a long time coming

I have a tendency to overuse the word "favorite"
I can't help it. I live with gusto and enthusiasm for so much, that in a moment or a day, I can have so many things -thoughts or people or actions that I hold incredibley dear-and in that moment, they are my favorite-whatever that means.
But it's been a long time established that of the organs of the body (canine or otherwise) the heart is my most beloved. It is my favorite.
It is magical, simply majestic. life cannot exist without it, and yet, it can persist without life-although perhaps not long, as it eventually lacks a need.
So, needless to say, my favorite class this semester is cardiovascular- a class dedicated to the heart!
We are currently learning about a few different diseases that result in murmurs, and we have the task of wandering aimlessly around the small animal clinic (ok, not AIMLESS, but still) looking for patients with abnormal heart sounds... normal's pretty, well, normal. you know what it sounds like and what to expect, you know how to count it, etc. but abnormal.. abnormal can be anything...
(my favorite-perhaps for romance's sake- is "premature ventricular contractions", aka tachycardia, aka you make my heart beat faster)
we have a limited period of time to listen to a variety of heart murmurs, and as luck (?) would have it, one of my dogs happens to have a grade 6/6 mitral valve insufficiency- resulting in a palpable murmur (you can feel it when you hold her!) she's 13.5 and has had it (although not so severe) since I adopted her 6.5 years ago

woosh woosh.. woosh woosh.. (the washing machine murmur!)

I decided it would be considerate of me to share this (rare?) find with my classmates and volunteered her to be available to them.. everyone was appreciative, and most were shocked.. not merely at the 6/6 but also that she was as old as she is and still alive with it.. which made me happy and sad at the same time.. we've beat the odds? sort of. but it also means we're closer to the unimaginable.

so what has this got to do with clay?
well-two things: my obsession with the heart, and my beloved Pyxie Princess.

I made these earrings last year for Valentine's day, and they have since been worn countless times and gotten more comments than I can recall. I regret not having progressive pictures, but perhaps I'll make more and remember to do so along the way. The base has the actual 4 chambers- 2 atria and 2 ventricles (larger and on the bottom), and sitting on each atria are the auricles (or "ears"). There is fat in each coronary groove, and the coronary vessels (those that actually supply the heart with blood) and I have the pulmonary artery visible on the right heart pictured -that's the "back" of the heart-that blood goes to the lungs to exchange CO2 for O2, and the aorta/aortic arch is pictured on the left heart. I went into enough detail on these to include actual vessels sprouting off- one of my fosters years ago had what's called a PDA murmur- patent ductus arteriosus. when the pup was in utero and the lungs did not circulate air or undergo gas exchange, they could be bypassed, and were by the ductus arteriosus (shortcut from the pulmonary artery straight to the aorta). This closes shortly after birth in most animals (and people) but doesn't in a few. It's a pretty "simple" fix-as far as heart surgeries go- but it does require open heart surgery to fix-otherwise the dog will likely not live past the age of two. (sorry-long rant about PDA, but-it's my FAVORITE! probably just because we had one-she had the surgery and was adopted by a wonderful lady!) ;-) anyways, closed it becomes just fibrous connective tissue called the ligamentum arteriosum. it's pretty nifty, and if you look close, it's on my heart. :-)

and-not to be overshadowed by my obsession with the anatomical heart, is my beloved Pyxie Princess

I bought some speckled clay a while back thinking it would be perfect for her skin and didn't have time to start the project until recently. I also invested in a clay tool (pasta-something or other) that pushes out tubes of a variety of sizes that I intended to play around with for hair. I thought the first attempt needed to be something special, and what's more special than the princess? (not a whole lot!)

It's lacking in some detail, and her stomach is more pink tinted than tan, but this was really just a rough draft, I won't be making the final draft until much later (I hope).

For now, she will sit in a most treasured spot on my nightstand, while the model sleeps curled up, either in my arms or on my pillow.

It isn't right to say she is my favorite dog. I have three, and they are so very different that each is treasured in a unique way; but to not give Pyxie an honorable mention seems.. just not quite right.

She is my "dream dog" -we got her as a foster, and the moment I layed eyes on her I knew I wanted a dog "just like her" (I just didn't know it would be her!) when I set out looking for Chinese Crested, I wanted a mellow dog that would let me hold them and dress them, and yes, from time to time, put her in a purse and tote her around. Pyxie is the only of my three that actually LIKEs clothes-like she gets EXCITED when I go to their drawer. And I worked at a larger kiosk in the mall for years, and she snuck in in a purse and hung out inside with me when I worked in the evenings after school. She isn't the most social dog, her affection had to be earned, and for that I am incredibly grateful. How lucky am I to have the affection of such a precious soul?

lucky indeed...<3