Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[redhotchick]

It's a very good idea to let your wishes be known with regard to funerals, and if you are giving it some thought, can you also consider organ donation and let your wishes in that respect be known to those close to you too.

[bigmommasally]

It's a very good idea to let your wishes be known with regard to funerals, and if you are giving it some thought, can you also consider organ donation and let your wishes in that respect be known to those close to you too.

 

Good point - OH already knows that they can have all my bits for organ donation if they're any good

I do carry an old donor card but are you suppose to register on line now as well?

[alih]

YOu can do or you can just tell your nearest and dearest...I am definitely on their list - might as well be of some use after I'm gone. Cardboard coffin and ashes scattered somewhere up high on a hillside for me...those left can remember me any way they like really.

[Looney]

I would like to be cremated and my ashes spread on a veggie patch or a field of crops. I'm not religious so wouldn't want a religious ceremony.

 

I haven't been to many funerals but I personally think they are a good way to start to say goodbye and I also think it is important for a lot of families (not all) to see how much their loved one was loved by others and therefore how much support there is out there for them in a sad time. But like most things in life, everyone is different and we all want different things - if we didn't this thread wouldn't be here!

 

This also reminds me that I MUST make a will. OH and I are not married so I need to ensure he gets anything of mine (poor love, there isn't much!) and I need to make sure that my wishes re care of Bogwoppit are down on paper.

[helenc]

I have very mixed feelings about this.

 

On one hand my husband and I both want the same thing to be cremated and mix the ashes then scatter them in the sea near Fiscardo. I'm not bothered about a service or what happens after.

 

The reason for that is my Dad died a few years ago very suddenly and it was left to me, my brother and my aunties to decide what to do for the funeral. My Dad wasn't religious at all and I am 99% sure that he wouldn't have wanted a service or anything but my brother needed it to help him to come to terms with what had happened. (Although I did do something that my Dad would have loved - we scattered his ashes on the pitch of his favourite football team so everytime we watch Newcastle play at home we think 'wonder what Dad would think about that!! )

 

I do think that the funeral is not always about the person who has died and quite often its more about the family who are left behind being able to let go of them in a way they feel can.

[jlo]

I do think that the funeral is not always about the person who has died and quite often its more about the family who are left behind being able to let go of them in a way they feel can.

 

I do agree with that. I suppose the problem for me (assuming mum goes before me) would be that, whilst I and friends and family might appreciate the closure that a funeral can bring, would we really feel that way, knowing that she would have been so set against it?

 

I would want to respect her wishes....I think! Goodness, it really is a bit of a thorny subject isn't it?

[Cinnamon]

On one hand my husband and I both want the same thing to be cremated and mix the ashes then scatter them in the sea near Fiscardo. I'm not bothered about a service or what happens after.

 

 

Lovely idea - Fiscado is one of my most favourite places in the world too

[Old Speckled Hen]

I might have my ashes sent to Revenue and Customs.

[Cinnamon]

I actually quite fancy mine being mad into a couple of diamonds for my girls,or something

 

http://www.lifegem.com

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I actually quite fancy mine being mad into a couple of diamonds for my girls,or something

 

http://www.lifegem.com

 

What a lovely idea, I've bookmarked this for later perusal!

 

It's not really a subject that gets raised until it's too late, I think a conversation is in order, and jotting down our thoughts just in case the inevitable happens, then the family will have an idea of what we wanted rather than what is expected - if they are different!

 

I could just imagine our families faces if we had cardboard coffins and a set of felt tips on top for everyone to sign it...... I'd like to make my own willow coffin, although I've no idea what I'd do with it until it was needed, a bit big for a log basket !!!!

 

Sha x

[earthmam1]

In my family we have a real mix of people, Buddhists, pagans and quakers so I suppose I could take my pick .

 

I thinki I would like a cardboard coffin that people would write all over, I would take a bit from the pagans and have an outdoor gathering, with friends and relations (that would come!!!) with a bit from the quakers that people say what they want when they want or just sit a reflect and from the buddhists lots of gongs and bells and good thoughts . Then at the end a big party to send me on my way.

 

Having read this back to myself I want to be at the party so maybehave the party before I pop my clogs

 

sue

[Chook n Boo Mum]

In my family we have a real mix of people, Buddhists, pagans and quakers so I suppose I could take my pick .

 

I thinki I would like a cardboard coffin that people would write all over, I would take a bit from the pagans and have an outdoor gathering, with friends and relations (that would come!!!) with a bit from the quakers that people say what they want when they want or just sit a reflect and from the buddhists lots of gongs and bells and good thoughts . Then at the end a big party to send me on my way.

 

Having read this back to myself I want to be at the party so maybehave the party before I pop my clogs

 

sue

 

I feel another Omlet meet coming on.... !

 

Hope you are well Sue,

 

Sha x

[Cinnamon]

In my family we have a real mix of people, Buddhists, pagans and quakers so I suppose I could take my pick .

 

I thinki I would like a cardboard coffin that people would write all over, I would take a bit from the pagans and have an outdoor gathering, with friends and relations (that would come!!!) with a bit from the quakers that people say what they want when they want or just sit a reflect and from the buddhists lots of gongs and bells and good thoughts . Then at the end a big party to send me on my way.

