1st February 2007
A soothing day today. I spent some time outside trying to do some basic maintenance. Reclaiming the herbs in their pots from weeds 'squatting' and to clear some of the extraneous things that seem to gather - and not have a home in and around the garden. The wind was up - but it helped blow the cobwebs away mentally and physically.
We live on the shore of the Moray Firth in a quiet spot. The sun popped out a couple of times, but otherwise the wind made for a transient sky and impressive cloud formations.
The ducks were bobbing happily on the water and our youngest cat, Cuthbert (Bertie) was determined to be my help mate. Anything I tried to do he was there, pouncing and jumping, crouching - and then finally - when I climbed into the car for a breather out of the wind, jumping in, climbing onto the back parcel shelf and then crashing out. I listened to You and Yours and stayed in the car much longer than anticipated as they were featuring alternative funerals.
The programme was outlining some of the choices people are making. The one I am still thinking about is the firework company that will send your ashes up in a pyrotechnics display! Also an egg shaped coffin in which the deceased is laid in a foetal position. Actually, as well as those, I was also intrigued by the graveside feature which is apparently becoming popular in the USA. It is a headstone mounted screen which you can press and see a short multimedia presentation on the life of the person who has died. There was a great deal about green burials (which is the option I have chosen for myself) and a vicar of "thirty five years" was interviewed who was deeply unphased by what he had seen at the alternative exhibition and said, quite rightly, he would be "open to just about anything".
I left Cuthbert sleeping with the car door open, but Radio 4 turned off. I feel he can listen to the radio in the house if he wishes to. For some reason, he loves cars. He was picked up as a stray on Lewis and we fell for him at SSPCA. We wonder to this day whether his over-friendliness meant he hitched a lift from some part of the island, and then, not knowing where he was, began his life as a stray. He was a very obviously loved young cat who seems to enjoy being in the Chapel here and will purr loudly during singing! He looked awfully like a fluffy toy, fast asleep on the parcel shelf this afternoon. I should have stopped and taken a picture. Now to return to my own alternative funeral rite - clearing up the remains of Bertie's latest hunting expedition.
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