Charity support

All paintings are acrylic on canvass. you can set the price you like to pay for the painting and donate the money through my fundraiser website www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon . Email me or write a comment here at the blog to tell that you have bid on a painting quoting the name of the painting. Should more people be interested in a painting , the person with the highest bid is going to be the new owner.
'Group Gathering' (detail)

'Group Gathering' (detail)

'Group Gathering', acrylic on canvass, 50 x 40 cm

' Coloured Block', acrlic on canvass, 46 x 60 cm

'Stripped Garden' detail

'Stripped Garden', acrylic on canvass, 50 x 40 cm

'Amazon Forest' detail

'Amazon Forest', acrylic on canvas, 50 x 100 cm

This object of art consist of two pieces; first the painting itself and then the upper right plaster ornament (acrylic on plaster)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter. What a great day in London, the sun was not shining , well at least we did not have a blue sky instead we enjoyed a rather grey overcast day. The marathon is just around the corner so to speak and I am off tomorrow morning to finish the last really long run of about 20 miles.

This should get me around Regents Park towards Hyde Park and back, after 3 hours all should be done and dusted.

Today i spent just an hour at the gym having just a small workout. The other time i spent painting and taking photographs of my already existing paintings. You are going to see them in the next post.

I'll invite you to buy those paintings with the proceedsd going entirely to my supported charity 'Children with Leukaemia'. you can set the price for the painting, I'll explain further in the next post.

Final stages

the last few days before the actual M-Day on 26th April are more mental than physical days. some mid-sized runs and just another long run on Sunday that should be it.

its your mind that is playing trick on you or at least trying to tell you that you have to have doubts of being absolute fit on race day achieving the goal that you had set in the beginning. but hey thats just how it goes, you just need to be prepared that as soon as such a thought is coming along to reming yourself of all the beautiful and positive things in life.

the most important aspect of the run is to have fun fun fun.........not just for us amateur runners but also for the elite performers.

fun and enjoying the the scenery of the beautifully laid out London Marathon Route from Greenwich along the river through the city towards Buckingham palace receiving a hot cup of tea served by the Queen herself.......:))

am going to buy some running tights and a running jacket from the adidas store which sells the London Marathon 2009 merchandise to celebrate this extraordinary event.

tomorrow will be a rest day to do shopping and then on Easter sunday the last long distance run of about 20 miles, a great Easter gift to myself.

First day

Today it has been the first day at work after my holiday. quite tired and getting used to work late hours again I finally find time now to add to my blog.

Got up this morning fairly early to run my 10k run on the treadmill at the gym. Felt very good after having almost not run for an entire week while in Germany visiting family. Even got to use my power gel to keep nourished throughout my run and drinking lots of Lucozade Rehydration to get my digestive system used to the drink provided throughout the marathon.

Still have to buy some tight running short and a new pair of my favourite running shoes Nike Structure Triax11. I have been running in these shoes for some years now and never have nor had any problems running; last year I purchased a new pair just one day before a 10k race - thats how comfortable they fit my delicate feet......:)))

First day at work and little Stephan buys the new James Bond movie on dvd, now writing and watching at the same time.

During the Easter weekend I am going to finally upload some pictures of my paintings which you will be able to buy through my fundraiser website; further instructions with the pictures later.

Tired now and off to bed in a bit, 11.40pm.

Loads of love
Stephan

Michelle's confirmation

my mom, my sister Anika and my niece Michelle

Michelle and her mom

My mom, Michelle and my aunt Anni

The entire group with priest

Michelle and priest van der Laan

The reason I went to Germany was my niece's confirmation ceremony on 05 April 2009. Now Michelle is officially a full member of the Christian Protestant Church.

A church service on Sunday morning including the confirmation ritual concluded Michelle's approval. 21 young teens have now become full members of the Jemgum Christian Church. Jemgum is the little village Michelle, her mom and dad, and also my parents live. Jemgum lies along a river called Ems in the northwestern part of Germany close to the dutch border.

The church service was followed by a family lunch, coffee and cake in the afternoon and finally a barbeque to complete the entire day.

Michelle got loads of presents and money which is the usual to be given on confirmation day.

ALIVE

Finally back in London after a fantastic time with my family in Germany. almost did not make it back on Monday to London.
I left with the plane (carrier Ryanair) from the Germany airport Bremen with destination Stansted. Suddenly midair an announcement by the captain telling us, all passengers, that one engine is not working normally. An emergency landing is being scheduled, the closest airport is Schiphol, Amsterdam. Immediately the plane descends harshly , long story short, we make it to amsterdam and land safely. Some passengers need medical assistance to calm them down. Everybody else is pretty happy jumping onto the mobile phones again to reach their family and friends comforting about the safe landing at Amsterdam airport.

The captain and the crew are thanking everyone for their calm co-operation.

After a few hours in amsterdam waiting for another plane taking us to our original destination Stansted, I finally arrive at home at 2.30am Tuesday morning.

Well this is a situation you always think that it only happens to others and not yourself. But this time it definately hit home extremely closely. Time to ponder about life in general. Who knows what might come out of such a situation.

Quite funny that just a few days ago I registered for a course called 'Basic Theta Healing' at Thetahealing UK. Have a look at their website www.thetahealinguk.co.uk .

First Of April

Just got back from the gym. What a glorious day, the sun is shining, Barack Obama is in touch, G20 protest on its way; the 1. april definately not a fools day this time. Quite interesting to see the outcome of such an energy loaded day.
Also listening and watching BBC-Online to be updated on what politically has been decided to face and to tackle the global situation.
Like I would suggest is to eliminate all debt and start fresh again. How wonderful a world this would be. Everybody keeps their savings but gets rid of their debt. Just a thought that might not be considered as serious.

On another note: well I am leaving today for Germany to celebrate my niece's confirmation on sunday. I will be back on Monday nite (6 April). Have a great time until I am back. Enjoy every step of your journey.