It all began in 1978 with the arrival in Canada of a solid blue longhaired kitten with an aristocratic bearing named Azure. He had been bred by one of the founding members of MCBFA, Betty Ljostad. His father was an Illya cat and his mother had been dropped off with Betty by «Connie» Condit on her return from her last German posting.
Azure had been sold to Alma and Ken Shindler to be shown as an alter and he was. He also held a unique if unenviable claim to being almost the only Maine Coon in eastern Canada (the other was owned by the US Ambassador to Canada, a Carter administration appointee and, appropriately, the former governor of Maine). Ljostad Azure of Hillside showed mainly in CCA against Persians and Himalayans and held his own.