 

Having read this back to myself I want to be at the party so maybehave the party before I pop my clogs

 

sue

 

 

Do you know what Sue, that sounds just about perfect to me

[Valkyrie]

I agree Cinnamon - Earthmam sounds like she has the right mix to make everyone happy.

[Cinnamon]

http://www.lastingpost.com/

 

This is an interesting concept.

 

You sign up, its free, & log all your wishes on the site,then give the log on details to whoever you think will need them.

You can choose everything,music,the church,the guests....everything.

It will inform people of your death for you too.

[loopy]

We had to help arrange a funeral for a friend last year. He wasn't religious, and his wife had some clear ideas that she wanted an event celebrating his life rather than focusing on his death.

 

So, we had a cardboard coffin, with photo's of his favorite flowers printed on the outside. We had a traditional wake with an open coffin, and he was buried in a 'green burial' site. There was a 'no black' dress code at the funeral, and a mixture of friends and family spoke about him. And then we had a party.

 

One of the best things we did was not use a funeral director, but did it all ourselves. It meant that we had to collect him from the hospital, dress him, lay him out at the wake and then take him to the burial ground. He was into camper vans, so we were able to use his van as a he"Ooops, word censored!", which was handy.

 

Everybody we dealt with was really helpful, and because we did so much ourselves rather than getting someone else to do it, it felt much more like we were paying our respects.

 

The whole thing really opened my eyes, as i had the idea that funerals had to follow a fairly set course, whereas if you want to do something a bit different there's absolutely no reason not to.

[The Dogmother]

That sounds really lovely loopy and right up my street.

 

I'd really love my ashes to be scattered at Rollright Stones, which are near here. A truly wonderful and very spiritual place with the most amazing views.

 

 

Come to think of it, I need to re-do my will, so that's an opportunity to add requests for my funeral.

[helenc]

 

Lovely idea - Fiscado is one of my most favourite places in the world too

 

Sorry off topic

 

 

We love it there and have been going on holiday there for the last 6 years, we are going again in July for 2 weeks and as my daughters year starts back a few days later than most of the others I am trying to persuade my husband it would be good to go again in the last week of August!!!!

[fluffyfeet]

My father in law passed away at the end of January this year and he left specific wishes regarding his burial.

His words to us were "stick me in a cardboard box and put me in a hole in the ground" so we did!

He even left us copies of pages from the Natural Death Handbook highlighted where he wanted to be put.

We involved a funeral director as we needed them to collect FIL from the morgue and just do the very basics (chapel of rest, obtain coffin and transport to funeral).

We did the rest, no religious involvement as FIL wished, so I sorted out a 'running order' for poems (he loved Spike Milligan), songs and music (FIL was a morris man and loved folk music etc). We called it "(FIL's name) - A Life with Bells On " as it was just after a film about a Morris man came out which fitted perfectly!

We decorated the tiny chapel that was on the site with red and black balloons and streamers which were the Morris colours, played New Age music in the background, and musicians that FIL knew played and sang his favourite songs.

Everyone was asked to wear colour and we draped the coffin with tye dye throws - this also protected the feelings of people who may have been a little shocked by the appearance of a plain cardboard coffin

We even lowered him into the grave ourselves and toasted him with his favourite whiskey. Instead of the ashes to ashes soil dropping bit we dropped cuttings of wild jasmine from my sister in law's garden.

 

It was a beautiful and very serene day - and we know FIL would have approved.

 

Dawn x

[Snowy]

Great thread, and some good ideas!

Personally I don't care what is done with my body when I'm gone, as long as it's not too much trouble for my family! I do like the idea of a 'green' funeral - I can't see the point of a fancy coffin. Most important is what the family would want to do for closure. When my Mum died (she was 55 and a Christian) we got together with fellow church members and had a short service celebrating her life. Everyone mucked in and did the food, no one would accept a penny off me for the food or church service, the only cost involved was the cremation and coffin/undertakers services. It was lovely.

[clootie]

I'd like to make my own willow coffin, although I've no idea what I'd do with it until it was needed, a bit big for a log basket !!!!

 

Sha x

 

 

or a spare bed for that pesky uninvited guest? They'd ring first next time that's for sure !!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I'd like to make my own willow coffin, although I've no idea what I'd do with it until it was needed, a bit big for a log basket !!!!

 

Sha x

 

 

or a spare bed for that pesky uninvited guest? They'd ring first next time that's for sure !! x

 

I'd probably end up with 3 labs snoozing in it & the baby giving the edges unexpected crimping effects

 

Sha x

[Cinnamon]

You all need to read the book I recently lent to Claret 'The household guide to dying', which is full of the blackest black humor, & is about a woman who is dying & has a wonderful coffin made of reclaimed wood, which has pride of place on her porch & her daughters decorate it in the months leading to her death.

 

Its a super book, & brings death & dying into perspective, as well as being side splittingly funny in places

[The Dogmother]

I loved it Sarah - a real rollercoaster of emotions, that book!

[KimmyCustard]

I definitely want to be put in the 'big oven', however I'd like to stay in the pot and be put on the mantlepiece - I'm so nosey that I couldnt bear to miss out on the goings on once I pop off!

 

I'd like to have some tinsel decorated round my pot at Christmas or some fluffy chicks at Easter as well. Have told OH that if he goes first then thats what I'll do for him, he gave me the face.

 

Kimmy

x