Quentin Quail

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I've made a new style necklace of my good friend Quentin Quail.  I hope you like him.

It is like bas relief in silver.

Quentin wandering in the moonlight....  How romantic.  No wonder I always see him with Queenie!

Quentin and family take a stroll

Quentin has been out and about a lot today. First we saw him down by the pond, then he and his family have just been strolling along the lawn.

Their chicks have grown a lot.  When we first saw them, they were each about the size of dime! Now look at how big they are.

They started out with 11 chicks and today we saw 9, so that's pretty good going.  Always nice to see Quentin and family!

Weekly bird in the hand

Here is this week's list of the things I am grateful for:

Four newly hatched bluebirds in our bluebird box.  We have a camera and sound in the box, so we can watch their progress!

• Our friend John Randall whose memorial service it was yesterday.  He was a lovely man who devoted so much of his time and energy to others, especially youth. He was one of the first people I sang with when I moved to CA, so it was fitting that I could sing for him yesterday.  He leaves many big holes.... but also many wonderful memories.
• Caroline and Jamie who's first wedding anniversary it is tomorrow. They married here at Birdland on 3rd July 2010, on what was an amazing and touching day.   So many lovely memories of that day....and also their visits here beforehand to arrange everything.
• Finding a new acupuncturist to work with.  I have my second appointment today.
• Finding John Dowland's music to sing. I am working on some of his solos and just loving them. They tend towards melancholy and sadness, but are still gorgeous.
• Having dinner and lunch with friends. This week seemed a week full of catching up with friends with two lunches and three dinners each with different friends.  What a great way to spend time.
• All the baby birds we see in our vineyard - including the bluebirds and also Quentin with his flock of little ones!

Weekly bird in the hand

Here is this week's list of things I am grateful for:

I've run out of "bird in the hand" photos so here's a "Dance of love" photo by Kjunstorm

• My Dad. It was Father's Day last Sunday so even though I'm grateful for him every day, it's nice to have one special day for him.
• The Merry go round group. You may have read yesterday's merry go round blog post. It's a lovely group of artists and it's fascinating to learn, support, be inspired, create etc with them even though I've never met any of them face to face. 
• Cashew nut butter.  You can tell I didn't grow up in the US as I absolutely detest peanut butter and popcorn.  The only reason we have peanut butter in the house is to put on mouse traps!  A couple of weeks ago however I did try homemade cashew nut butter. What a different product that is from yucky peanut butter!  Occasionally I now have a little on my toast, as my portion of nuts for the day.  Who'd have thought I'd like that! Just shows you that you have to keep trying new things!
• Seeing Quentin and Queenie (our California Quails) this morning on the driveway with a new big family. Big in number but absolutely tiny in individual size!  The little chicks looked like they were less than an inch tall!
• My new iphone! Yes, I got an iPhone 4 this week and I'm loving!
• A reliable internet connection.  I know I said a few weeks ago that I thought Comcast had sorted us out.....finally....after years of bad service...but it turned out that they hadn't and the connection only lasted a few hours.  Thursday however, fingers crossed, they seem to have made progress..... Let's hope it lasts.....

13/52 Bird a week challenge - Quentin Quail strolls in the garden

Yes, Quentin has finally joined the "bird a week challenge"!!  For those who don't know, Quentin is an old friend who lives with us here in Birdland. He is a California Quail who shares his life with his wife Queenie and their numerous babies. During the winter he hangs out in his covey of other quail friends.   If you look under "caption competition" at the top of this post, you'll see Quentin and some of his friends from last year!!!

Well today he is hanging out on one of my leafy aluminium bracelets, entitled "Quentin strolls in the garden":

He likes wandering among the leaves and looking for food...... I think maybe later in the season when he has his family, it would be good to see all the quails together on a bangle. What do you think????

Doesn't he look handsome!

A group of us are all challenging ourselves to make a bird a week for 2011, and here we are, already on week 13 - a quarter of the way through!  I hope you'll take the time to see some of the other birdies created this week by clicking on the links below....more and more links appear as the week goes by as people finish their birds. Hope you enjoy them:

Weekly bird in the hand

Here's this week's things that I am grateful for - my bird in the hand:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/nosha/

• My friend Chloe. She's here staying with us this weekend, along with her parents and we are having such a great time! Let's get together more often :-D
• A good week of sales. It's nice to get home and have sales coming in from Dawanda, Etsy and my own site, all within the first week.  
• Getting back into singing. 
• The glorious weather here in northern CA.
• Catching up with friends I haven't seen in 7 weeks.
• Daffodils.  Our daffodils just started to bloom this week.  What a lovely bright yellow they are.
• Hiking with friends in the redwoods and seeing all the wild flowers especially the trillium.
• Seeing a covey of quail - yes Quentin and his buddies - in the garden most days.
• Seeing a great flock of killdeer in the garden one day ( killdeer get their name from their call, not that they kill deer!).
• The bluebirds are back in the vineyard.

