Weekly Bird in the Hand

Here it is - the things I am grateful for this week:

Photo by Andy Cardiff

• The life of John's Uncle Archie who died this morning. He was such a kind and gracious man. 
• Seeing two turtles sunbathing on the duck platform in the pond. For a few years now, we've only ever seen one turtle so it was lovely to see that he had a friend round to sunbathe with. I hope they both stay for the summer :-D
• Sunshine and warm weather.
• The roses starting to bloom.
• Being trusted with a friend's heart.
• Happy lunch time with a friend in Sonoma.

I hope your week has been blessed too.

Friday's Facts, Fascinations, and Folklore - Gobbledygook

 It pains me to give Wild Turkeys blog space - but we have seen so many of them this week in the vineyard that I just have to!  Even though I live at "Birdland" and love birds, there is one bird that we don't like seeing and that is the Wild Turkey. I can think of numerous reasons :

• For a start, it is an ugly bird!  I don't see anything attractive about it especially with: 

          their featherless head,
          their caruncle (the bright colored growths at their throat),
          their snood (the flap of skin over the beak)
          and the wattle (the flap of skin under the chin.
Too many flappy bits (all of which turn then red when the bird is upset or courting!).

• They hang out in really large groups - and look quite menacing in such large numbers. We often see them in their hundreds in the fields nearby and upto 50 or so come into the vineyard at once.

• They make a mess - leaving behind lots of guano!

• They scratch up the ground leaving it a mess too. 

• They eat grapes! So we especially hate seeing them in the vineyard.

• They are thought to eat some endangered species of salamander and frogs in CA.  Bad birds! 

• Their "song" (Ha!) - gobble - doesn't even sound nice!

So all in all - Birdland is happy to have birds here - as long as they aren't turkeys (or Canada Geese...but that's another story)!

Photo by eye of einstein

When we see a group in the vineyard, we shout "turkey alert" and rush out to try and scare them away.  We definitely don't want them getting comfortable and eating our grapes!  After a few days of that, they seem to get the message and stay out - but after a while, they will try again ...just to test us. This week has been one of those testing weeks!  But we'll keep at them......relentlessly..... and then maybe need a glass of....

Photo by *[SouLe]*

 Alternatively, anyone want to lend us their dog???

Frog eaters in the pond

Just spotted a little Green Heron on the duck birdhouse on our pond.  We often see him by the pond under the dock or in the canoe doing some fishing but Green Herons are typically shy so we haven't seen him on top of the post before.  Got some nice photos of him too showing his green head...

I'm wondering if he is sitting further from the water to get away from the noise of Bello the bullfrog whom I mentioned in yesterday's post! Can herons put their wings over his ears to block out the noise I wonder????

And even though herons eat frogs - I think Bello could be a little much for the little green!  We also get a great blue heron regularly but not even sure if they eat bull frogs.... Adult bull frogs seem to have few predators.

I think I'd have to say that I prefer the elegance of the heron to the croak of the bullfrog.  Sorry Bello!

Mondays with Marly - California Dreamin'

By guest blogger Marly

Marly and Angie own Studio 28 in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

What a difference two weeks makes. The income tax forms are mailed away and my left brain is recuperating and resting comfortably after having to perform a myriad of gymnastic feats to complete the task. "Go ahead and reminisce about your trip to California and your amazing visit to Birdland," my left brain lazily says. I'm headed off for a well-deserved nap. Just remember you promised we'd talk about studio organization later this afternoon."

Mmmmm...studio organization....O.K. then.... let's start reminiscing...shall we? 

Angie's spinner beads

It was the fall of 2008. Angie was having a significant birthday late in September and we wanted to celebrate it in a special way. So what evolved was an amazing week in California divided into three parts, exploring San Francisco, spending two days with Hadar Jacobson in her studio, and the big finale...visiting Ruth and family at their Birdland vineyard.

Marly's bronze and silver earrings

After exploring San Fran for two days we took the BART over to Berkeley and settled into a lovely B and B in the neighbourhood of Hadar Jacobson's place called The Brick Path B and B . Then we spent two days of creating jewelry under the knowledgeable guidance and expertise of Hadar in her studio/workshop space. We were so excited about our new learning experiences and the opportunity to spend time with such a gifted artisan.

