RECIPES

Sunday 3 November 2019

Scarecrow Festival


Scarecrows in Hamilton Gardens


Today it has felt like summer has arrived.  Our temperature is in the early 20s (Celsius) with only a light breeze and a smattering of fuzzy cloud.  After enjoying this morning, when I went to the Scarecrow Festival at Hamilton Gardens, I had to have a “nana-nap” after lunch to make up for the lack of sleep last night. 
Son and I stayed up to watch the Rugby World Cup final and see South Africa win against England, and then to watch the cup presentation afterwards.  The Springboks were so happy to win!  It was a good game, nice and clean, and exciting to watch.  Well done both teams.


At the Scarecrow Festival today


As I said, this morning I visited Hamilton Gardens to see the Scarecrow Festival.  This is only the third year it has been going, and there were about 35 entries in the competition.  Some of them were very imaginative! 


These were in the adult-made section


I was there before the Festival was officially opened at 11am, but there were still plenty of people around.  After 11am the families were arriving in droves, so I was glad I had gone early as car parking can be an issue sometimes.  As it was, the officials had opened up a nearby area of parkland to allow vehicles in to park.

"The Strawman"

This scarecrow is a permanent fixture in the Kitchen Garden (where the Festival was held) and is titled “The Strawman.”  It was sculpted by Lloyd Le Blanc of Leicestershire, England and is made with a fantail sitting on his arm.  Scarecrows were not always very good at scaring birds away!


"The Strawman"  in summer 2018


In 2016 this stick scarecrow used to live in the Sustainable Backyard garden but I am not sure if he still lives there as I have not recently visited that area of Hamilton Gardens.


The scarecrow in the Sustainable Backyard garden


I like scarecrows.  I would much prefer to see one chasing some birds away, than see chemicals being used to "discourage" all bird life in the area.  But then I am not a commercial farmer and my livelihood does not depend on being able to harvest 100% of my crop.  

Coincidentally, my calendar for this month also features a scarecrow.  I like what is written beside it – “Be grateful for your life, every detail of it, and your face will come to shine like a sun, and everyone who sees it will be made glad and peaceful.” It is a quote from Rumi, a thirteenth-century Persian poet.


Calendar page for November 2019

Be kind to your birds,
Margaret. 

8 comments:

  1. It's funny, I think everyone expected the ABs to win as I did but I think it did them good to be beaten just this once.

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  2. Love the scarecrows especially the permanent one and the calendar page for this month. Much warmer here today as well and forecast to get warmer again over the next couple of days.

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  3. I can think of quite a few politicians around the world today whose image would make great scarecrows. Hell, they scare me!

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  4. We love visiting Hamilton Gardens... hopefully we will manage to fit in a visit there this time we come to NZ

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  5. It sounds fun with the scarecrow festival. And I liked the calendar scarecrow with the nice words!

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  6. A scarecrow festival sounds like a great idea. Good fun for everyone and free too! I like to arrive early for anything that might make parking difficult. Even going to the thrift store I go early so I can pull through a parking spot to avoid having to back out. I have a bit of a problem twisting my neck to see when I reverse.

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  7. The statue is great. Love those made ones too. They are a part of autumn here.

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Thank-you for visiting my blog. I love it when you leave a comment so please feel free to have your say. Have a great day! Margaret xx