Cross-border news

As many of you know, Grant and I live on John's property and he, Debbie and their six children live and work in Mozambique. Last week on Friday, December 30th, our very special DIL Debbie had a birthday. We phoned to wish her and they were on their way to a hotel in Zimbabwe for the weekend. 

Happy Birthday Debbie! 

On Monday John phoned us and what a weekend they'd had! He and the children were on the golf course playing golf (what else) He'd warned them of no wild swinging of clubs; no hitting balls while anyone was in front of you. 

Isn't it idyllic? 

Eryn and Behany abiding by the rules

Joshua being assisted by a caddie

Mmm...

Joshua (oldest) swung his club a little to close to Elijah and cut his ear open. 

Elijah's split ear needed stitching

John says he spent New Year's Eve afternoon going from one pharmacy to another in search of surgical needles and other meds fix Elijah's wound. He found Novacaine and within a few minutes had injected Elijah and was stitching him up.

Dr John ably attending to the patient. Poor Elijah looks worried. 

These children are tough! 

Obviously all is OK again! 

And as if that wasn't enough. John picked up a grain of sea sand in a small cut under his toe. It became infected and by the time he'd returned to Mozambique, he had blood poisoning. Visiting the clinic, he's had intravenous antibiotics. 

The stent in John's  left arm

The second day the foot looked very inflamed and painful 

Today is John's birthday and when we spoke to him, he said the poison was slowly receding. We pray for swift and complete healing. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! 

Parkrun

Last month I saw a friend post on Facebook about taking part in a Parkrun event in Johannesburg. I thought it was a fundraising event being held in the December holidays. 

Shortly after that, Grant had been visiting our farmer friend, Anthony who said we should join the weekly walk held on the way to nearby Winterton.  

I was thrilled when we arrived last week and saw that it was the Parkrun that I'd read about rather than a fun walk/run. Last week I posted about us taking part in our first Parkrun (and registering online when we got home) and how Grant had completed his first 5km walk within an hour-and-a-half. He walked with 75 year-old Anthony while I walked with a new friend, Gill; we made it within the hour. 

People walk with young children, pushing babies in prams and with dogs on leashes. 

 This Jack Russell loves his Saturday walk 

This poodle is sniffing a young lady's

 leg ...

There are strict rules about where you may or may not walk and the organizers and volunteers enforce these 

This week I saw Gill in the crowd but as I had decided to take photos this time, I was in the front row when we set off. 

The country Parkrun such as ours, is done on a farm. You are not permitted to walk on the main road (to the left of this photo) even if you have to walk through mud up to your knees

You are not permitted to cut across the farmer's soya fields no matter how tempting! 

Once I'd walk around the soya field, I turned around to photograph walkers behind me. I zoomed in on Grant and Anthony

Another backward glance at the walkers behind me. Friend Gill is in the front of this group 

At the 2km mark, I was joined by a friendly lady who introduced herself as Corina. She had been brought up in the Drakensberg but was born in Arusha, Tanzania! 

I loved the reflection of the walkers/runners 

The views all along the walk are spectacular

I clocked in at the end within the hour again; I forgot to ask! I should see my results (and whether I improved my times when I receive my first e-mail this week)

I walked back to the road to watch the people coming in. 

Mum pushing the pram; older brother holding his baby sister

Dad carrying his baby while Mum pushes the empty pram! 

I zoomed in on Grant and Anthony 

Grant at the finish, having completed his second 5km Parkrun! He and Anthony improved their times by 30 minutes this week! 

Here's wishing you all a wonderful year, 2017 and a great Monday! 

Cousin Tipsy

Hi Bozo and all Mum's blog readers; this is Ambrose and this is not a post about us, the Mountain Moggies. No, it's a post about our Cousin Tipsy who lives in a F A R A W A Y place. 

Mum showed me the photos she took of Cousin Tipsy while she and our yoomen dad visited Aunty Rina last week. (we had Namusa taking good care of us while our Mum was away) 

Tipsy only likes to drink his water from the bath tap. Although he always has a fresh bowl of water next to his kibbles, Aunty Rina says he asks her to turn on the bath tap, jumps in and has a good drink.

For more cute pet posts, please click here

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE PETS AROUND THE WORLD AND THEIR WONDERFUL YOOMEN CARERS