Watercubs & Kivisilmän
working show-quality newfoundlands
ORDER YOUR COPY OF TRAINING A NEWFOUNDLAND FOR WATER RESCUE book and
GROOMING A NEWFOUNDLAND booklet
News and Updates:
Merry Christmas & Have a wonderful 2014! (in photo: Merita)
29.11.2013
Year 2013 comes to an end and all I can say is that it passed by all too quickly! We will have tons of new memories, but here are just some of the milestones to remember 2013 by:
* Baron (Kivisilmän Muskettisoturi) became Top 20 Newfoundland in Finland 2012 (in only four show weekends). He also became Estonian, Swedish and Luxembourg Champion.
* Merita (Kivisilmän Rutikuiva) became Estonian Champion in just two weekends. She also qualified for Crufts 2014.
* Ariel (Kivisilmän Salapoliisi) became Estonian Junior Champion in just two weekends. She also passed to Finnish first level (Alokasluokka) of waterwork (2 x over 90/100points needed) andwill be starting the 2nd class in summer 2014
* Ruuti (Kivisilmän Monitoimikone) became a mother to five stunning brown boys and girls (T-litter).
* Capri (Larinkallion Brysselinblicca) is the featured dog in BreedMaster breed recognition app.
* We had an awesome three week training tour in the USA, training newfs in Washington, Kansas (HANC newfs), Colorado (HCNC newfs) and Texas (OWNC newfs).
* We organized the 3rd Internation Water Rescue Camp in Finland and held trainings for Action Dogs Ry in Finland.
* The books (Training A Newfoundland for
Water Rescue and Grooming a Newfoundland) have been a total success,
going towards 300 / each in sales. We are extremely pleased that the
hard work we put into creating the books has paid off, and the feedback
has been only positive.
* Rölli (Kivisilman Rahtilaiva) will be featured in a dog breed book.
* Orka (Kivisilmän Nostokurki) became Paddling Partner of the Year 2013 nominated by Go Paddle
* Al (Kivisilmän Multimedia) was featured in a collectible sticker album.
* We held a Scottish hosted groomfest in Glasgow
* But most of all we are extremely proud of
our extended family: all the families that have taken brilliant care of
our puppies :-). You have given your puppies the perfect homes; we
haven't had to worry a day, trusting you all to love them as we do our
own. Thank you all :-) !
18.11.2013
It is that time of the year – calendar time.
All the puppy owners are sending us pics of the pups which we collate
into a calendar for the up coming year.
Exciting times. Nothing is better than getting new pics of the gorgeous dogs! Thank you owners!
Joki (Neliveto) & Vuori (Nopeusrajoitus) calendar photos
Bettina is living with Merita in Edinburgh and loving it – as you can see from the pics
Merita at the Scottish Newfoundland Club's welfare walk - Merita on her daily walk
Vera and Data are enjoying life in
Nottingham with Annina, and she could not be happier. Just the other
day Vera was her amazing self while on a walk.
A facebook post: “Vera is amazing! We went for our evening walk in the
dark (pitch black at times) and I was a bit nervous walking through
some of the
alleys/fields as I had just watched one of my True Crime episodes on
telly (not a smart move!).. Vera made me feel safe! She would "patrol"
in front of me
if we walked into darkness and every time we heard a sound, be it odd
rattling or wind in the bushes/trees she would just oh so conveniently
do a bit of a
run to be in between me and the sound. She is one smart dog, picking up that I was tenser than normal”
Bettina and Annina also went to a canine athlete
seminar in which they learned about muscle maintenance in sports dogs,
massage and stretch techniques and further expanded their knowledge of
dog
structure and its effects on possible sports injuries. It was an
excellent seminar. It was also brilliant that they could take Merita,
Vera and Data and practice
with them throughout the weekend.
Merita & Vera at the seminar
Merita & Data "having a moment"
Bettina also started going through the data from the Water Apritude Questionnaire and the prelimary results
were
very interesting. The link to the prelimnary results can be found
at:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/bettina-salmelin/the-newfoundland-water-rescue-aptitude-survey-preliminary-results/10152021494013293
In addition Annina has been informed that
Vera is actually a St. Bernard and she should talk to her breeder about
misinforming at the time of the purchase,
the dog is clearly not a Newfoundland ;-).
28.09.2013
The last two puppies (TickTock, K.
