Not only did I get the go-ahead from Herba re. posting my contribution to her and die Pö’s monthly community challenge, but something else occurred today which puts me into the proper Easter mood. Totally unexpected, an Easter package arrived at my doorstep. Sender: Hariclea. The first thing that appeared when I opened the envelope, were two bags of Easter chocolates. A carefully wrapped present was decorated with bunny stickers, but even though Easter Sunday is still four days away, I could not resist opening the pressie.
I’m glad I did because the contents are absolutely perfect for upgrading my existing and rather plain Easter arrangement. So the little bunny candle is joining the Easter egg candles on my candelabra. Quite the “bunny cock of the walk”. And the pendants and felt deco pieces were exactly the perfect, tiny scale to adorn the candle holder.
So cute!!! Thank you, Hari xx. I totally did not expect that, and I love having these little decorations now on my sitting room mantle. They are in my line of vision as I type, and they remind me of you! 🙂
So, now that I am in proper Easter mood, it is time to reveal my contribution to Herba’s challenge. “Do something… with the Easter Bunny”. Herba was already wondering who I am combining with the Easter bunny. There may be a hint on the cover of the RAPS…
Fresh, yellow spring feel? Those washi tape strips can be pulled off by the recipient. So, who is going on an egg-hunt?
It’s the king of the farmyard, silent but strong John Standring. His speciality is rounding up sheep. He’s really got the technique down to a tee (see right)… 🐑 👨🏼🌾 👏🏻
Seriously, though. I have to go on a little tangent for this scenario. This was one of the scenes in Sparkhouse that really caused a good bit of mirth when I first saw the series. Every time I see it, I get the irrepressible urge to go “tuck-tuck-tuck-tuuuuuuck”. 😂 Not that I am a serious connoisseur of shepherding techniques, but Mr Standring seems to employ a rather unorthodox approach to herding here. Could it be that he has honed his skills in the hen-house? He seems ready to take off there, fluttering around the flock. Well, he is quite the cock of run.
His creator, uber-talented Brit actor Richard A. from rural H. undoubtedly has done his homework and researched his subject with the kind of tenacious care that he applies to all of his characters. As this was purportedly his first ever method-acted role, we can be sure that these are state-of-the-art sheep management methods, Northern England, ca. 2002.
But back to the shrine. Note that John Standring has called in his American cousin, Daniel M., to help with this year’s annual Easter Bunny Roundup. Danny may be a city kid, but he is a natural when it comes to dealing with chicks and bunnies… So is their mutual second cousin once removed, Francis ‘Dolly the Sheep’ Dolarhyde, btw, as evidenced here.
Moving on. After all that ribbing, teasing and pulling of overall-clad legs, let’s give dear John a bit of admiration space:
A sweet soul, indeed, with a very sweet, innocent smile. No further comment necessary.
So that’s my first inaugural Easter RAPS. I hope the shrine does dear John justice. He has now moved up to 5 shrines in the RAPS stats. Well deserved…
As for the shrine I previewed in my last post – the public has spoken. Consensus was that I should only reveal the shrine once the recipient has safely received the RAPS. The good news is, it is already on its way… Let’s hope the mail service will not take forever!
I love your Easter decorations! 😀
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All credit to Hari – those darling little deco bits are her idea 🙂
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Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!!!!!
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Frohe Ooooostern 😉
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Daaaaaaaanke!! Could do with some plushy-like bunnies im Osternest und ‘nem gutgelaunten knuffigen Richie als Oberüberraschungsei!!!!!!!
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Das würde ich auch noch als Osterüberraschung mitnehmen…
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Oh! Oh! Oh! I love the bunny! Where do you find these precious little items? Love Standring and Miller too. Everybody needs a Standring in their lives. He can gather my eggs any time.
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I found those bunnies in a home decor shop in Germany and could just not resist them. I knew right away that they would go into a RAPS.
And yes, Standring… *sigh*. Come to think of it, my hubs is a bit of a Standring, too. Quiet, loving, strong (mentally). No wonder I like John Standring…
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Still, every couple of months I need a re-read of some John Standring fanfiction (Khandy’s)! Quite a soothing little therapy. 😉
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One of my favourites, too. I must have read that ten times, it’s so good. Total dreamboat!
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Which site has that story? I love Standring!!!
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Never mind. I found it. Top of the list. Guess there aren’t many people Googling Khandy + Standring. Hee hee hee.
