Kirklevington Scarecrows - 4

Each year there are a number of scarecrows set out in front of the village hall during the annual Kirkfest.

With Mary Poppins in charge

Others had links to different trees found in the village; I hope I can remember what they were.

The Queen - Chestnut

Paddington Bear

? - Birch

Acorn with his bucket and spade

Postman Pat - Willow

One more post to come later in the week to complete my scarecrow shots.

Festivals/Events - Sunday Stamps II

We are on holiday this week, but not at the Glastonbury Festival.

I have to confess that I have never, ever attended a musical festival of any sort. In fact the only festival I went to was back in 1951.

Great Britain

What a shame that the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon did not appear on stamps, but in those days stamps were much more sedate.

A week ago yesterday saw the annual Trooping of the Colour as part of the Queen's official birthday celebrations. In 2005 a set of four stamps commemorated the occasion. Here's just one of them - 

Great Britain

To attend other events please visit the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-132

Kirklevington Scarecrows 2017 - 3

Three more entries in the Kirkfest scarecrow competition this year.

Another Guard

And for  you cyclists out there, watch if not take part in - 

Wig's Tour de Kirk 2017

But be careful crossing - 

Abbey Road

Kirklevington Scarecrows 2017 - 2

Here are some more of the entries in the Kirkfest competition this year.

Now that's what I call an appropriate entry in this warm weather.

Others obviously had the same idea.

Any volunteers to have their photos taken?

Kirklevington Scarecrows 2017

Last Saturday the annual Kirkfest began with this year's scarecrow competition.

The winner was - 

Dad's Army

relaxing with a beer at the Crown Hotel.

Second was The Great Kirk Bake Off -

On the menu was Kirk strawgoneoff and Kirk levingeton mess.

In third place was a sentry at Kirklevington (Cottage) Castle.

And a British Bulldog gained a merit certificate.

Further pictures will follow later this week.

Weather - Sunday Stamps II

Weather related stamps proved difficult for me to find until I spotted a weather station on this Swedish stamp.

Sweden - 24 May 1973

SMHI = Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute; 100ÄR = 100 years. Just what is being measured here is not clear.

USA - 24 April 2014

The discolouration on this stamp detracts from what it depicts.

This round stamp features a visual representation of the planet’s sea surface temperatures. It shows the Earth with North America at the centre and parts of South America, Asia, and Europe just visible on the edges, surrounded by vivid bands of colour throughout the oceans. The image is one frame in a 1,460-frame animation created from the output of a computer model of Earth’s climate by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The full animation shows how the surface temperatures of the oceans vary seasonally and change over time, and how surface ocean currents and eddies transport heat and water around the globe. (Explanation from US Stamp Gallery website)

To check the weather outlook today, look no further than Sunday-Stamps-II-131.

Thiepval Wood - Sunday Stamps II

Gardens and Forests proved a difficult theme for me. Kew Gardens I had shown before -

I struggled to find a forest, but then remembered Thiepval Wood and the poem by Edmund Blundell describing the devastating effect war can have on man and nature.

"The tired air groans as the heavies swing over, the river-hollows boom;

The shell-fountains leap from the swamps, and with wildfire and fume

The shoulder of the chalkdown convulses.

Then the jabbering echoes stampede in the slatting wood,

Ember-black the gibbet trees like bones or thorns protrude

From the poisonous smoke past all impulses.

To them these silvery dews can never again be dear,

Nor the blue javelin-flame of the thunderous noons strike fear."

September 1916

Great Britain 2016

This stamp was part of the part of a five year commemorative programme marking the centenary of the outbreak of The Great War (WWI). Each year of the great war is to be explores through a stamp which covers six key themes: Poppies, War Art, Memorials and Artefacts.

It seems to fit our garden (of remembrance) and our forest theme at Sunday-Stamps-II-130.