present with a new parking lot being built so she and I simply swapped places just before we got there and swapped back just after we drove out.
It would be logical to assume that I wouldn't want to add another driver to the road; more emissions etc. However, most of the driving Husband and I do revolves around our children. We drive them somewhere, come home and go and pick them up a few hours later. Once Teenage Daughter has her license we'll actually half the emissions created when we drive her places because she can drive herself there, park the car and drive home a few hours later, thus eliminating the journey home in between that Husband and I make. That, of course, is assuming she doesn't enjoy her new-found freedom so much that she is constantly taking the car out and about!
Cheers.
It would be logical to assume that I wouldn't want to add another driver to the road; more emissions etc. However, most of the driving Husband and I do revolves around our children. We drive them somewhere, come home and go and pick them up a few hours later. Once Teenage Daughter has her license we'll actually half the emissions created when we drive her places because she can drive herself there, park the car and drive home a few hours later, thus eliminating the journey home in between that Husband and I make. That, of course, is assuming she doesn't enjoy her new-found freedom so much that she is constantly taking the car out and about!
Cheers.
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