Contact Us

Members Showcase

Although DAS members are "for the birds", they have many other interests.

Here, we hope to show the many talents of our members including their hobbies, crafts, interests, specializations, and pastimes. 

DAS Members:  If you have a hobby, craft or pastime that you would like to share and have included on this page, please contact us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Marg Bonenfant

I discovered beading when I was invited to a very special dinner with friends and visitors from out of town.  I decided which outfit to wear and could not come up with the right jewelry to wear with it, nor found anything I could afford.

A quick look online for beads etc brought me to a site here in Canada and I ordered a few things.  When I had put  the necklace together at least 30 times I finally figured  out what I wanted and again, with a little help from beading enthusiasts, I learned the art of beading.

Unfortunately I don't have the necklace anymore because my daughter scammed it from me and won't give it back.

I do this hobby for fun and usually give my stuff away.  It's fun and relaxing so with that and my birdies I have a full day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

George and Carol Matsuyama

Since Carol and George Matsuyama started raising African Grey parrots, they have had little time left for their other interests, which include gardening, growing orchids, hiking, and hunting for wild mushrooms. However, they still enjoy gardening very much.

George and Carol own a 5-acre homestead called The Garden Bench Flower Farm, about 5 kilometers from the town of historic Port Perry. The property is half wooded and half cultivated. They grow perennials, mostly the cottage garden type, and those suitable for cut flowers. In the woods there are many wildflowers including, in spring, a carpet of white trilliums, as well as a few patches of red trilliums. These usually bloom around the beginning to the middle of May, depending on the weather.

George has spent a lot of time and effort over the past few years trying to grow the notoriously difficult, but beautiful, Himalayan Blue Poppies, and has finally succeeded in growing a few plants from seed!  These have finally bloomed... see photos # 6 and 7 below.  Be sure to click on the photos for a larger view of these beautiful and unusual flowers.  If you would like to see the flowers, please call ahead.

Photos below are: 

1 Blackeyed Susans,  2 Borders and Guineas,  3 Cleome,  4 Gayfeather,  5 Poppies, 6 Blue Poppies,  7 Blue Poppy, 8 Slipper Orchids, 9 Trilliums

 1         2     3    4      

5     6    7     8    9

Carol has always enjoyed drawing and painting. She was inspired as a child by her father who was a water-colourist, and the family talent continues through Carol's daughter, a mixed media artist and sculptor.

Carol studied Fine Arts in New York and has specialized as a Children’s Educational Book Designer for the past 20 years. Recently she has begun painting pet portraits, as well as other subjects, in acrylics. She is a member of the Port Perry Artists’ Association and the Scugog Council For the Arts.

To commission a pet, house, or child portrait from your photo, you can contact Carol directly at  carol@carolmatsuyama.com for information about ordering.

www.carolmatsuyama.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Melanie, Mike and Elaine M.

Mike and Elaine, with a great deal of help from their daughter, Melanie, have a beautiful garden that they enjoy during the nice weather. 

These are photos of some of their garden beds and flowers.  Enjoy...

These are photos of their rockery...

They are now in the process of building a pond in their garden, and have promised to send photos of this addition.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jim and Diane G.

Jim is very handy and has varied interests and hobbies.  One of these is intarsia, which involves a pattern that's marked out in sections much like a jig-saw puzzle.  Each of these pieces is marked out on a piece of wood and cut out, then sanded, stained if desired, and urethaned.  Each piece might be sanded and urethaned a number of times.  Then the pieces are reassembled, again like a jig-saw puzzle, and glued onto a wood backing to create the finished piece.  These are the intarsia birds (what else?) that Jim has created.  There is a photo of each individual piece - macaw, cockatoo bending over for a head scratch, eagle head and eagle in flight - and a photo of the grouping.  The final photo is of a blue and gold macaw that is on a different wall.

Another craft that Jim has tried out is woodworking, as shown by this parrot puzzle box.  Picture number 1 shows the box closed.  Number 2 has the feet removed (the first step), and the top starting to be slid off.  Number 3 is with the top removed, and number 4 has the inside lid lifted out and laid across the box. Number 5 shows all of the separate pieces laid out as they were made, before being put together into the puzzle box.  Another woodworking project came about because Diane wanted a new mailbox, and of course, it had to be a parrot.  The photos show the end result closed, and opened.

Jim is also a 'do-it-yourselfer' and does most renovations himself.  When Diane wanted a 'parrot' themed bathroom, he agreed to include some parrot murals in the tile walls that he was putting up in their bathroom.  These photos show those murals.

So what is Diane doing while Jim is busy with his birds and his projects?  Sometimes she is crocheting one of her afghans.  These photos were copied from her website where she sells the afghans along with a variety of other gifts items. And the other thing that keeps them both busy is their dog, Nikita.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The current Internet Explorer version is 6.0 available here.
The current Netscape version is 7.0 available here