Aren’t My Birdies Beautiful!

Wet everything we have...all done - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

My two cockatiels, Jupiter and Chickie, were obviously getting desperate when they took it in turns to have a bath in their drinking water, which is contained in a tiny square plastic box.  Since I’d seen them do this a couple of times, I decided to give them some water they could bathe in more […]

Review Yvonne Rust: Maverick Spirit by Peter Gibbs

This review was written by Peter Gibbs and published in the Nelson Mail on 7 September 2011 Complete account of a potter who touched hundreds of lives. In 1973 I was a young maths teacher at Glenfield College in Auckland, moonlighting as a pottery night class teacher at Rangitoto College.  My enthusiasm wasn’t quite matched […]

The Quarry – Famous New Zealand Arts Resource Centre

The Quarry Arts Centre - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

The Quarry arts resource centre based in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand, was founded by Yvonne Rust, and is famous for its Summer Art camps. The Quarry Arts centre in Whangarei was started against all odds, during the economic recession of 1980, by Yvonne Rust, QSM. New Zealand was only just recovering from the 1975 recession. […]

Cockatiel Love Frolics

Jupiter - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

Oh dear…well as I suspected, I appear to have psychologically damaged my cockatiels by forbidding mating in my presence.  Don’t get me wrong – I allowed them to mate in my presence for about six weeks, and it went from a couple of times a day, to every three minutes for a couple of hours […]

A Week to Recover

Have you ever been outwitted by a cockatiel? Years ago, I kept hand-reared, tame cockatiels which make great companions, though somewhat mischievous. They made cute little bite marks in any pieces of paper I was remiss enough to leave around, and joyfully nipped all the leaves off my Madonna Lilies if I left them within […]