Phoenix Rising

Breast Cancer, Service Dogs and Spring

What do these 3 things have in common? They occupy a significant amount of my space in my cranial storage bank. So much so that there is limited amount of space for anything else. As a matter of fact, when I am consumed with anyone of them, I have to put the other 2 on a back burner. I can think about one of them and other less consuming things: walking, swimming, driving, what we're going to have for dinner. But when I'm full tilt into any of one of these areas, nothing else that requires thinking, can penetrate.

This is Amanee. She's named after Amanee Scott who does quite a bit of walking for a cure. I wrote about Amanee and you can find her here. You can also help her by contributing to her walk this year. She's a pretty remarkable young lady and this is her cause. She has accumulated quite a few miles over the past few years doing the 3 day walk. This does not include the mileage she racks up doing fundraisers throughout the year


I found the fabric for these dolls online at eQuilter. They have a full line of breast cancer awareness fabrics; and they also contribute 2% of your purchases to the charity of your choice. Take a look. These are the ones that I bought.

I got this one in pink not blue . I'm not sure if they still have it. I do like the blue and may go back for it.

I admired the work of Gilda Radner from the old days of SNL. Rose Ann Roseannadanna is a classic. Her exit appeared so sudden to me. Though I imagine it really wasn't. Was I preoccupied with other things? I remember being terribly sad and waiting for someone/s to do something. Something BIG. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Every time I see Gene Wilder in one of those old comedies I wonder how he is doing. How he deals with that loss. Even though it is many years later. It also seems like I have more conversations with folks who are spending a great deal of time at our local Gilda's House for one reason or another(their own illness or that of a loved one). Maybe Gilda's House is the big thing I thought I was waiting for. It is probably what she would have wanted and how she would want to be remembered. It may even be what gives her love ones a sense of peace.

This is Gilda's House:

...a symbol of her transformation:

and this is Gilda:

I used the same fabrics on Gilda's House. Her face and hands are sculpted from polymer clay. Her body is fiber. The skirt is a combination of paper mache and fiber dipped in paverpol over wire. The house I picked up at AC Moore (an unfinished birdhouse). Paint, beads, ribbons and a little llama's wool for hair were the balance of the ingredients that went together for this doll. I'm pretty happy with how both of these 2 dolls came out. I do think that I will change the ribbon used to tie the wrists on her blouse. We'll see...