Late news

This item has been languishing on my PDA since the start of the year (or was it the start of last year?) ...
An American woman who received an ornate box for Christmas from her brother returned it to her local Wal-Mart because it was damaged. Fair enough - until Judy Money's brother pointed out that the box contained their sister's ashes. Oops - especially when Wal-Mart had already thrown the box out in the garbage. But the story has a "happy" ending. The Money box was found amid garbage piles at an area landfill. (Which raises questions like: is trash not compacted in the US; how long did Money and her brother spend looking for the box; was someone able to tell them the approximate whereabouts of Wal-Mart's rubbish?)
"My prayers have been answered," Money told the Omaha World-Herald. "Just the thought of having her in the dump was awful."
If the ashes had been lost, they would not have been able to consider using the services of someone like Canadian artist Luke Seaward. He has started a business which offers to draw a portrait of the departed from their ashes. It only takes about a tablespoon of the ashes which are incorporated into a pencil which is then used to draw the portrait - but currently only in shades of grey. His newly formed company, Honor Industries, will market the concept to funeral homes (and has applied for a patent for the pencil-making process). Cost of the portrait - starting from $A5,500 depending on the size and complexity of the work which can take between 30 and 200 hours.