Month: August 2017
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Explanations

Fair warning – this is a long post. After Friday’s big news, we’ve had a lot of good wishes, emails and questions. I thought I’d address some of those today. Most people were surprised that we’re so unhappy in Germany, especially considering how happy all of our photo diary posts look. I talked about this briefly…
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Visit to Duisburg

Would you believe we’d been living in Germany for almost two years before we went for a stroll in Duisburg (our neighbouring town)? I couldn’t either. Duisburg is a quiet city with an abundance of fountains in the city centre. Colourful and weird, these fountains create a strange contrast to the ancient buildings in the…
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The Big News

As a teenager, I dreamed of moving to Hollywood. At first, I wanted to act. Who doesn’t? But then, one fateful day, I saw the work of my first idol, Steven Spielberg. More than anything, I wanted to follow in his footsteps and make films. I wrote many brilliant screenplays (they were Oscar winners one…
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Easy Watercolour Feathers

Since my feather banner is so popular, I figured I’d show you how I made it. This tutorial is super simple, anybody can paint feathers! What makes it even better is how fast this process is. I painted these in less than half an hour, they dried for about an hour, and the outlines took…
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Soccer – Essen vs Mönchengladbach

We’re not the biggest sports supporters in the world, but there’s something incredible about going to a live soccer game. To those of you who take this seriously, I know it’s called football in Europe. I’m South African, so to me it’s soccer. No offence meant. Anyway, the last game we went to (which was…
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Life Update

After the Writing Update post, I was asked how it’s going otherwise. So, here we are. Somehow, these kinds of posts are the most difficult to write. I don’t know why. It’s such a no-brainer to put in hours of research for *writing topic* or spend an evening painting something for an art tutorial, while…
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Sunday Afternoon Hike

Sunshine has been rare this summer – I don’t know what’s going on. Apart from three or so heat waves, we’ve had an excess of rain and gloom this season. Pretty depressing, if you ask me. Especially considering the fact that I had a tan last year this time. So, when the sun is out,…
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Writing Update

You were supposed to see this post at the end of July, I know. Apologies. I’m more scatterbrained than usual lately and I forgot. But better late than never, right? The writing has been going exceptionally well. After The Great Word Draught of 2017, I never imagined I’d be writing so much, especially now that The…
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When Parkruns Rain Out

Well, I’m sure some of the other runners still had their fun, but by the time we reached Düsseldorf, it was coming down in buckets. So much so that my water resistant jacket (and shirt underneath) were drenched and we had to stop to buy something dry and warm to wear. Jan and Mario would have…
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Watercolour Mountains

I’ve been looking at some photos from our trip to the German Alps last year and art inspiration struck. The initial inspiration doubled when a tutorial opportunity threw itself at my feet. Blog post sorted. #ftw I pulled out my watercolour pencils and went on to sketch some misty mountains. I apologise for the lighting of these photos.…