Talassologi and Lydia, K. Telegrammi) have finally left us to live with
their families in Michigan & Oregon. The flights were a bigger
chaos than you could ever imagine (with Lydia's owners' fligh arriving
to Brussels over 24hours late! and Lydia having to be booked for
another fligh to reach her final destination!), but the puppies didn't
notice the hassle and were happy to finally get the attention they
require at already this age (10 weeks). They're not "just" newf
puppies, but they really are active, working newf puppies. I absolutely
could not imagine keeping a whole litter until this age, because they
require so much individual attention, their games are already "too"
rough and even the other adults are ready for some peace. 7-8 weeks is
the ideal, with keeping the ones that fly up to 9-10 weeks. It would be
a different situation if they were either isolated from our house in a
kennel building, or if they were "normal" calm pup ;-).Some puppies do
benefit staying longer.
Unfortunately Merita was ultrasounded empty a few days ago, which means that we won't be having black & brown little fur balls running around the house over Christmas (and we won't need to fence our Christmas-tree to keep it protected from the curious little minds!). We will be mating Merita from her next (spring) heat again with Elboy, hopefully with better luck this time. Merita has moved back to living with Bettina in Edinburgh.
If you haven't already booked your spot for the Newf Groomfest in Glasgow 5h October, you're missing The grooming event of the year. I will be showing how to show trim a newf & guide a handful of newf owners on how to trim their own dogs. I'll be bringing some grooming booklets with me for a discounted price, so don't forget to bring some £'s if you want a copy.
21.09.2013
Still to complete our own recap from the summer USA trip, but have
completed the pages for & links to the camps hosted:
Water
rescue camp USA (Seattle) 2013 - photos only
Water
rescue camp USA (Kansas) 2013 - photo only, HANC
Water
rescue camp USA (Colorado) 2013 - HCNC newsletter
Water
rescue camp USA (Texas) 2013 - OWNC newsletter
3rd
International Water rescue camp Finland 2013 - recap
Water
rescue camp Finland 2013 - photos only, Action Dogs Ry
At the Brussels dog show Baron (K. Muskettisoturi) won the Champion class & became 2nd best male winning CAC and RCACIB.
Baron (Lux, Se, Ee Ch Kivisilman Muskettisoturi)
13.09.2013
Friday 13th and Bettina is leaving for
England. This time I will be taking Vera (L. Huomiongohde) to live with
Annina & Radar (K. Tutkamajakka) to his permanent home to Darren
& co. I myself will be without a dog until about Christmas after
which I hope to take Merita (K. Rutikuiva) back to live with me. It's
been a few good years since I last lived without a newf in the house,
and I can't imagine what it'll be like this term! I hope the three
months go by quickly. The reason of course for not getting Merita back
with me is that we hope her to be pregnant with some black & brown
little-Meritas. Just looking at how she's been acting (or not acting)
tells me there is *something* going on, but lets just keep our fingers
crossed for a few weeks longer until I say anything for sure :-).
Merita has also finally grown her luxurious lushious coat back that she
lost over the summer ;-).
The summer holidays went by extremely quickly. Felt like we had no holiday whatsoever in terms of relaxing at the lakeside. The puppies kept us busy! We had some setbacks with the litter, but mostly the days started at 5.30AM (first feeding & letting out) and didn't end until 12PM (last feeding & taking pups back in). We left Finland last Monday (9th) after giving Myrsky (K. Taifuuni) and Koda (K. Trieeri) to their permanent homes last weekend. They will be staying in Finland. Radar is on his way to England at the moment, and TickTock (K. Talassologi) and Lydia (K. Telegrammi) will be flying off to USA (Oregon & Michigan) next weekend. I'm very pleased with all the families, because I know we'll be hearing lots of updated & getting lots of photos of everyone. They'll all also be starting in the water next spring :-). "Starting" might be the wrong word to use, because they have been swimming with us in Finland, but starting the training part of waterwork for sure :-).
T-pups at school. Radar, Lydia and TickTock had an opportunity to visit
a school.
They met too many kids to even keep track of. Perfect socialization for
the pup & great for the kids.
On the waterwork front Ariel (K.
