IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT YEAR!!!

GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!!!

MAXDOG here...

Hello! Hello! Hello again!

Oh, how I have missed all my furry friends (and their humans) from across the world!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

We are back from our invigorating, rejuvenating and thrilling break! It has been truly awesome! Thank you for your patience while we have been away. We are rearing to go and looking forward to the year ahead. We also have lots of exciting news for you...

As you can see, the weather here in JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA is glorious! We have constant sunny skies and evening thunderstorms. It has been 'holiday time', so our home has been full of visitors and family. Most of our time has been spent around the pool, but we have also had some exciting adventures (which we will reveal in this post).

My dogpack is extremely well. I have recovered fully from my surgery and am back to my old "MAXDOG" self. We still get our regular daily walks. My girlfriend, TAMMY, is as beautiful as ever and TOFFEE is no different! He is still arrogant and seemingly 'King' of this household. TOMMY trudges on and is looking a bit battered in his old age. SCHNAPPS, The hamster is vibrant and active (He got a new ball for Christmas!) and our humans seem to be filled with the joys of summer and the promise of a brand new year!!!

Our skies too are exquisite!

Our flowers are all flourishing!

One of the wonderful things that happened that Mom's "son" - our old exchange student from Germany - came to visit us. When our humans collected him from

OLIVER TAMBO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,

they were amazed at the new look of the airport - in preparation for the

SOCCER WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT

this year.

This is the new International Arrivals Hall...

...and this is the Maxcot (I mean - MASCOT) for the tournament.

His name is:
"ZAKUMI"

Well, the pool at our house is an attractive venue to get away from our high temperatures. Our humans spend a lot of time there cooling off, while us dogs sleep on the cool patio tiles.

Some of our human friends are adrenalin junkies...

This particular adrenalin junkie, "Mr R", invited all the humans for a day of adventure in the Magaliesburg mountains near Johannesburg. There were 8 of them on that trip and all took part in the activities he offerred, but as you Bloggers will know, many folk don't like their pictures posted, so we are respecting that request.

Here is a picture though of Mom on top of the mountain...

The views were truly stunning from up there (she tells me). The big news is that Mom decided that her age (50years) was not going to hinder her participation at all!!! Yes, she embraced it all and she seems to have come back a totally different person!!!

This is the deep gorge where the ABSEILING took place.

"Mr R" is a fully qualified instructor, so we were really privileged to have him in attendance. ...

That abseiling cliff is about a 12m drop!!! Eish, it was scary!!!

Here is a picture of Mom starting her attempt...

...and this is what she/they went down...

Mom says that it was totally thrilling!!! She can hardly believe that she would ever have comtemplated (let alone accomplished) this. EISH!!!

The view allowed a welcome reprieve from all the adrenalin as the humans went on to the next activity...

Yes, Mom went on the 'foofy-slide' too - about a 20m run...

Truly thrilling!!!

Now for the big stuff:
THE BRIDGE SWING...

"Why?", you might ask...

....dunno...???

Mom says: "Just because I could!!! I was celebrating half a century!!!"

Ready....???

Well, this was a life-changing moment - as mom confronted her "nemesis".

The lesson here is :

IT IS TOALLY POSSIBLE TO CONFRONT AND OVERCOME YOUR OWN FEARS!!!

This is a pretty scary accomplishment - to jump off an 8-10m bridge, relying merely on your harness and the facilitator and totally vulnerable to your fate.

It is a simply amazing and quite awesome experience!!! - no matter how crazy others might think you are.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Well, as for the MAXDOG, I think I will keep my feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much!

I'm too old for such things. But I am glad to see that mom is so inspired. It is going to be an exciting year!!!

(Dear friends, we have missed you all and will be getting around to catching up all your news too. I'm sure it will take a while, but we know you will understand. Thank you for being our friends. We are really looking forward to this year. We love you all)

Lots of licks

MAXDOG IN SOUTH AFRICA