@janelle you have my heartfelt condolences & sympathies. 
I lost my mother in August of 2021 & I currently have her ashes in an urn. She wished for them to be spread on a mountain she lived across the street from when we were younger, so we know where she is talking about in that respect.
However, we haven’t been able to do so with positive Covid & the weather where the mountain is, deployments
overseas for my brother. However, I know she wanted each of us to have some of her ashes. (It’s my brother & I)
Prior to her passing, I had seen a Tiger’s Eye crystal bottle on a necklace. I couldn’t even imagine
at the time what I would put in such a thing! But, I needed to have it, it wanted me to take it home. Then when I had mother’s ashes, months later, I thought… I could put some in there & hang it in a special place in my room. (I have no idea how to even handle her ashes because of the residue. So as of now, the necklace is still empty) Eventually, I would like to have an ancestor altar in my sacred space. I just am working on placement & what I would like to incorporate onto the altar.
My mother was raised in the town that I live in & it’s very close to different types of waterways
. I say that because I have to get “permission” of some type from the Wildlife, Nature Department
because the mountain is a state park kind of place or monument of some kind. It’s not well known really, but I can’t just go spreading ashes or burying them without permission basically from the state where the mountain is located.
(Yes I know, if I just go & do it while hiking, no one will know, but I feel in my bones that’s not what she would have wanted aside from I couldn’t do that knowing that it was protected land. She would have wanted me to do what I could with them the right way or a special way, I think we may have to go the special way)
So for now until my brother comes home from Ukraine
, I have them in a beautiful urn that just absolutely screams my mom & she is comfortably resting in a pretty nice setup right now. We’ll figure it out, other than an ancestor altar, necklace or jewelry, resin art, mixing them with sacred sand for burning protective incense… what about a memorial ornament or using it to create sigils that are meaningful for you & your Opa? Or a bindrune? Like using it in the ink
that you make them with? (I don’t even know if it can be done that way, but it’s all I could think of
)
I hope you find what works for you & makes your connection with Opa long-lasting & special to you 