Salapoliisi) won two first prizes (98 & 98/100) in the beginners
level waterwork tests this summer. She will be starting in open class
next spring, which if she continues like this (or even remembers what
we've been doing this summer) will be a breeze for her. Yrjo &
Ariel have done a great job this summer. It's been a pleasure being
their helper at the tests & training with them weekly over the
summer. The trainings have actually not consisted of the the test
exercises at all, but much more complex series that have some test
component (jumping out of boat, towing boat to shore, take a line &
save person). That way the test has always felt easy for Ariel. Plus
had we trained the test exercises, she would've been totally bored and
started figuring out different stuff to do :-).
Here is the link to her 1st 1st prize: http://youtu.be/jyvaPcSOb94
At the second 1st prize test her times were awesome (as they always are/have been!). Of the four beginners exercises the "slowest" average speeds for towing a boat from 30meters & saving a person from 30 meters was at 0.6m/s. For jump out of boat & take a line the speed was 0.8m/s . Pretty neat!
Ariel (K. Salapoliisi)
We
saw Joki (K. Neliveto) a few days ago (finally again :-) !) at
the waterwork trainings in Belgium. She is a very, very steady good
worker, love her to bits. She's physically matured tons since I last
saw her (about a year ago), but she's still got the same "Joki
temperament" and working attitude as last time :-). She participated at
a waterwork test last weekend passing it and placing 2nd (well done!)
out of the participants. She placed behind our waterwork club veteran 9
year old "Darko" landseer - and that was a close call! Well done Joki
& Ilse! :-)
T pups meeting Rölli (K. Rahtilaiva)
On the show front Baron became LUXEMBOURG CHAMPION at a dog show last weekend. He is now Luxembourg, Swedish & Estonian Champion Kivisilmän Muskettisoturi. He will be staying in Brussels for a while now (semi-permanently) showing a little with Virva-Riitta. He is available for stud to approved bitches. It's been a pretty great summer for him too, getting three championship titles confirmed & two cacibs towards the CIB title. On the waterwork front, he hasn't been to tests, but he's been mostly just swimming with our girls (at least) weekly during the summer and/or being trained a little on the side. Next summer (if we have the time for it!) he'll probably continue with the tests also.
21.8.2013
Ruuti's puppies are growing like little
weeds. I do call them the little "terrors", because they are our
T-litter and it suits them adequately. Their puppy blog is being updated as they
mature.
T litter with Ruuti - one of the puppies (Koda)
Merita (EE CH, LUX J CH K. Rutikuiva)
started
her heat about a week ago and will be mated with Elboy du Domaine de
Flambeau. We are especially looking for possible co-owners for a little
black or brown girl, but of course all other enquiries are also
welcomed.
Elboy x Merita
Most of this summers' updates I have been posting on my Facebook wall, but I do appreciate that not everyone is on facebook and so I will try my best to summarize what's been going on :-) !
* Baron (Kivisilmän Muskettisoturi) is now
SWEDISH and ESTONIAN CHAMPION. He's been doing well in shows and did
for example during a two-day show weekend win 2 * CACIB!
Baron free stacked looking at what Merita's doing summer 2013
* Merita (Kivisilmän Rutikuiva) is now ESTONIAN CHAMPION and Luxembourg
Junior Champion. She's just 26 months and hasn't been shown more than a
handful of times. She gained the title from just 2 weekends (4 shows)
being 3* BOS with 3* CAC.
Merita summer 2013
Ariel with oar summer 2013
* Ariel (Kivisilmän Salapoliisi) is now
ESTONIAN JUNIOR CHAMPION. It took her just two weekends (four shows)
this summer to gain 3*BOS Junior the title with 3* JCAC. Ariel has also
been competing at water trials and has received 1 * 3rd price, 1 * 2nd
price in the Finnish A-level. She is a true water monster, the
type of working dog you only get once in a lifetime. All she
needs to do is read her owners' mind once (or see the exercise
performed) and she'll do it perfectly with only verbal guidance. And
the exercises we make her do aren't the easiest of ones. For example:
Jump out of boat with lifejacket, take it to victim 1, leave it, swim
to victim 2, take oar from him back to the boat, tow boat to shore. Or
jump out of boat, retrieve an oar back to the boat, retrieve a floating
lifejacket, take it to victim 1, tow to boat, tow 2nd boat to shore.
She is brilliant :-)!
Not only has she been doing waterwork but also MEJÄ (blood trial
tracking in forest) where she excells at!
Merita and Ariel with their weekend "jackpot".
