Thank you, cynthia and holligator for your reading tips! I appreciate those so very, very much. mazer, you continue to be a font of information! lily316, the way I found our breeder is by first visiting the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club USA site, the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club site, and, to a lesser extent, the AKC site. I looked for breeders only listed on those sites. I did NOT use search engines to find breeders. There may absolutely be reputable, ethical breeders out there not associated with the above-mentioned organizations (although why they wouldn't be I don't know), but for me this was a "safety net." I then e-mailed to them a long list of questions, asking if they'd be willing to talk with me and answer these questions: 1) What are the registered names of the puppy's parents and may we have copies of the registration certificates for both parents? 2) What are the birth dates of the puppy's parents? 3) Have you complied with the MVD Breeding Protocol? 4) Have you complied with the SM Breeding Protocol? 5) Have both parents' hips been x-rayed after age two years, and have those x-rays been evaluated and cleared of HD by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA)? 6) Have both parents' patellas been examined and cleared by qualified veterinarians within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? 7) Have both parents' eyes been examined and cleared of serious genetic eye disorders by board certified veterinary ophthalmologists within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? 8) Have both parents' hearing been tested and cleared of hereditary hearing deficiencies, preferably by the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) test, no earlier than at age 2.5 years? 9) Has either parents exhibited the symptoms of episodic falling syndrome? 10) Have both parents' blood been tested and cleared for diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism within a year before the date of birth of the puppy we may adopt? (see here for information regarding the above diseases / syndromes) I was both surprised and disappointed at how many breeders did not want to answer these questions. They were immediately crossed off my list. To my absolute delight the breeder to whom our little girl was born answered every one of my questions at great length. They also had a long list of questions for me, which thrilled me. This led me to believe they don't let their puppies be adopted willy-nilly -- they wanted to check us out as well! Our breeders are in Wyoming, and they got started breeding Cavs because they'd each (they are two friends) had a heartbreak with a sick Cav. They vowed they would help "clean up" the system and they take fastidious care of their dogs and have all the paperwork / registrations for it. Anyway, this is how I found a reputable, ethical breeder in our part of the country (I'm in Colorado). I was heartsick reading about the Greyhounds dying of bone cancer -- I never knew about that! When I was a little girl living in England the caretaker of my parents' "farm" (more like a weekend house -- as if my parents farmed!) had a multitude of Greyhounds. I loved them. Beautiful, gentle creatures. Fast, and then a couch potato! This is a picture of our little girl from last Thursday, on her seven week birthday. We're naming her Genki-chan. "Genki" is Japanese for "healthy," "peppy," "lively" (although she is a mellow girl -- the breeders decided only two of their litters would be suitable for us [with such small children] -- gentle with their teeth, but still "sturdy" for play with toddlers), and "chan" is the feminine diminutive. My husband is Japanese and our children speak Japlish. Well, more English than Japanese at this point, but we keep it up. My 3.5 year-old refers to Genki-chan as Genki-grill; "grill" is how he says "girl." Our 19 month-old merely says "Genki." One of the breeders gave the laddies a little stuffed Cav doll whom the 3.5 year-old named CiCi-inu -- "inu" is dog in Japanese. I have no idea from where the "CiCi" came!

Well, I was looking for something to read the other day and, while digging through a dusty pile of books in the living room, I found a book I picked up years ago but never got around to reading. I settled in for a comfy and relaxing read. I didn't get it. What I DID get was quite a fascinating read as two of my favorite fictional worlds collided : H.P. Lovecraft's weird, eerie, creepy and just plain unsettling world of the Cthulhu mythos and Doyle's prim, proper, and ultimately logical and rational world of Sherlock Holmes. The book's entitled Shadows Over Baker Street and is a collection of short stories by well-known sci-fi writers. All the stories involve both Holmes (or his world) and Lovecraft's world. All in all, it was a cracking good read -- Neil Gaiman's story (the first one in the collection) was possibly the best and, to me, quite startling. The others in the collection are, if not equally good, at least worth a read. So, if you're either a Holmes fan (maybe a "Baker Street Irregular"?) or a Lovecraft minion (would that be a sub-demon?) then I'd recommend this book.

It certainly looks like Manjula. It is less about the color and morea bout the leaf shape to me. Manjual leaves are kinds of curly or curvy and more round or heart shape. PnJ are not curly and have a more pointy tip. You can go on the Costa Farms website and it describes them and has a photos (not a very close one). We had a discussion on here (I will try to find the thread) where we were talking about the differences between Manjula, Pearls N Jade, Glacier and N'Joy. Justin from Costa Famrs gave a nice description of each of them. Costa Farms (exotic angel plants) grows Manjula, Pearls and Jade and Glacier but not N' Joy. Here is one thread where we discuss the differences of the plants. I will tr to find the other thread where Justin gives a written descriptions. [pothos thread[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/anyone-heard-of-a-jessenia-pothos-from-costa-farms-dsvw-vd~4446385) and here is another thread very much like yours here

I finished Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler. What a good read for me. I loved the setting, the characters, the side notes and the writing. It had a sad premise but wasn't a sad book. I also learned a fair amount about bird migration which I found very interesting (as a beginning birder) and in particular about kingfishers. I think kingfishers will be my new side project as this is the second book I've read with KFs as part of the story. I put The Tender Bar aside as it wasn't the right thing for me right now. I'll pick it back up later I suppose. On to The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland. I'm only a short way into it but I don't particularly like it yet. I'll continue for a while as I don't like not finishing a book; I've only recently given myself permission to do so and I'm hesitant to take advantage of my own leniency. :) I'm still working on filling my new bookcase upstairs. This is turning into quite a big undertaking. I've made 12 or 15 trips up the stairs with armloads so far and haven't made a dent. I may have something related to kingfishers hidden in there but doubtful I have any mythology. The hunt begins!