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You haven’t read it yet? In the bleak midwinter. One of the best RA-related fan fictions EVER. Legendary, actually. Enjoy!
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Thank you sooo much for enlighting my quiet Easter Sunday with the link to this heart-warming story.
As I am a big fan of JS I inhaled it during my reconvalence from a cold, spent lots of tissues (for sneezing, not for tears) and enjoyed the romantic plot. A real Easter gift!
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Dreamerfiction! “In the Bleak Midwinter” or on Amazon: Kate Forrester “Weathering the storm” Kate rewrote the story with different names to be able to publish it as a book! 😊
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And I’m off on another time-sink thanks to my internet friends. Cheers, ladies!
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Well, let us know how you got on and how you liked the story!
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I have greatly admired your hubby since he made those fantastic shrines. I don’t think a lot of men would be as supportive.
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Agreed. A fact that I should remember more often. He’s a gem.
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Hear, hear! Tell him “good vibes” are being sent to him from women around the world whom he’s never heard of. That should warm his…something or other.
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It’s my boyfriend John! I absolutely love it. Whoever gets is going to be thrilled. You are a gem!
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Hehe, I *knew* you would love this shrine, Violet. Glad you approve! xx
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He can come over and shepherd my sheep any time he wants!
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I bet he can… 😉
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Jaja, Hari the Easter(n)-Bunny (im wahrsten Wortsinne) 🐰 Coincidental postal delivery. So sweet. 😍
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Bei dir auch? Also mal wieder eine konzertierte Aktion… Hari treibt’s im Verborgenen!
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Solch Treiben lassen wir unsgefallen. Meine Deko hängt auch schon. Und der Süsskram ist dem Zugriff unbeteiligter Dritter (wieso nicht Zweiter???) durch Verbringung ins Nachtkästchen entzogen 😂 Nur für mich und meine Karies.
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Dritter, weil: Du + ich + dann noch eine dritte Partei.
Und meine Schokolade wartet nur noch bis Sonntag. Dann lass ich sie mir auf der Zunge zergehen…
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hehe, na einmal war Royal Mail mit Deutsche Post gut koordiniert! ist ja fast nichts aber man ja nie genung Schokoostereier ;-))) xx
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The bunnies are too cute. Love the cheerfulness of the colors and the flowery background. Well done, as usual.
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A little light relief. In tune with the season. Plus, yes, the flowery background. I realised I had a huge stash of those fabric pieces, and I really wanted to make use of it…
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Nice shrine! I hope the recipient loves it…. but then how could you not!
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🙂 The danger with seasonal shrines is, that they look out-of-sync outside the season.
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EInfach großartig!!! Danke fürs Mitmachen und den Lacher des Morgens! JS sieht wirklich aus, als würde er Hühner vor sich hertreiben. Hoffentlich haben ihm das die Schafe nicht übel genommen *kicher*
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🙂 Freut mich, wenn er das Thema getroffen hat.
Und bei den Schafen beschlich mich das leise Gefühl, dass sie mit der Technik noch ein bisschen Probleme hatten 🐑 🐥
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Ich bin zwar keine ausgemachte Fachfrau, aber irgendwie glaube ich, daß der gute John froh sein kann, daß er kein Schweinebauer ist – die hätten ihn nämlich vermutlich umgemäht 😉
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😊 Husch, husch ins Körbchen.
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Schade, dass man da nicht noch den Sound richtig hört. Macht Standring zum Schaftrieb auch noch Geräusche?
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Wahrscheinlich sowas wie ‘SchSch’ synchron zu den Handbewegungen *roflmao*
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Oder eben doch sowas wie *gack gack gack*…
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Äh, Geräusch beim Schaftrieb? 😂 Da muss man ja höllisch auf die Betonung achten 🤣
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*kreisch* Das war mir gar nicht aufgefallen. Schaft-rieb? *schrei* Du wieder!!!
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Was soll ich sagen? Habe wohl ein Händchen für sowas 🤣🤣🤣
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Oder ein Öhrchen?
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*kicher* genau. Wir haben Verwandtschaft, die Schafe züchten. Die machen das beim Zusammentrieb irgendwie anders…
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Irgendwie muss man ja auch noch die Profis von den Dilettanten unterscheiden können 😉
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Wie gesagt – die neuesten Schafzucht- und hütemethoden.