Are you seeing birds and flowers that get you into the mood for spring?

Charms for Charity

It's time for the second biennial fundraiser for Cancer Research, organized by the metal community - Charms for Charity.

Metal clay artists from around the world honor cancer survivors and those who have succumbed to the disease by raising funds for The American Cancer Society and The Marrow Foundation.  We do this by creating and donating charms that are then made into incredible charm bracelets and raffled off.

It seems that this year there will probably be about 30 separate bracelets to be raffled.  The raffle takes place at the Precious Metal Clay Conference in Perdue, IN on July 30th, 2010.

At the first charms for charity two year ago, we raised $12,270. The goal this year is to reach $20,000.

If you'd like to buy tickets, you can do so online at this link: Charms of Charity

At the first such raffle two years ago - I won the very first bracelet! So yes, it's definitely worth a try - especially as the tickets are only $5 each.

And yes - you've guessed it from the first photo! Look who is on his way to join the other charms! Little Quentin Quail is heading out to be attached to one of the bracelets with lots of other cool charms!

I hope you'll consider buying one or more tickets for your chance to win a wonderful prize and also make a difference.

A new Quentin at Birdland

We recently visited Mendocino with my parents on a little road trip north - but my dad will tell you more about that on his Sunday's Spotlight blog post this Sunday.  While we were there however, we saw lots of California quails running around the little lanes and then met this little Quentin in one of the galleries.

We loved it so much - and so bought it.  It shows Quentin and Queenie and their 8 little babies!

Isn't it beautiful.  It's made by the artist Gordon Stennett from lots of different hardwoods.

It looks wonderful by our fireplace. Now we have Quentins inside and out!

Quizzical Quentin

Quentin came into the house this morning and told me that he has decided that he wants to learn how to use a computer!  With the thought of new babies this summer, he wants to be able to pass on his skills to them too.....  So we started out by just looking at the keyboard:

He is in a very quizzical mood at the moment and wanted to jump right into his first lesson.

But we are starting from scratch - so I thought our first computer lesson would be learning the alphabet! You can see how well Quentin is doing - he has already found his favorite letter:

Any teachers out there who can offer a little quizzical Quentin Quail some advice or lesson plan?

Quentin's a Charmer!

Anyone who knows Quentin, knows that he is quite the charmer!  He's just a lovely sweet character so I thought he should have his very own charm bracelet to show off his charm!

You can add other charms alongside him as he's quite friendly, or else you can keep it just to Q.

I think I like him on his own actually....but maybe we could add some family members as you know quails have lots of babies... We could have our own covey of quails all on one bracelet!

Keep on charming, Quentin!

Quentin's Back!

Yeah!  I've been hearing Quentin calling for the last couple of days - but now I've seen him too! He's back in the garden...running across the lawn and scouting out the place - hopefully for a nesting site.

Quentin - and all quails, hang out in "coveys' in the winter - large groups of up to 100 quail and we occasionally see the covey but they don't venture as a group into Birdland in those numbers.

So it's great to see Q back again!  What a happy fellow he is - strutting around, with his distinctive call...

And if you haven't met Quentin before, he is a very special California Quail.  If you click on the caption competition tab on the top of the Blogger blog or here -  Quentin's Adventures , you'll see a few things that Q and his pals got up to last year! or else search on this blog for "quentin" and you'll see even more! 

Welcome back Quentin. Hope we get to see Queenie around the garden too and that you find a nice place to build a nest......  Wonder what else you'll get up to this year....

The other Quentin in my life - Quentin Blake

Illustration by Quentin Blake

I've been thinking for a while now about how I wish I could draw. It would really be useful with what I do.....but I never did art at school or out of school and just don't seem to be able to do it....

And the sort of drawing I want to do isn't "serious" drawing either....as you know, that isn't my style :=D...

Illustration by Quentin Blake

So I've been looking around at classes etc ....and when I was in England over the New Year, I looked at some "how to draw" books....and who should I find but Quentin! This time - Quentin Blake, not Quentin Quail. He has written a Klutz book entitled "Drawing for the artistically undiscovered". So I bought it and I love it! It even comes with a little pouch with 2 art pencils and a pen.


I've enjoyed Quentin Blake's style of drawing for years - but I don't think you see much of him here in the US. He is one of Britains's best-loved and most successful illustrators and children's authors. He has illustrated more than 300 books and is probably most well known for this illustrations of Roald Dahl books. He also illustrates a lot of greeting cards so you see his drawings everywhere. He has recieved many awards, included a CBE.

His how-to-draw book is just delightful and with the whimsy style and humor, it is quite liberating. You are not trying to do something perfect - just putting pencil or pen to paper. His lessons often involve you finishing some of his drawings, like the prize winners of the World's Hairiest Man competition:


You spend time drawing candles with attitude, brooms, rakes, mops with all kinds on characteristics...and then progress to adding perspective to your drawings ..... light and shadow....

