11.   Ash is pulverized rock, a lot like talcum powder, and it falls to the ground only in the immediate area of the eruption, he says.

12.   A famous general died, was cremated and his ashes were to be taken to Arlington National Cemetery.

13.   But, most powerfully, ashes are an unambiguous sign of death.

14.   His ashes are to be sent later this week to his mother after she returns to Phoenix from Michigan.

15.   Her ashes are in a remembrance garden at the Baltimore headquarters of the NAACP, to which she left her estate.

16.   His ashes were to be scattered in California.

17.   If the ashes are human remains, are they of the woman Lehman believes them to be?

18.   On streets where the ash is deepest, up to the second floor of some buildings, the blanket of fine gray powder is still warm underfoot.

19.   Q. We burn wood pellets for heat and have wondered whether the ashes would be OK to put in a composter.

20.   The ashes are organic, so how can they be a problem?