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Hihi, ein Cousin von mit macht auch in Schafen 😊
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Bei mir nur angeheiratet, aber immerhin…
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Schweine waren ein entschieden unromantisches Metier gewesen und deswegen in Bauernromance total ungeeignet! :-p
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So ist es. Schafe sind irgendwie Frauen sympathischer, glaube ich.
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Oh, so sweet! Everything about it 😍
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Whoever this shrine is going to, it’ll come with extra sweeties, too…
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A sweet shrine to match the season! I had to chuckle at the “tuck, tuck” scene. Did you notice how his hands flutter while he is directing the sheep? Like he’s helping them along with a pat on their rear ends 🙂
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Hehe, the hands are exactly what prompted my “tuck tuck tuck” comment. It’s just too funny. I have never seen our sheep-farming cousins herd their flock like that… Inverted jazz hands?
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Shrine is so lovely – John deserves this 😀
Can’t say much more because that ‘tuck-tuck-tuck’ image of you won’t let me *rofl*
p.s. sweet gift!
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I’m obviously not the only one who found that scene so funny – as evidenced by that gif 🙂 The scene makes me grin every time I see it…
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OMG i nearly dropped my phone at his sheep herding! Those fluttering hands as if the sheep could fly or something :-p So sweet! You know i never saw JS? Maybe it is high time i downloaded it onto my mobile phone and watched it on journey home and back.. JS – the… erm.. ‘sheep-flutterer’?
So glad Royal Mail delivered timely, much better KPIs than around Xmas LOL Hopefully all Easter post will make it timely to destinations.
Love those little bunnies 🙂
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What? You haven’t watched it yet? Yes, you definitely have to see it. Or you could just shorten the whole thing and watch all 42 minutes of Standring on YT. Mind you, the whole story is quite good.
And thank you once again – I owe you a proper thank you by mail! xx
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I’ll watch the whole story, he always gains in context 🙂
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Yeah. Except, it’s another case of “why did the stupid girl fall for the *other* guy when she could’ve had RA’s character???”
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Ah a classic then !
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Yes. Hello Marian. You do know that Sparkhouse is based on Wuthering Heights, right?
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Ahh yes that makes sense.. and he is playing totally against type! Well he can transform from devil to.. sheep 😆😆😆🐑🐑🐑
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Against type? I don’t think he had a type back then. 2002 – early days. No one knew yet that he would grow into the man who would cause entire web forums to crash 😉
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He said that himself, though, that he knew it would be a hard audition b/c he was going to have to be cast against type.
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I can see what he meant, although it depends a bit on whether he was referring to his looks or his previous roles…
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I don’t think those two things are separate, though, and I think he was making reasonable assumptions based on previous experiences. On stage, he’d played the young Baker, who was supposed to be handsome / dashing; in drama school, he’d been Felix in the Normal Heart who is quite goodlooking; he had played Jez in Use me as your cardigan, where he plays the “tempter” role. He was cast in Casualty and Doctors as handsome young doctors (either the arrogant, or the nice, type); he’d done that random film role probably because he looked good in the tuxedo and had the floppy haircut; even keeping in mind that he’s reporting from several years later, his next two roles were Lee Preston and Paul Andrews and in both the beauty of his body is an important part of the role. Really the only other TV role he had before N&S where his good looks were irrelevant was Ultimate Force.
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Thanks for giving me the context – I didn’t really have the timeline properly sorted. It all makes sense now – from playing the dashing, often cad-ish young man, he managed to get a part as a man who is meant to be unappealing at first sight. (Although they needed someone who would eventually scrub up well – the hairdresser scene).
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That’s the part of his career I’ve thought in most detail about. I need to get back to that project soon. But given the preoccupation with this theme even in his interviews from 2004-2010, including for roles where his appearance is not that important, e.g., Monet (due to constant questions from the press that are due not only to fan enthusiasm but, I think, also due to his repeated casting in roles where his visual appeal was central [Guy, Harry, and as he said himself in 2009, Lucas]), I think it might have been a question for him from early on.