Merita & Baron swimming at our summer cottage summer 2013
16.7.2013
"Wow" is the only word I can really type here that describes our US training tour. We are still working on writing the recap (it'll be a loooong recap!) and will post it here sooner rather than later. All I can say for now without taking the whole page is a Thank You to everyone who made it possible. We had an absolute blast and from the comments it looks like all of you enjoyed it more than words can describe."Sleep is scheduled for August" - is our motto. June was spend on Orcas, Seattle (Washington), Kansas, Colorado and Texas. July is currently being spent in Finland at our cottage. After driving 9 + 26 hours from Brussels to Estonia with two cars, three people and five dogs (plus a belly full of babies) on the day Bettina flew back from the US, Baron (Kivisilmän Muskettisoturi) became ESTONIAN AND SWEDISH CHAMPION. A trip well worth it! From there we continued to Kouvola, Finland. Getting to relax a few days (setting up the summer cottage in functional state after the winter) we held the 3rd International Water Rescue Camp at Taavetti Finland. A HUGE thank you to Jan Counotte, Pete and Jen Lewin for coming to instruct. You guys were awesome as always :-).
The other BIG BIG news is a congratulations to Ariel (Kivisilman Salapoliisi) who got 49/50 points from waterwork Junior class in Finland, and JCAC BOS Junior in Estonia. She is a SUPERB 12-month-old working dog, just like Scout (K. Navigaattori) was at that age (and still is).
And finally the exciting news of Ruuti becoming a mother to 5 boys and 2 girls. More information in puppy plans and puppy blog.
01.06.2013 Ruuti
(K. Monitoimikone) started her heat at the end of
April and has been bred to the amazing Lux Ch, VDH CH, Fats
Domino vom
Butzensee. More information in the litter plans. We are very excited
about this combination, with the hope of adding another brown girl to
our own family for Virva-Riitta to show and train. We have been going
through possible puppy names and themes with excitement, but haven't
yet decided on a theme. The letter will be "T", with Finnish, two-part
names, all in one theme. Not easy, but once we figure out the first,
the rest will come :-). Merita's letter will be "V", with Finnish,
two-part names, the theme being "animals". We already have a dozen
suitable names ready, so lets hope for a great litter! She has been
acting as if she's going to start her heat: shedding, losing ears
during walks, increased marking and going more after smells than
usual. I would expect her to start her heat within two months from now.
We'll just need to wait and see!
Bettina participated with Merita at the Scottish Newfoundland Club's
Fun Day in May. Merita did extremely well placing overall 2nd. Well
done!
We are very
excited about the upcoming summer. Annina, Bror and Virva-Riitta have
already started their journey towards Seattle and San Juan islands. I
(Bettina) will follow tomorrow, skipping their first day's trip to
Astoria & surroundings due to there not being enough hours in the
day to be able to finish exams, move house, drive back to Brussels,
take Merita to Christina's (Scout's owner) and catch the flight in one
day. We will all head to the San Juan islands for a week of activities:
whale watching, kayaking, fishing (BIG fish!) and walking through
national parks. We will also be training Orka (K. Nostokurki) and her
owner(s), and another newf that came to our Oregon water camp last
year. The plan is to train every day at 9AM and 7PM with the aim of
covering, teaching and going through all the components of the
exercises from WD to WRDX (on land and in water). I have already send
the land training notes, so hopefully we'll have a good basis to start
from :-).
After the week at Orcas island, Bror and Virva-Riitta will return home to the dogs (who Markus will have been looking after during the week, thank you!), and I and Annina will continue to hold camps in Seattle (1 day), Kansas (2 days), Colorado (3 days) and Texas (2 x 2 days). I will be again writing it all down as we go, an posting our recap of the trip here once we return. Some photos we'll hopefully be able to upload to the photo gallery along the way..
28.4.2013
The Newfoundland
water rescue aptitude survey received 450 responses. I am absolutely
amazed and very happy to be able to go through it all and analyze for a
better undestanding of the current situation. I will be doing most of
the analysis over the month of May, hoping to publish the results
during the summer. The results should be extremely interesting! The
Water Training book prize was sent to Tracy in Illinois.
Congratulations! We haven't yet received a reponse from the Grooming
book winner, but we'll draw another winner if we don't hear from them
soon.
