poulsbohemian

Graduation - At Last

Today is a day that 6 months ago I thought would never come.  Time flies, doesn't it?      

                                  

Yup!  I finally graduated in my Chemotherapy treatments.  No more IV's.   I can say, though, that it was bitter sweet as I will truly miss the friends I've made at Harrison Oncology Poulsbo Campus.  The folks there have become very special, from the gals at the front desk all the way through to the wonderful RN's and my doctor Shirisha Jain. They all made my visits tolerable and I'd have to say we had some good laughs.  It's not over as I still 7 days worth of nasty pills and must return next Monday and Tuesday for my Neupogen shots to boost my white blood cells.  But, rest assured, the worst is over and I am one HAPPY CAMPER.  I will have a six week hiatus to rest my body and regain my strength then meet with the doctor regarding follow-on treatment which will include 5 years of some type of estrogen blocker pills, but I know it won't be Temoxifin as that is for younger women.  

Anyway it is a good day for me and I will enjoy it for what it is.

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Another subject:

During the past 5 weeks I have been taking a collage and assemblage class from Tess Sinclair at the Artist's Edge in Poulsbo.  We met every Thursday morning and this worked for me as the Artist's Edge is just up the street from me.  I really enjoyed the class and my classmates.   Tess was a really fun and generous teacher.  I will take another class from her next year.

Our first assignment was a "Shrine" of our choice.  Don't know why I chose "Mermaids" but here you go:

This is the finished piece as it hangs on my wall.  Following are some close-ups:

These are some shells I had in my collection along with white "sand" collected the other morning from Oyster Plant Park, just down the street from me.  It was a cold damp morning and after I collected it I brought it home and boiled it to kill the buggies and then dried it for a few hours in my oven.  No one liked my cooking that day. 

This is a fish that my wonderful Jack carved just before he died.  In back is a transparency that I printed from mermaid picture I found on the internet

This Mermaid is from a doll pattern I got from the wonderful Barbara Willis.  I've made and  mounted it a couple of times before but I had to shrink it to get it to fit this project.  The skirt fabric came from my friend Pamela Armas of Treasures of the Gypsies.  Shells from my collection and a treasure chest (just the right size) from my favorite shopping place, Amazon.com.

The tiny sand dollars were a gift from Tess Sinclair as was the "test tube" holding more sand from Oyster Plant Park,  The green bead in the corner came from a private collection of Lois Venarchick from the bead store in Port Townsend.

The top has a poem by Walter De La Mare called "Mermaid",  another internet find.  (sorry for the blurry photo)  The fibers are from my collection.  Sometimes it just pays to have "stuff".  If only it was better organized.

The whole thing measures about 13 x 14".  I love it and am glad to share it with you all.  

"It feels mighty fine to actually finish something, especially when I haven't been feeling so great", she said as she nimbly patted herself on the back. 

"Toot your own Horn"