Horrible troubleshooting on my part. It was only affecting the Winter Snow Dream by Neil Banfield (the only one I use) ...
I tried to figure out how the 'Desktop Background' in Personalize within Windows Control Panel had any bearing on DeskScapes Dream's, and then I downloaded a new Dream and found them embedded in the settings for the dream .. all makes sense now. AND WORKS! -- except for my trusty Winter Snow
--- BUT Thx!