I fell Sunday . . . yes, it's true. While taking "the boys" — Simba and Peetie — for their weekly walk with friends to Nojoqui Falls. Per usual, they are infatuated with the pigs that live in a wooded glen. Peetie can stand absolutely still watching them. Simba, on the other hand, is not so patient . . . he wants to incite them to chase him without care or concern that their is an electric fence between.

The problem was that after about 5 minutes of my doing my best imitation of a "K-Mart mom" — yelling and yanking on their leads to come away so we could finish our walk — Simba actually listened and moved towards me.The break in tension caused me (who was clearly not being present with the situation) to loose my balance and fall hard on my right knee onto the road.

For the past couple of days I'd been soaking my knees with epsom salt and slathering it with Arnica cream. However, this morning running late to meet some friends for coffee, I quickly reached into a bathroom drawer to rub the Arnica cream into my knees. Hobbling off I noticed that they felt stiffer, and made a mental note if they didn't feel better later on I would go get an x-ray. After coffee (hot chocolate, really), while sitting in the hair salon, I caught out of the corner of my eye a familiar looking tube. In that instant a flicker of understanding rose to my consciousness — the tube I reached for this morning without having my eyeglasses on and slathered all over my knees was the same one. No wonder my knees felt stiffer all day . . . I had gelled them!

Today is Peetie's birthday — he turned five old in human years. As cute and puppy-like (just a whole lot bigger) than when we adopted him.

He and his brother Simba Ndogo had a lazy morning cuddling with me in bed, followed by a hearty breakfast, a bit of playtime, more cuddling as we caught up on Olympic events from the previous night, lunch, and a walk with his puppy friend Ginger to Nojoqui Falls.

After dinner and a visit from more friends, we three headed to Shining Sun Winery where Peetie and Simba listened from the car to a concert given by my friend Kathleen Sieck, who was backed by another friend Bear Erickson and John Ormond.

One of the best things about getting older is so are all the young people in your life . . . Back in the mid-80s a friend of ours asked my husband and me to be the god-parents of her two girls. Childless by choice, it took no time to say "No!" Fast forward to 2007, we asked these two girls (now in their 20s) if we could be their god-parents as they'd grown up to be smart, interesting and engaged in life. Thankfully, they said "Yes."

So, tonight our oldest god-daughter Becca came for a pre-Christmas visit. After helping me re-arrange the living room furniture and spinning around the Oriental rug, we sat down with glasses of wine for a proper catch-up. Soon Peetie, who is especially besotted with Becca, was up on the couch for some cuddle time of his own . . . Merry Christmas, Peetie -- he's got a girl-friend!

Once the nights got down to the 20s it was time to start putting sheets and towels over some of the succulents in our garden. Next, put on Simba and Peetie's down jacket before tucking them into my bed with a blanket covering them to keep extra warm.

The boys love this arrangement so well, they've made a habit of taking over half the bed each night — snuggling down into the comforter, pillows and blankets!

Of all the great presents Simba, Peetie and I received for Christmas . . . by far the one that received the most attention is an amazingly durable stuffed dog toy from their cousin Cooper! They played keep away and tuggy with it, made it squeek and squeek (thankfully, it is not a high pitch squeek like so many dog toys), took naps with it, and Peetie even carried it upstairs to bed.

Thank you, Cooper!