We honour animals when they die, just like we do humans, by laying them to rest with love and attention. Here’s a blog posting from Iain in Japan talking about a well loved family dog, Kuu, and his final resting place.

Last April I was being pulled around the neighbourhood by Kuu, and waking early to his cries. For food? For a walk? I remember him as an uplifting kind of a critter, because that’s how I felt walking out with him beside the greening rice paddies. It was spring time.

The forty-nine days mentioned in Iain’s post relates to the bardo, translated as “in-between state”. In our tradition we have a series of exhortations which are read to the terminally ill and newly dead. Relatives or friends may also choose to do a forty-nine day retreat following a death.

Just another twenty days and it will be mid summer’s day. Isn’t it amazing how days remain light so late and get light again so early? In Edmonton, as in Northumberland, it hardly gets dark at all around mid June. It’s just after 10.00 pm now and the sky is turning orange, stunning colours. This time of year with the extra light I can live with less sleep, which is handy as there is a lot to do before the move into a smaller place. And I leave Edmonton.

On July 1st, Canada Day, the Edmonton Priory will re-launch itself as a Meditation Group. In the mean time a three bedroomed, developed basement, house of furniture and belongings will need to be ‘resolved’. That’s a term my mother used. “These books will need to be resolved sometime dear” she’d say in the general direction of my dad, but with little passion in her voice. With books, there was rarely any resolving. Except ones from the library they came into the house and stayed. So the books mounded up everywhere and building more shelves was the usual solution. That’s not going to happen here.

I like that way of thinking about dealing with things. To resolve: ‘to find a solution for’ rather than get rid of it or the catch-all, recycle it. I’m finding solutions suggest themselves as I go about my day with the resolving thought at the back of my mind. Yes, there is a passion in my mind for getting stuff sorted at the moment.