Marly's collage pendant

 Angie's hollow form stones

 Angie's collage pendant

We ended our California adventures with a visit to Ruth's place in Glen Ellen. It was wonderful to see Ruth again and to experience Birdland, a magical retreat that exudes happiness, thoughtful creativity and natural beauty everywhere you look. We loved meeting Ruth's husband John and their colorful and talented parrot, Harold, and had a wonderful time in their company.

Ruth had planned many special events to help Angie celebrate her birthday. First it was off to the little mountain town of Calistoga for a mudbath...aahhh...such goopy, relaxing fun!

The mudbath and massage got us in the perfect mood for a bit of winetasting. Here's a picture of Ruth and I enjoying some wine at Roshambo winery. I'm looking rather stern as I want Ruth to notice that my wine glass is empty! Hee hee!

After a few more visits to nearby wineries, Angie and Ruth were ready to dance with the locals!

Ruth and John were amazing hosts. We'll always have memories of gatherings in the "fairy ring," delicious dinners, sipping on Birdland Merlot, sharing stories around the fire, and looking out at the stars above the vineyard. What a highlight of 2008!

Oh dear....I think my reminiscing time has run out...I hear the left side of my brain starting to stir. Maybe I can squeeze in some play time with metal clay before the dreaded "studio organization" conversation! Wish me luck!

Enjoying the flowers

Monday's Millinery Musings - Hat Movies

By guest blogger Jennifer

Jennifer's Etsy Store

I adore movies and my favorite place to see them is in the lovely old Sebastiani Theater on the plaza in my hometown of Sonoma. Thanks to extensive refurbishing about 7 years ago the theater is enjoying a "second spring". The Sebastiani showed its first movie, Fugitive Lovers, on April 7, 1934.

Answers.com movie review says about Fugitive Lovers: "Escaping from her gangster boyfriend Legs (Nat Pendleton), chorus girl Letty (Madge Evans) boards a Greyhound bus bound for California. Likewise a passenger -- albeit a non-paying one -- is Porter (Robert Montgomery), a fugitive from justice. As the bus rolls ever onward, hero and heroine are inexorably drawn together, despite the looming twin threats of arrest and/or extermination."  Pretty exciting stuff in 1934!

Although this is an old photo, the theater still looks much the same. A tiny wooden ticket booth, just big enough for one person, stands at the entrance of the long passage to the front door and current lobby where tickets are sold. Inside the booth sits the "ticket taker".

Years ago I asked her name and was told then that she had no name.  I think of her as Lily, sometimes Edna or Mavis depending on her outfit, which changes every once in awhile. Notice that she is wearing a hat, you can just see it...a little ribbony clam shell affair. Although LilyEdnaMavis can't sell you a ticket, she has great presence and I check in with her several times a week when I walk to town.

But all of this is diverting me from the true purpose of this post which is to give you a list of some of my favorite hat films (and please, please, PLEASE share yours with me) :

Coco Chanel (not the recent Coco Before Chanel which has only a few interesting hats)
Enchanted AprilOut of Africa
The Moderns
Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle
Henry and June 
Little Dorrit (Charles Dickens BBC Series)
Marie Antoinette (for color, costume, feathers, silk, over-the-top hair and hats)

Until next time,  let's pop some corn, put up our feet and go to the movies!

Oscar the Osprey finds Harold! - Friday's fascinations, facts and folklore

When we lived on Sanibel Island in FL, before moving to California, there were loads of ospreys to be seen. We even had them nesting in our garden and it was lovely to watch them. 

Soon after moving to Sanibel, I wrote a children's short story - never did anything with it, but it was all about Oscar the Osprey and Harold our pet parrot.  I was inspired to write it because shortly after moving there, Harold was on top of his cage in the screened porch area one day and a large osprey flew over the screen roof, very close to Harold's cage!  Poor little Harold was scared with this large shadow overhead and fell off his perch onto the floor! 

And so - I wrote this little story about how scary it is to move to a new place and not have any friends and how to make friends etc.  Yes, as you can imagine, Oscar and Harold became fine friends in the story.

Well yesterday, I saw that Oscar had come to see Harold - all the way from Florida!  I looked out of the window and there was Oscar on top of our willow tree by the pond!  He was looking as handsome as ever, perched right on the top.  After getting my camera and taking a few shots,  I, of course, told Harold he was here to see him!  Naturally Harold was very excited....but I can't tell you the rest because maybe that will be another little story one day!  The further adventures of Harold and Oscar - all about how to stay in touch with your friends not matter how far away you live!!

