Roger Federer dominating the TV in Kuantan

As you may or may not know, we love Roger Federer here. He has been dominating our TV for the last week and a half, and we are absolutely thrilled that he's made his 10th consecutive Australian Open semi-final! That's incredible!

Roger Federer beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7/6, 4/6, 7/6, 3/6, 6/3 in the quarter finals of the Australian Open

Our house has been full of screams and shouts and "C'mons" mixed with frenzied excitement and palpable tension. Nothing beats tennis!

So my Roger Federer blog has been very active over the past several days. Please go over and check it out! (Andy Murray fans are also welcome!)

Saturday Blog Tour featuring Julia Roberts, an old nature photo and the legend Roger Federer!

Can anyone believe it's the weekend again?! Today I'll tell you a little about what we've been doing this week and show you around  my blogs.

First up, we have been watching the movie "Mirror Mirror" starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins, with our students in our English classes this week. It's a great movie. We prepared 20 questions to test our students listening and comprehension skills. To read about the importance of listening in English, click the link to go to my latest post.

Next is an old photo but still one of my favourite nature pictures. Check it out at my nature blog. I've also adjusted this blog to make it easier to browse all of my photos on the same page. Go and have a look around at the beauty in Kuantan right here.

The final installment for today is Roger Federer. I miss watching him play now that the tennis season is over. It's been a good year for him. At my Roger Federer Shrine I'm discussing more about this tennis legend and what makes him so great. You could also submit an answer on 3 ongoing polls on the page!

I hope you'll find a little something here to light up your Saturday. Thank you for taking the tour, and I look forward to sharing more photos from my Canon EOS 650D with you next week!

My Journey to Kuantan - Part 1 - Raised in England

Over the course of this week I'll be taking you on my journey to Kuantan.

• How did I, an Englishman, end up in Malaysia?
• What made me choose to come to this part of the world?
• How did I discover this little town called Kuantan?
• Learn of the events that fixed my destination to Kuantan

Today I'll be sharing Part 1 - Raised in England.

I was born in Leicester, England almost 30 years ago. We are as normal an English family as you're likely to meet. Mum and dad both working, earning an average salary, and live in a quite satisfactory semi-detached house in a quiet village called Glenfield.

Here I am at 18 months old. (Credit Joanna Horne)

(Credit Joanna Horne)

The first major event that happened in my life was in 1985 when I was only 3 years old. I don't remember anything about it, but it has determined the life I have lived ever after.

Two sister missionaries representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) knocked on my mum's front door, and not long afterwards my mum decided to join the church.

In later posts I'll explain just how vital this was in my journey to Kuantan.

Living in England, we always looked forward to the snow in the winter months. For two reasons - to go out, build a snowman, throw snowballs, and secondly, because if it was a particularly heavy snowfall, there would be no school!

However, as I grew older, I hated the snow, ice, slush, cold and wind - another factor in my journey to Kuantan.

This is my street in England. (Credit Joanna Horne for this image)

Glenfield village Square. (Credit Joanna Horne)

In the distance is my dad. (Credit Joanna Horne)

I lived a real good childhood in England. Got a formal education, had lots of great friends and got up to lots of mischief. Also played lots and lots of sports!

Here I am hitting a serve at the tennis court

And here I'm hanging out with my mates on New Years Eve. (My friends will probably never forgive me for posting up this picture!)

This is me standing outside our home in England

Look out for Part 2 tomorrow!

Roger Federer reaches 287 weeks as the world #1

Yesterday Roger Federer made it to 287 total weeks as the #1 ranked player in the world. He surpasses Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks. He has now spent the most time as the #1 ranked player of anyone who has ever lived.

Here in Kuantan, we celebrated his achievement with a little lunch and toast to Federer's success and amazing career to date.

CLICK "READ MORE" BELOW

Roger Federer wins 7th Wimbledon title, and much more...

There was only one thing my blog post was going to focus on today. Roger Federer.

As most of you know, I'm a huge admirer of Roger Federer, the tennis player, the father, the man.

Yesterday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Roger Federer beat Andy Murray to win his 7th Wimbledon title, equalling the feats of William Renshaw and Pete Sampras.

Not only has he successfully emerged victorious in 7 out of 8 Wimbledon finals, he has also clocked up his 17th major title, and returned to the #1 world ranking position.

