...That was the most fun I have ever had at a funeral....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgmkQp4OjM8


We promised him a viking funeral.  Sadly California state law would not allow us to actually burn his body, he had to be cremated first.  Even getting permission to burn his ashes was a complete nightmare.  We finally decided to do it on the reservation, this way the only thing we need was the presence and permission of the tribe's fire department. 

The service was extremely casual, people spoke and then the archers set the ship on fire.  Here's a funfact, once the wood has been doused with lamp oil, then with mead, you really really need to stand back.  The heat coming off of that thing was incredible. 

Anyway, at the end, when people were leaving, several people came up to me with the same line.  "Cate, I don't know how to tell you this, but that was the best funeral ever"  or "I have never had that much fun at a funeral before." 

I suppose that's a good thing, because it is a funeral they will never forget.

Halloween 2006

My husband Tom went to the doctor because he thought he had really bad hemroid.  The doctor told him, that it wasn't a hemroid, that the bleeding was coming from further up in the colon.  So they did a colonoscopy.  They found something and immediately did a biopsy.   Halloween came around while we were waiting for the results.

We were out trick-or-treating and it was starting to get late.  I told my daughter just one more house.  As she walked up to the door my husband grabbed my arm and said, "Let's stay out a little longer."  I asked him why, because it was getting late and cold.  His reply will haunt me forever:  "because I have a feeling that this is the last time I am ever going to do this."


He was right.  Cancer took him on June 10th 2007, he never saw another Halloween.

When the Man Comes Around

And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, a white horse.
There's a man goin' 'round takin' names. An' he decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won't be treated all the same. There'll be a golden ladder reaching down. When the man comes around.

The hairs on your arm will stand up. At the terror in each sip and in each sup. For you partake of that last offered cup, Or disappear into the potter's ground. When the man comes around.

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers. One hundred million angels singin'. Multitudes are marching to the big kettle drum. Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wicks. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Till Armageddon, no Shalam, no Shalom. Then the father hen will call his chickens home. The wise men will bow down before the throne. And at his feet they'll cast their golden crown. When the man comes around.

Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still. Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still. Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still. Listen to the words long written down, When the man comes around.

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers. One hundred million angels singin'. Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettle drum. Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wicks. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

In measured hundredweight and penny pound. When the man comes around.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. And Hell followed with him.