The Queen is associated with both my stamps this week, one from Canada and one from Australia
1967 saw the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation and a series of stamps issued that included -
Canada - 8 February 1967
I'm guessing that the ship depicted is on a canal - the St Lawrence Seaway?
The golden wattle is the floral emblem of Australia and appeared as a diamond brooch on the stamp commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Queen.
Some of the flowers in our garden seem more spectacular this year and I guess we all need a bit of cheering up. You can probably all recognise the Girasol from Argentina -
Argentina - 17 June 1971
a sunflower to you and me.
Swainsonica formosa, named after English botanist Isaac Swainson, the state flower of South Australia is one of Australia's best known wild flowers,
Australia - 5 July 2005
Sturt's desert pea was found in 1699 by the English explorer William Dampier (1652-1715) in the dry sandy islands of Dampier's Archipelago, north-west Australia. The English botanist Allan Cunningham collected it in the same locality in 1818. Specimens from around that area were also collected by Benjamin Bynoe, the surgeon on the voyage of HMS Beagle.
I must say it is much more spectacular than the sweet peas in our garden which have yet to flower.
As geology was one of my subsidiary subjects at University I'm a bit disappointed with what I could find this week. However two rocky spots in Australia came to the rescue in the end.
Australia - 25 August 1978
Australia - 23 August 2002
Broken Bay is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about 50 kilometres north of Sydney.
Gariwerd, the land is at the centre of creation stories for many of the Aboriginal communities in south-western Victoria. It is part of the Grampians National Park.
For more rocks and fossils, one of which I have on my desk, just visit the links at Seeitonapostcard.
To begin our 4th round of A-Z I've chosen the 100th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects.
USA - 23 February 1957
The stamp depicts a Corinthian capital. Corinthian is the last developed of three classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The style is characterised by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with ancient leaves and scrolls.
In recent rounds of A-Z I've tried to avoid the names of countries to matching the week's letter. However for Aboriginal Art I had to pick -
Australia - August 2002 International Personalised Post
This is 'Puia' by Tommy May (Ngarralja). For more information on the artist visit Tommy May (Ngarralja).
To see a splendid Canadian stamp and find links to the 'A' related stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-a. and follow the links in the comments by participants.
The third time round in an A-Z 'Q' was bound to be a problem were it not for the longest serving monarch in British History celebrated by Australia in 2015.
Australia - 9 September 2015
Another Commonwealth country commemorated its 100th anniversary in 1967 also with the Queen.
Canada - 8 February 1967 Queen Elizabeth II and the Northern Lights
For other 'Q' related posts please check out the links at Sunday-stamps-q.
If you liked the kestrel in last week's post I'm sure that, like me, you will be pleased to see one of the Big Five from Malawi.
Malawi - 11 March 2011 - Leopard
However that is one stamp where I wish the country name was smaller.
If going to the theatre is your thing, how about visiting San Luis Potosi -
Mexico -27 July 1945 Reconstruction of the Theatre of La Paz
In Germany I found an impressive castle, and no it didn't belong to Ludwig.
Germany - 2 January 2015 Ludwigslust Castle
In 2013 a joint issue between Germany and Australia commemorated the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Ludwig Leichhardt. Ludwig disappeared along with 7 men, 20 mules and 70 bullocks on an exploration expedition in Australia in 1848.
No trace of them has ever been found other than the burnt-out stock of a gun in a tree, despite searches still being carried out.
To search for more 'L' related stamps visit the links at Sunday-stamps-l.
The exploits of Norse explorer Leif Erikson are known through Icelandic sagas of the 13th century.
USA - 9 October 1968
He's believed to have reached North America c. !000AD and landed at Baffin Island. Labrador and Newfoundland.
Earth Hour, when we are encouraged to switch of all lights for an hour from 8.30pm each year, was begun in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and has spread around the world.
Australia - 11 March 2009
Earth Day is an event celebrated on 22 April with events held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It has been held since 1970. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences for the advancement of sustainable development. UNESCO was designated as the lead agency. The Year's activities spanned the three years 2006-2009.
Greece - 20 June 2008 International Day of Planet Earth.
I wonder how many of us recognise the events commemorated by these stamps.
'Q' is a letter I thought I would have trouble with in my country stamp theme. Then I found a former Emir of Qatar on my one and only stamp.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani - 15 January 1970
-
He died aged 84 in 2016. He was Emir from 1972 to 1995 when he was deposed by his son.
Still in that part of the world,I was surprised to learn that the Queen of Sheba was a queen in Saba, which is located in the Yemen.
Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon - 1 December 1967
This has been an eventful week for heads of state. When Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe stepped down it left Queen Elizabeth II as the world's oldest reigning head of state.
In 2015 Australia issued a stamp commemorating that she had become the longest reigning monarch in British History.
Australia - 9 July 2015
She must have appeared on more postage stamps than any other Queen as she appears on many stamps from around the world as well as those from Great Britain.
There must be many buildings which commemorate her name - like this one.
Queen's Hall - 24 September 1966
If its shape reminds you of an aircraft hangar then your eyes are not deceiving you.
This is a post for 'Q' related stamps. You can find more by visiting Sunday-Stamps-II-154 where you can start in Quebec City.
Kenya and Korea seemed ideal for this week. However I have used all four of my Korean stamps before and most of those from Kenya. Kenya, Uganda & Tanganyika issued combined stamps before each one became independent, so in the end I settled for one of those.
Kenya, Uganda & Tanganyika - 1 June 1954
It proved too difficult to find a second stamp until I remembered the Bush Baby Series from Australia showing -
Australia - Koala 1 July 2011
For the link to next week I suppose I could choose the 'L' in Koala, but just remember it's a Bush Baby and that there was an infamous Australian bushranger with two 'Ls' in his name.