Oscar looks like he's had too much fun with Harold here - and is taking a little nap!!

What stories are happening around you today?

Monday's Millinery Musings - Nesting place

Written by my new guest blogger - Jennifer

See the sidebar for Jennifer's etsy store or click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jenniferwhitmer

On St. Valentine's Day I read Ruth's post about National Nest Box Week, a yearly event, sponsored by  the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). For a week beginning on Valentine's Day nest boxes are placed in gardens all over the UK.  I was galvanized to get a nest box in our garden! The birds in North America, as  well as in the UK, have lost many of their natural nesting sites and their populations have been dwindling. The birds could use our help.

I clicked onto Ruth's link for the BTO where there are simple instructions for building your own nest box.  I printed out the instructions and gave them to my Valentine who is very clever with a cop saw, hammer and nails. In no time at all, as you can see, he made 2 lovely nest boxes from scrap wood found out in the garden. We hung one box on the grape arbor and the second in the apple tree (not too close together - birds like their space) and are hoping the song sparrows will be tempted by these comfortable lodgings.

The BTO began National Nest Box Week in 1997 and over the years there are believed to now be 5 - 6 million boxes in gardens all across the UK. They have significantly increased their bird population one box at a time! This makes my heart glad.

On February 14, my Valentine presented me with two  abandoned bird's nests that he found while pruning: a song bird's pensile nest (not shown) in the lemon tree, and a jay's cup nest (shown) found buried in the front hedge. I meant to take a picture of them for you (they were side by side) since they were unusual Valentine's Day gifts but someone (a bird!) has made off with the pensile nest! Thief! To be fair, how could any bird resist a pile of ready nesting materials? Now I'm curious to see if the robins or jays will start robbing twigs from the cup nest. It's always exciting out here in nature.

Harvest Day 1

Our first morning of the grape harvest for 2009. Here are a few photos to show you the vineyard crew in action.

Each of the green or white containers you see in the photos holds approx 1/2 ton of grapes. The vineyard really looks like a farm today with a couple of tractors, fork lift, flat bed truck, loads of cars parked outside and people everywhere! We normally don't have "equipment" everywhere! Even the deer are keeping away as there is too much activity.


The goal today was to harvest 5 tons. They are so fast at picking. It's 10am and they are done! Look carefully at the first photo below - it's taken under the vines and you can just about make out all the legs of the vineyard crew as they pick!


"Heavy storms" are forecast for tomorrow. We haven't had rain since spring so I'm not complaining....By the end of the week, it should be warm again so hopefully the rest of the grapes will be ready to be harvested then. We expect a total harvest of about 20 tons. I had a little taste of the grapes as I wandered around this morning....lots of good flavors.

Harvest time - Birdland Merlot

Harvest time is upon us. We will begin on Monday, harvesting 5 tons of our lovely Merlot grapes. The vineyard is looking so beautiful with all these little grapes, in their dark colors against the turning green leaves....so splashes of yellows and reds...

It's such a wonderful time of the year....but also feels a little sad as we've been watching the grapes grow for quite a few months now....and then they all get picked...

and as the first photo above shows - it's a little like being an "empty nester"! Yes, we found three different nests in our vineyard this year - one of them had an egg still in it and another had half an egg!....seems like the grapes took over when the birds left and were "hanging out" in them....


So it'll be a few days before everything is harvested - particularly as rain is due on Tuesday, but think of us...empty nesters...... when all our little babies leave home....

But some of them will return in a couple of years as Birdland Merlot - so I guess we can cope :=D

A little bit of color....

So I'm reading about and experimenting with color .....Color is such a big part of my life - if you came to my house, you'd see it instantly. We have a lot of color going on...from our bright turquoise sofas to orange lamps to.....color, color everywhere......And so I sort of feel restricted with silver sometimes, because it's silver and isn't these bright happy colors....! And I know lots of people incorporate color into their work...but not in ways that I want to! Problem is, I'm not sure how I want to - but know it's just not the typical ways.....


Tonight we joined some friends in Sonoma for the farmer's market-come-town party and had a picnic and listened and danced to the music and...... The farmer's market is held on Tuesday nights in the plaza and once a month- it becomes a big party with lots of people picnicking there and having a good time. After eating our picnic, we wandered through the stalls and all this color was shouting out at me - which is where the photos come from....


I guess I'll be experimenting with color for a while yet.....and in the meantime, enjoying it everywhere else but in my silver!

Have a color-full day!