The water training book was SOLD OUT during the Easter holidays! We have edited the book slightly (just silly little errors) and modified it to be a slightly smaller book size (Royal A5). The books should be coming from the print early May, after which we'll be able to post them to you again. The response from the readers has absolutely baffled us; we are absolutely amazed at how much each and everyone has enjoyed reading through it/them. Do keep the reviews/comments coming in, and do ask if you've got any questions at all relating to what we've typed up.
Over the Easter holidays Merita's (K. Rutikuiva) heart was checked to be healthy (ultrasound & ECG). Exciting news as this has confirmed that we'll be mating her from her next heat during the summer. I am very much looking forward to the litter, as it also means that we'll be getting a new pup joining our family, and that Capri'd already be becoming a great-grandma. How time flies :-) !
We had Annina's
Baron (Kivisilman Muskettisoturi) in Belgium for a few weeks during the
Easter holidays.
He went to a few shows and performed well. He is an absolutely stunning
dog with a lot of drive in movement. Absolutely wonderful - if I may
say so!
Vera (L. Huomiongohde), Capri (L. Brysselinblicca) and Ruuti (K. Monitoimikone).
It has been a cold spring, allowing Ariel (K. Salapoliisi) to commence water trainings on a tractor plowed field amidst snow! She is doing very well, and getting ready for the summer in the water. She is a very active little girl and extremely social as ours tend to be. She participated at her first confirmation show in puppy class, where she did extremely well,placing 1st with honor prize and becoming best of opposite sex puppy. Well done!
While there's
still snow on the ground in Finland, Bettina & Merita have started
the water season
in the cold UK. They'll be training every Sunday at Lochore with the
Scottish Newfoundland Club until late May (and the start of the
holidays).If you're in the region, do come along for the trainings!
26.03.2013
Summer plans:
near Seattle, Washington water rescue
training day 9th June 2013
More information: bettinasalmelin@hotmail.com
Olathe, Kansas water rescue camp
11-12th June 2013, FULL, audits possible
More information: Heart of America Newfoundland Club (HANC) http://www.hanc.net/
Denver, Colorado water rescue camp:
14-16th June 2013 - FULL, audits possible.
More information: Highland Country Newfoundland Club (HCNC) http://www.highcountrynewfs.com/
Dallas, Texas water rescue camps:
19-20th June, 21-22nd June +
extra session 23rd June 2013 - FULL, audits possible.
More information: Old West Newfoundland Club (OWNC) http://ownc.org/
Taavetti, Finland water rescue
camp: 5-7th July, a few places left for Newfoundlands, entries
for other breeds closed, audits possible.
More information: http://www.watercubs.com/vepeleiri2013.htm
Inkoo, Finland water rescue camp:
19-21st July - entries not opened yet
More information: http://www.facebook.com/ActionDogsRy
United Kingdom (Seven Lakes):
6-8th September 2013 - entries not
opened yet
More information: *will be announced later, but if you want
information, just email Bettina at bettinasalmelin@hotmail.com
As very exciting
news Merita's X-rays came back from the Finnish Kennel Club as such
that we hope to breed her at the end of the summer with a very exciting
black (brown recessive) boy from France. We'll still need to get her
heart checked, but *knock on wood* that won't affect any plans. Puppy plans
We had the
opportunity to visit Merita's future "husband" Elboy (du Domaine de
Flambeau) in France. He was just as amazing as what we had thought he
would be. A very active, smoothly moving, bouncy, extremely friendly,
gorgeous, massive, strong boned, eager boy. Just perfect for Merita. We
are very excited about the opportunity to use him for Merita later this
year. The puppies from this combination sure will be fabulous,
stunning, very able and eager working dogs. Elboy has been shown only a
little, but he has always, without exceptions placed well. He is a dog
that you just cannot not fall in love with. He is a strong dog in every
sense of the word, without being "too much" in anyway. More importantly
than the shows, he has also been worked with. He is eager to work
especially in the water and has successfully passed the French 1st
working degree, aiming to perhaps succeed in the 2nd degree this
upcoming summer. He is only three years, allowing for much more
achievements in the future for such a promising boy.