In a couple of weeks time he will have surpassed Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks as the #1 ranked player. There are not too many more records left for him to break!

It was a nervous start for Roger Federer on Centre Court against a determined Andy Murray, who was the first Briton to appear in a Wimbledon final for 74 years. The Swiss champ was a little out of sorts and dropped the first set 6-4.

But Federer barely sweats, and when he does, he sweats ice. There was no emotion on Federer's face, as he kept strong through a nervy 2nd set. Winners and errors were met with the same steely response. Federer broke vitally at the end of the set to level the match at 1 set each.

Andy Murray's emotions soon started getting the better of him, when a 19-minute service game saw Federer eventually break the Scot's serve once more. Murray was down on the ground three times, and Federer was beginning to accelerate.

Federer mixed his game up with sizzling forehands, glorious backhands, deft volleys at the net, and marvellous drop shots.

As Murray visibly began struggling in the 4th set, physically and mentally, the Swiss ace was gliding around the court like a gazelle, in glorious silence. At 30 years of age and a father of two, he looked amazingly fit, as though he could have been 20.

Andy Murray put in a great effort and had me worried for a set and a half, but he found it tough to keep up the high level of the first set. As he said himself, he's getting closer.

After taking the decisive 3rd set 6-3, Federer served out the match, taking the 4th set 6-4, and lifting the famous trophy for the 7th time.

And showing off the trophy at the balcony...

Roger Federer's twin daughters are almost 3 years old, and they were at Centre Court cheering on their remarkable father.

Roger Federer has now won Wimbledon 7 times, in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012

He has amassed a staggering collection of 17 major titles

And who's to say he won't keep on winning more? He looks as fit and great as ever!

Now for Olympics gold Roger!!!

(All pictures are credited to, and were taken from this brilliant facebook page dedicated to Roger Federer)

Roger Federer wins 73rd career title in California

It's a great Monday, made even better by the news that Roger Federer won the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, California in the early hours of this morning.

All pictures taken from Roger Federer The Champ facebook page

My wife and I woke up at 4am this morning to watch Roger Federer take the court against the giant John Isner in the final.

Roger Federer has been playing great all week, beating Denis Kudla, Milos Raonic, Thomaz Bellucci, Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal en route to the final.

Roger Federer will turn 31 in August and he is still as fit as a fiddle, playing and beating the best in the game. It was thrilling to see him hitting winners so cleanly off both the forehand and backhand wings. He was so dominant on serve, out-aceing Isner.

These are the glory days and we hope Federer will back up his great current form with a few more majors in the coming years. I know that one day he will hang up his racquet and the tennis world will lose the greatest player of all time, but for us fans, we dream that he will keep playing, keep winning, and that his retirement will never come!

Based on his form this year, his retirement is not even a thought. Roger Federer is playing sensational tennis, is fitter than ever, and I'm so excited to see what he does at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the Olympics, the U. S. Open and the end-of-year masters in London.

For now, Roger Federer is heading to Miami for next weeks tournament. I'm loving the tennis and having the privilege of watching the great Roger Federer thrill us with his beautiful game!

Keep going Roger!

Blog Flashbacks

It's the weekend and it's raining lightly this morning after a week of beautiful hot weather. We've all woken up with runny noses!

To start off the flashbacks today I'm referring you to a post in January 2011 and my talented friend's artwork in accordance with Chinese New Year (CNY):

CNY art

The Australian Open has now reached the finals and I was so sad to see my mate Roger Federer lose to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals the other night. So in the second part of our flashbacks, we go back two years to January 2010 where Federer destroyed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals, en route to winning the tournament by beating Andy Murray in the final.

Federer wins Aussie Open semi 2010

Abstract Samples

The last several days I've been experimenting with abstract photography once more. It seems to be a very rewarding field.

Yesterday the Australian Open began in Melbourne too, and I enjoyed watching Roger Federer progress from the first round. He's so smooth and professional. Australians will be sad to see home favourite Sam Stosur eliminated just an hour ago in the first round. That was a real surprise.

Today I'm sharing some of my recent abstract photography work. Tell me if you like it . . .

Have a great day. I'm pleased to announce that the sun has returned and the rains disappeared in Kuantan. That makes me happy!