Then there is a section on different animals - including the zoo in your imagination with such things as s 14-legged Gaumposaurus....but also birds, pigs, horses, fish, crocodiles and dogs:

and then people:


I'm only about a third of the way through and I'm already dreading getting to the end as its just such fun. You can pick up the book for just a couple of minutes, or get in the swing of it and spend ages doing lots of silly drawings.

Parrot by Quentin Blake

So if you've been wanting to try drawing - give Quentin a try. You will have a wild time! And check out his website http://www.quentinblake.com

Sunday's spotlight - Quentin visits Lincoln

By guest blogger Pete.

The world renown quail, Quentin, paid a visit to his favourite UK city - namely Lincoln - this last week-end.

No sooner had he finished his first cup of coffee when an emergency call came through for him to venture once more into the Antarctic wastes of Lincoln's Boultham Park in an effort to rescue three lost walkers. A quick email to Superman to assure him that all was well, a second cup of coffee and he was off, waving goodbye as he disappeared into the white-out. It always amazes Quentin that some people - even his special friends, Ruth and John - can be so foolish as to venture forth for exercise when the snow lays "deep and crisp " and now very "even".

But our intrepid world wide traveller knows no fear and was soon wrestling his way through icy snow drifts in the dying light of a winter's afternoon, with no thought for his own safety - only for the three foolish ones he had set his mind on finding.

Led by (out of shot) Quentin, the three foolish people return safely.

No radio communication was possible in such terrible and inhospitable weather so a concerned Pete remained at base camp keeping a worried lookout for the three foolish ones and their rescuer.

After what seemed to be an eternity the courageous Quentin was seen leading the "TFOs" back into the safety of base camp. Here, seeking no other reward but a fourth mug of coffee, Quentin quietly and modestly and without any remarks concerning the behaviour of the "TFOs", accepted their thanks and settled down for a pre cocktail hour nap.

Led by Ruth, they all thank Quentin for his rescue.

One of Quentin's unpublished New Year Resolutions for 2010 is to learn to skate. So a modest ice rink was provided for his enjoyment. Numerous falls failed to put Quentin off. At one time he stood still for so long a time posing for photographs that he froze to the ice.

Quentin discovers that skating is not all that easy!

However, Quentin's travails were not over yet. A sauna was provided for his enjoyment after the ice skating episode ........

Quentin watches as his sauna is prepared

and he plunged into the deep end completely forgetting that he didn't know how to swim. Thus another New Year Resolution was made - learn how to swim.

Quentin forgets that he can't swim, even in a sauna!

But nothing deters our Quentin and on Monday afternoon he set off into the snow on yet another expedition - this time taking two novices (Ruth and John) with him. His mission was to rescue two more thoughtless ones - Matt and Peter (NOT Pete) - from their snow bound home and escort them safely back to their school.

Quentin gets a helping hand.

As I write this Matt is fifteen years old today - Happy Birthday, Matt. The snow's given him a day off school as a special present. In my day, I remember that when I was fifteen I .............................. All right. I'll shut up.

Enjoy the snow. It's all a part of global warming!

Ubiquitous Quentin

That Quentin quail seems to be everywhere. There I was in Lincoln with him and my parents (as you'll see in Sunday's blog) and then I get these photos from my nephew in Watford (look carefully on the snowman's head, near the birdland merlot logo cap!!).


You just can't keep a good quail down!

Thanks Peter for looking after him and letting him join in the snowy fun!


Don't see him on the trampoline with you...but then he is only small....


Heading down to see my nephews Matt and Peter today, and of course Mary and Fin...and whatever Quentins might be there.

New Year's Resolutions

By guest blogger Quentin Quail.

Quentin here! How are you? Hope you are all keeping well.

Happy New Year to you all! Wishing you lots of good times in 2010.

I've been thinking hard about some new year resolutions so I thought I'd write them down in the blog and then maybe I'll be more inclined to keep them! So here goes:

1. Blog more frequently
2. Travel to new places
3. Make my bed every morning
4. Redecorate my house and not worry about what the neighbors think
4. Make new friends
5. Fly over a rainbow
6. Learn to cook
7. Drink more Birdland Merlot
8. Make someone smile everyday.

Have you written yours? Do tell me what they are.....

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all - from:


...Harold, Quentin and me!

As you can see, Harold doesn't like sharing his cage with other birds - not even little Q!

We woke up to a "white" Christmas as there was a heavy frost:


Poor birdies had a chilly bath - but luckily ours was warmer!


We've had a lovely day - and hope you have too. Here's Quentin by the Xmas tree, after opening all his pressies!:


And Harold did his own rendition of "We wish you a merry Christmas" which some lucky people got to hear! He was so full of himself after singing!


Take care and enjoy those special people in your life.