Other stamps under the letter 'K' may be found via the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-148.
I've posted many mountain stamps before so had to try harder this week. In 1949 Algeria issued an airmail stamp showing a plane flying over the El Kantara Gorge.
Algeria
I believe those are the Aures mountains on either side.
The Australian Alps make up the highest range in south-east Australia, straddling eastern Victoria and south-east New South Wales.
Australia - 1 Oct 2015
This stamp is slightly damaged but still enables you to see the Victoria Alpine National Park.
Now get your crampons on and trek over to other mountains on view at Sunday-Stamps-II-104 starting with the Matterhorn in Europe's Alps.
I showed two secular stamps last week from Australia. Today I have a five year-old's view of a religious theme again from 1983.
Australia
Another stamp from Canada continues the link to last week.
Canada - Madonna and Child
Again I have trouble dating this stamp.
Among a large number of stamps from the USA I found another Madonna.
USA - 1966 - Madonna and Child (painting by Hans Memling)
I'm beginning to despair of ever succeeding in removing GB stamps from envelopes no matter what I try; I even resort to acetone or WD 40 - I get them off, but often only manage to discolour them.
This year I broke my 'golden rule' and went out a bought the complete set.
GB - 2015, 1st & 2nd class for large envelopes
Great Britain 2015 Meditations on the imagery of Christmas
Happy Christmas to all those who take part in Violet's Sunday-Stamps-II and to all our followers.
As the finals at Wimbledon are being held this weekend I looked for tennis stamps.
Czechoslovakia - 22 Feb 1973
This stamp was to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the tennis organisation in Czechoslovakia.
It wasn't to be Andy Murray's year this time but:
Great Britain - 2013 - he won
From Australia I found an Olympic diver
Australia
If that date stamp is 1976, the Olympics were in Montreal that year.
I can still touch my toes but there is no way I could ever look as graceful as that.
Perhaps I would do better at archery in a European Championship.
Italy - 2011
I searched hard to find a stamp relating to women's football to celebrate the recent World Cup in Canada and England's relative success in finishing third.
I had to settle for the men's moment of glory in 1966 instead.
Great Britain
Get your tickets for other sporting events through the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-30.
In these days of social media and texting you have to be careful interpreting abbreviations. This week's image from Australia quickly reminded me of what BF once meant to me.
My first job in industry was at the Redbourn works of Richard Thomas & Baldwins integrated iron and steel plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. As a graduate trainee I was expected to spend time on projects in each of the different departments. The first of these, in the Blast Furnace Departmet was to prepare trial mixes for the sinter plant that was being constructed. Sinter was to be used as input to the company's blast furnaces to improve their performance. Iron ore,coke and limestone batches were mixed by hand (shovel) and subjected to heat using a gas-fired box. The resulting sinter was then subjected to a shatter test to determine which mix would stand up best to loads encountered in the blast furnaces themselves. You could say that my small group often thought they were BFs while carrying out this work for the BF Department. The prompt photo of the Newcastle Blast Furnace Department doesn't actually show a furnace. It's difficult to make them out in this also.
Two blast furnaces at Newcastle
(NSW State Records)
The tops of the furnaces may be seen in the top left centre of the image to the right of what looks like three cylindrical vessels.
Redbourn blast furnaces - 1979
A hundred years of
ironmaking at Redbourn ended in October 1979 when the No 2
blast furnace made its last batch of 194.8 tonnes, watched by former production men, engineers and managers from
other areas of the Scunthorpe works complex, chiefly Appleby- Frodingham and
Normanby Park.
The furnace was built
in 1951/2 to replace two hand-charged ones which had stood on the site since
1875.
Two sister furnaces
had already closed. No 4, built in 1919, made its last iron in 1977; while No 3, dating from 1909, finished in
September 1979.
The British Steel closure of
Redbourn blast furnaces was part of a rationalisation plan
which included capital investment in the much larger Queen Victoria and Queen
Anne furnaces, blown in by the Appleby-Frodingham company in 1954.
Scunthorpe blast furnaces The four Queens - Mary, Victoria, Bess and Anne (6 March 2009 ex geograph.co.uk, by Richard Croft - CC BY-SA 2.0)
These days if I wish to see a blast furnace I don't have far to go to see the one at Redcar near our North-East home.
Teesside's blast furnace at Redcar (6 August 2005, ex geograph.co.uk by George Ford - CC BY-SA 2.0)
I left Redbourn in 1969 so never saw the demise of the works.
Finally I have dug out a video on Scunthorpe's Iron and Steel Heritage that shows scenes from the three steel works that existed while I worked there.
Canada has issued two stamps to mark the Lunar New Year.
Canada - Year of the Ram 2015
The domestic stamp shows three rams welcoming spring. Hopefully someone else will be able to show us that.
The Merino is a famous breed of sheep and it appears on stamps from -
South Africa - 1972
and
Australia - Poll Dorset and the Merino 1989
These were two of a set of four issued to commemorate the World Sheep and Wool Congress held in Tasmania that year.
I have had some close encounters with sheep - well their fleeces at least. In school summer holidays I had the pleasure of baling fleeces at a Central Wool Growers plant where fleeces were graded according to the quality of their wool. My hand have never ever been as soft since then - thanks to all the lanolin they contained.
I'll draw a line under the effect of baling dags - the clippings from sheep's behinds.
There have been some articles in the UK newspapers this week on whether this should be the year of the sheep, or as they are too meek, the year of the goat instead. I don't think I would argue with a Merino ram.
But just in case here's a -
Goat from Norway - 1981
There's no need to be sheepish when you can see more at Sunday-stamps-ii-10. and where I've just discovered both the Canadian stamps and more about goats.
