Zaiger was working with different cherry tree cultivars from Spain. It's quite possible—I would even say very likely—they could have used Cristobalina to breed Royal Lee. The descriptions of these cherries sound quite similar to each other in many respects, dark colored flesh, sweet, and good flavor. quote by goyo626: "I tried searching for cristobalina cherry patent info but nothing comes up. Can anyone direct me to the patent info on this variety. The only info I have found is that it is an old spanish variety. Thank you. " I feel reluctant to post this again, because I have already posted in several other places in this message board, but here it goes... There is a low chill Spanish heirloom variety cherry called Cristobalina. It is self-fertile and requires about 200 chill hours. Cristobalina has been grown for generations of cherry growers in Andalucia and Valencia, where winters are as mild as they are in Southern California, and reliably produces fruit despite lack of a cold winter. It is known to flower mid-February and produces dark purple, delicious sweet cherries. The only negative is that the fruit does not have as much edible flesh as other more popular cherry varieties, but thinning the tree can help lead to more full-sized fruit. Of course there would not be a patent on it, and this variety is not widely known in America.

Bumblebeez, I totally agree. Now, only in the last few years have I felt that way. Recently, someone very close to me in my family had an affair, NEVER would I have thought (nor her husband, he trusted her COMPLETELY)she would have done that! There are probably very few "mature" couples around these days, definately in the minority. Sure wish it wasn't that way. I used to travel for my job, and you could call me mature, because I never let anything happen, but, I could definately see how it could-easily. Especially for a guy, who, in most cases, aren't emotionally attached to that sort of thing. So, I quit my traveling job years ago because I knew it wasn't good for us. I pray my DH would never do that, but, then, we don't put ourselves in those kinds of situations. We don't smother each other, but, we know, traveling apart for long amounts of time, COULD lead to trouble. But, that is not the kind of relationship we want. I would love to say I trust him 100 percent, but, given what I have seen these last few months, has really opened my eyes. SB probably knew it was possible with her husband. I personally think he was always like that, and she thought (and rightly so)she was better than the porn tattoo girl and he would never stray FROM HER, I mean, she's Sandra Bullock! Jesse James, yuk anyway! (I know, looks aren't everything) I didn't even know who he was until she married him. He must have a great personality-HA! I like her, as much as I have seen of her, and hate that it happened to her. Surely, he had to have had a past record though.

Loved "The Castle" although I think the company that released it for the US, felt they needed to dub over bits of it so that Americans could understand it. Also from "down under", an off-beat love story: Eagle vs Shark and quite possibly the best comedy about Austrailan lawn bowling: Crackerjack (from 2002) And from France: "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" a comedy about a postal worker who gets transferred to "the sticks" in Northern France.

Well, DS#4 is our wild thing. He's only 5 now, so the worst might be yet to come. Couple years ago he cut the cat's whiskers off. I noticed the cat missing one side's whiskers and gasped "What happened to the cat?!" DS says calmly, "I cut his hair things off. Come here, I'll show you." And showed me the "safety" scissors and whiskers on his bed. I scolded him and explained the cat needs his whiskers. DS told me "You can get him new ones at Target." He came outside one day, age 4, covered w/band-aids. Must have had 15-20 stuck all over his body. The neighbor asked him what happened. DS went into a story, very dramatic, gestures and all, about falling in the driveway and bleeding, lots of details. The neighbor looked at me questioning, but I just shook my head and said "Didn't happen, he just likes band-aids." One afternoon the older kids shouted for me to come downstairs, that the youngest was a mess and smelled bad. They each told me something different, he smells like cat poop, he smells like puke, he smells like trash... I sniffed and said no, he smells sweet... DS said "I think I smell like pancakes!" Sure enough, he was covered in syrup and the bottle was tipped over on the kitchen table, leaking down the table, chair, pooled on the floor. Second day of kindergarten... the kids were lined up single file facing one direction. The teacher told them all to turn around, face the other way. Doing that put the kid who was behind DS in front of DS. DS was furious, yelling that the kid "cut in line." He also had a flush-it-down-the-toilet phase. Luckily, we did not have a tiny kitten! I think his best was one of those poofs for body wash.. it unravelled, it just kept coming out like a magician's scarf. The other kids caused trouble, too, though. DS1 and DS2 at ages 6 and 3 would build swords with, of all things, lego. One clash and legos would go flying to all corners of the room, behind/under furniture, everywhere. DH had recently discussed their behavior with me, saying I needed to be more strict with them. So when the sound of flying legos came from their room, DH went to "handle" it. For a couple minutes his voice boomed about respecting property and playing nicely, picking up after themselves, etc. Then a couple seconds of silence. Then the 3 y/o says "What-ever, Dad." I had to walk away I was laughing so hard! It was the fact that DH went in there to show me how to be more strict that did me in! When my brother and I were little, we sometimes stayed w/my mom's sister, who was unmarried and childless. I wonder if we maybe had some influence in the fact the remained childless! One visit she came in the room to find us throwing every crayon in a box of 64 against the wall with all or might. On the floor were all the broken pieces. As an explanation, we showed her the claim on the box, "Unbreakable!" We were just testing... and the claim was false! We know, we tested every crayon in the box. When I look at my kids and want to know "What on earth were you thinking?!" I try to remember those crayons and how it feels to think like a kid. ;o)