Thoughts on mortality #2

above is a screen shot of the opening paragraph of a blog post from 2009 ..

 it is a bit of a story as to how i got to be reading that post recently, but here goes :

recently i was asked by a long time client/friend to make a box for her husband's ashes.

this is something i am  always honored to do, and i have made many of them ...

we went back and forth on the design and wood choice and settled on

the spalted maple you see above ... as it turned out, she plans to 

'go with him' and so, i eliminated the divider i had suggested in the original design.

the thought was that i could just 'double my regular box size' ...

but after doing a little research on 'cremains' i realized i could go a bit smaller ..

more or less final dimensions below ...  

these folks were longtime 'summer' clients, at their house here in dorset,

when they were not at their ranch near san marcos texas ...

we made many live edge pieces and a few 'outside the box' pieces 

involving burls, mirrors and antlers ... these folks were master collaborators ..

and always fun to work with ...

 

the note ... 

 

i leave you here with another part of the 2009 post  ...

from old st. pauls church, baltimore, 1692 ..

'gracefully surrender the things of youth'

....... 

'be careful. strive to be happy'

 

good advice a plenty there!
and below