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It probably also has a lot to do with his own view of himself, or self-worth. Getting a part because of looks may not be quite as satisfying as getting a part because of one’s skills…
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well, we know that he believed he was cast as Preston because of his appearance (his boots) based on what the director said to him, and that the script description of the character made him feel insecure about his appearance in turn (did gym to get “picture perfect abs” and avoid appearing like a “lard bucket”). We can ask whether his statements on this topic reflect joking, deflection / self-deprecation / desire not to boast about his talent, or true concern with the issue, but it would seem strange to continue giving those answers if there weren’t some substance there or if it was somehow coming only from him and not from outside / things that had been said to him. It’s not like it’s exactly self-effacing to hint that one’s been cast on the basis of one’s looks, either.
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We’ll never know… And I confess, I am more interested in whether and how his own view of himself has changed or not, over the years. But again – we’ll never know…
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Here you and I part ways definitively, I guess — because I still believe in the (professional historian’s) project of sifting and examining sources, method, criticism, and so on. I don’t believe we know everything, but neither do we know nothing.
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Hehe, note that I said “more interested”. Doesn’t mean I am “not interested” ;-). The historic perspective is always worth-while. By “we’ll never know” I really meant to express my impression that he will never disclose such insights explicitly. Implicitly, we might find out…
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I just think this is like any other historical project, that’s all. There’s data that’s more or less reliable, conclusions that are more or less plausible, interpretive methods that are more or less responsible, and so on. I also know after all these years that what a historical actor actually says about himself (in whatever venue) is only one part of the story. I’m not confident that even if I were somehow closer to Armitage and were able to ask him these questions directly that his statements would be all that reliable on their own. I might or might not believe what he said. Everything’s a piece of a picture.
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True. And even if what he says is believable, it is said in a context and at a particular time…
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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/i-rarely-turn-down-work-after-1040141
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Hm. I suppose he was talking about his looks?
BTW – it’s such a pleasure to read an old interview again. Somehow it feels more candid than what we read nowadays.
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Hidden depths 🐑🐑🐅🐅😈😈🕵️♂️🕵️♂️👀
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Stille Wasser sind tief? (oder einfach nur still *hehe*)
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Happy end of Lent and Easter!
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Oh yes yes yes… these were so good. Such a pity there haven’t been any new ones.
Happy Passah to you, too!
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Bekommt die Hasenkerze an Ostern denn auch einen Satz heiße Ohren?
Ich stelle bei dem RAPS wieder einmal fest, dass die Zugabe eines niedlichen Viechs immer gut ist. *gg*
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Hahaha, heiße Ohren – oh ja, auf jeden Fall.
Und ja – Häschen, Hündchen, Kätzchen werten das OdB immer auf!
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It seems all who have seen Standring have such a soft spot for him. Juxtaposed against all the sexy roles, he is all love, sweetness, devotion, dedication, and patience. His physical beauty is hidden, then he slowly blossoms into a handsome, confident man. 💖
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I think that is what is so attractive about him (inside and outwardly) – he is a character who appears thoroughly good (which is also such a change when compared to many other of RA’s characters). I also think that the fact that he is initially not the most attractive man to look at, makes him more real, more realistic.
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If he ever again does one of those PR stunts where viewers (fans! fans!) can submit questions, I propose you submit: What’s with those sheep herding hands in Sparkhouse? Won’t that come out of the blue? All the reporters who, for years, were too lazy to go beyond the circus question, will pick up that one. As they picked up Abby’s singing in the shower theme. LOLOL.
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hahahaha, nice one, Besotted. I like the idea… I am actually keeping a list of potential Q&A questions. I’ll add this…
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His statement about that is here (p. 2): http://richardarmitageonline.com/articles/vivid2005spring.html
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P.S. Love the springy, yellow shrine.
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Fabulous ❤
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Hast du deinen Osterbeitrag für die Challenge schon rausgehauen? Bin gespannt, was du diesmal schönes gemacht hast!
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Diesmal war ich zeitlich bedingt etwas einfallslos 😦 Kommt morgen früh
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Oh, lovely shrine! And wow on all the goodies from, Hari, so sweet! LOL at the sheep herding gif. I’d never paid that close attention to Mr. A’s shepherding skills before… 🙂 🙂
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Those shepherding skills are really something…
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Ich brauche auch jemanden der sooo gut aussieht der mit mir die Ostereier sucht. Meine Kinder haben bis 12 Uhr geschlafen und dann das Osterlamm aufgefuttert 🙂 So ein netter Schäfer (zuerst allerdings zum Friseur) käme mir gerade recht 🙂
Happy easter für Euch alle ❤
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