Elboy du Domaine de Flambeau
Merita & Elboy meeting each other
- - - -
We got some snow in the UK: Merita thoroughly enjoyed & Baron frolicked in the snow, Data wasn't too impressed. Snow in Belgium got even Capri excited enough to initate play with Ruuti. Vera loved it too! Wish it had stayed on the ground a little longer, because the constant non-stop rain is starting to be depressing. At least the spring has commenced with chippery birds waking us up every morning! I absolutely cannot wait for the summer & the water season to recommence. Capri and Vera will be focusing on having fun & performing even more complex exercises together with Bettina. This will be Merita's second season in the water, which means that it'll also be a very exciting one. We will start to combine the basic exercises she learned last summer into simple and a little more complex exercise patterns. With Baron and Ruuti we will continue from where we left off last summer, and perhaps even have a goal of participating at a some tests this summerat the back of our minds while training them. We'll see, it all depends on how our summer turns out :-)!
Merita 21 months - still a long way to mature to her adult look, but a long way from what she was only a few months ago. - Merita's mum Ruuti 4 years
29.1.2013 Just
realized that it's already late January 2013. The summer holidays are
currently being planned. The rough timescale will be:
June USA - camps, workshops and private training sessions between
3-23rd June (will post more info on exact dates as events are confirmed)
July Finland - camp 5-7th July at Taavetti (confirmed dates, entries
will open soon)
August Belgium - Holiday!
September UK - camp 6-8th September (provisional dates)
If you're interested in asking us to come and train with you, don't hesitate to send me an email (bettinasalmelin@hotmail.com). The earlier we hear about requests, the more likely we'll be able to come and train with you :-).
Merita surveying Edinburgh
- Snowing, finally!
This is pretty
amazing - 8 dogs from the SICS will become a part of a kids'
collectible sticker album! With millions and millions of copies sold
all around Italy - with 3/4 of all Italian kids collecting and learning
about water rescue dogs. Fabulous. Al (K. Multimedia) is the gorgeous
girl in the middle row on the right.
19.1.2013
A
happy, happy birthday Capri. Ten wonderful years, hopefully many, many
more to come. Capri is our first Newfoundland, first family dog, mum to
nine, grandma to twelve pups. International, Finnish and Swedish
Champion, European Veteran Winner 2011 and Official Belgian K9
Lifeguard Larinkallion Brysselinblicca.
Here are some photos from her birthday walk:
The birthday girl Capri - Vera, Merita, Scout, Capri, Ruuti and Dana
& Akela
Everyone on the walk - Capri (front) with Vera (daughter), Merita
(granddaugter), Ruuti (daughter), Scout (granddaughter)
28.12.2012
Ruuti (K. Monitoimikone) and Merita (K. Rutikuiva) on a walk - the
whole gang: Vera, Merita, Capri and Ruuti on a walk (home stretch and
thus walking calmly on the path ;-)! )
Capri (L. Brysselinblicca) will be celebrating her 10th birthday in
just over a fortnight.
25.12.2012 And so I've decided to get an early start for 2013 updates, because the 2012 page was becoming too long and slow to update. It would take me about a minute to write every word I wanted to post and it took about a minute for every photo to upload. From now on we'll probably try to break the news page into two-year sections to avoid these problems.
All the ordered and paid book packages were sent either 21st or 22nd December. The first packages have already arrived to their destiations - we are anxiously waiting for comments and reviews :-). Overall we're at book number 160 for waterwork books (from 200) and at around 130 (from 100) for grooming books. The grooming book order was small(er) because we had only imagined it to be an afterthought rather than a primary book to get, but we are glad of the success of it also. It's a great guide especially for beginners, and especially for breeders to get for their new pup owners. The amount of water books sent has also been a very pleasant surprise, we'll need to get a second order of it soon :-)! Never would we have guessed that there is SUCH a huge need for a great water guide. 160 books ordered & posted even before anyone's had a read through it :-). Orders are of course still being taken and some reviews will hopefully eventually be posted in the book section. A second order of the grooming booklets has been made. We will receive them mid-January and will send those out to you then.
Annina signing just a small portion of the water books (in total about 80 water & 60 grooming books signed) - Capri, Vera and Merita on the 24th Dec after a long walk in the forest
12.2012 The holidays are here, finally! Time has flown quickly since the summer and hence no updates for a while. The books (Grooming and Water Rescue) will arrive sometime early next week. We'll be busy signing ans posting around 200 books in total! That's quite a few trips to the post office, hauling them there, but at least we have all the packaging ready, waiting with the address labels written, just waiting to be filled and posted. Hope you have the opportunity to take a break, curl in front of the warm fireplace and just enjoy the books!
(c) Salmelin