a southern gal in the north

For over 30 days, Senate Republicans have held hostage the extension of benefits to the hundreds of thousands of unemployed.

These “men” are tacking on many unrelated amendments which is holding up passage of the bill in the Senate and thus denying the unemployed any assistance for over a month.

Once the vote is passed, it will be TWO more weeks before any benefits will be distributed. People are being evicted; losing electricity and gas services as the winter is upon us.

Please take a moment to send a message to your Congressional Representatives and Senators.

Unemployed Workers Home | End the Needless Delay of Extended Benefits

Write Letters to the Editors of papers. The NY Times had an editorial last weekend but the mainstream media is ignoring this story.

An audience with Renée Fleming – Times Online

If the 50-year-old Fleming is sitting contentedly at the top of her profession, the revealing part of an hour spent in her company is how willing she is to dissect that success — and even to disbelieve it. Yes, there are the delightfully silly accoutrements of American fame that have so far included a Renée Fleming dessert (“La Diva Renée”), a Renée Fleming perfume (“La Voce”) and — she adds these to my list — both the Renée Fleming iris (2001) and its official porcelain replica (2007). Understand this level of devotion and you realise why the New York-based singer spends so much more time on this side of the Atlantic.

But what, aside from that sumptuous voice, do Americans really love about Fleming? She is, she gladly admits, a poster girl for the friendly face of her art form, a role that she has recently underlined by taking on presenting duties for the live cinema relays of Met performances (when she isn’t starring in them). “Terrifying,” she says, “but what I have learnt from it is that when I then go and sing in other places people say, ‘Oh, we really loved you introducing such and such an opera, but we thought your hair looked better the week before’ and they were talking to me in a much more familiar way. And that’s really changed, because what the public enjoy now is someone who is approachable, user-friendly, whereas what we have historically loved is the diva persona.”

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Annoying things

– wanting to make a pattern in a specific yarn that you have stashed

– having moved ALL of your yarn into nice plastic bins and stacked beautifully in your work room in the basement

– going thru ALL the bins to find the elusive stashed yarn.

– not finding the yarn.

– checking the website where you bought it to make sure you are not crazy.

– confirming that yes it was delivered.

– looking thru any other hiding place – bags of wips, shelves in the den, the study.

STILL NOT FINDING THE YARN.

MIA

15 skeins
ELANN Peruvian Baby Cashmere
Peacock

Angie Harmon Takes on Title Role in RIZZOLI, Pilot from Warner Horizon Written by Janet Tamaro (Bones) and Executive-Produced by Tamaro and Bill Haber

Angie Harmon, who played leading roles on Law & Order and Women's Murder Club, is returning to the crime-solving world as the title character in RIZZOLI, a new TNT pilot based on Tess Gerritson's popular Jane Rizzoli mystery novels. The pilot, which comes to TNT from Warner Horizon Television, is being written by Janet Tamaro (Bones, Lost) and executive-produced by Tamaro and Bill Haber's Ostar Productions (TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, TCM's upcoming Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood). Michael M. Robin (TNT's The Closer) will direct and executive-produce the pilot.

"Angie Harmon is not only a terrific actress, but also a favorite of crime drama fans," said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "She will bring a combination of toughness and sensitivity to the challenging lead role. We're thrilled to have Angie on board for what could be an outstanding addition to TNT's collection of strong female characters."

Harmon earned four consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award nominations as part of the ensemble cast of Law & Order, in which she played assistant district attorney Abbie Carmichael. Harmon also portrayed Detective Lindsay Boxer in Women's Murder Club. Harmon's other television series credits include guest appearances on Samantha Who?, Chuck, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as regular roles on C-16: F.B.I. and Baywatch Nights. On the big screen, she co-starred in such movies as Fun with Dick and Jane, with Jim Carrey; Agent Cody Banks, with Frankie Muniz; End Game, with Cuba Gooding Jr.; Seraphim Falls, with Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson; and Lawn Dogs, with Sam Rockwell. In 2008, Harmon co-starred with Harry Connick Jr. in the acclaimed Lifetime movie Living Proof.

Tess Gerritson has written seven books featuring Jane Rizzoli, a Boston detective. Rizzoli works closely on her cases with medical examiner Maura Isles, who will also be a part of the series. Additional casting will be announced soon.

via www.thefutoncritic.com

BENJAMIN BRATT TO RETURN TO 'LAW & ORDER' AS DETECTIVE REYNALDO CURTIS

Universal City, CA, October 23, 2009 – Benjamin Bratt, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Detective Reynaldo Curtis on "Law & Order," will make a special return appearance as as Detective Curtis in an upcoming episode, it was announced today by series creator and executive producer Dick Wolf.

Bratt was a series regular on "Law & Order" for four seasons (1995-99) and in addition to the Emmy nomination, earned two ALMA Awards for playing Detective Curtis. In the upcoming episode, Detective Curtis will be reunited with his former "boss" Lt. Anita van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson). "Law & Order" airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on NBC.

"I am thrilled that Ben is coming back for a return appearance. He joined us for our recent 20th anniversary celebration and it was like he never left," Wolf said.

Bratt most recently starred in the A&E series "The Cleaner." He has also appeared in numerous feature films including "Traffic," "Clear and Present Danger" and "Miss Congeniality."

"Law & Order," in its 20th season, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and tied the record for consecutive outstanding series nominations (11, tied with "Cheers" and "M*A*S*H).

"Law & Order is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Dick Wolf, Rene Balcer, Peter Jankowski and Fred Berner are executive producers.

via www.thefutoncritic.com

Utility companies – we love to hate them, however sometimes we can win a battle. 

My last battle with the local provider – Con Edison – was in 2006 – almost ten months after I had moved to my current residence in the lower Hudson River Valley.  This apt is a little bit larger than the one I had previously in Park Slope but it is MUCH WORSE insulated.  The first winter I had no programmable thermostat and tried to keep the apt at around 68–70 which meant running the furnace 24/7 esp in Jan and Feb and most of March.  However, I had not really paid attention to the Con Ed bills which was for both gas and electric – and therefore went blissfully ignorant along paying the bills and thinking all was well.

Until the May bill  – which had a balance of over $1000 due for the gas.  After recovering, I had a series of conversations with several Customer Service Representatives and finally we figured out that because the GAS meters are in the locked basement for six months the meter reader had NOT bothered to try to read it and had not even reported that he/she couldn’t get in.  Then someone must of realized it or the meter reader got in and wham!

After more intense conversations during which I had to point out that it was THEIR fault, they finally deigned to allow me to pay the bill off over several months.  So at that point I begin to carefully follow the gas meter reading schedule (you can find it by logging into your Con Ed account) and actually entered my monthly reading.  I then was told that the landlord had provided a key to the reader (or so I thought).  (The electric meter is on the outside of the house).

Each month I would check and see that the gas meter reading was listed as ACTUAL and not ESTIMATED.  However for some reason over the last two months I slipped and didn’t notice – until this month.

At some point in August Con Ed sent letters saying they were replacing the reading mechanism on the gas meters to enable the readings to be done electronically… (not sure if the electric were replaced as well).  My area was due for replacement in Sept.   Eventually one day in Sept I happened to see the Con Ed truck outside our building and found a woman worker and let her in the basement.  As this was the week of my gas meter reading I thought – great, no more need to worry about that.  Then when my bill arrived for September I was a little surprised that the amount seemed a bit higher than normal (although most of September was warmer and so the window fans stayed on more than usual). 

Monday, I was filing papers and was looking at the Con Ed bill and FINALLY noticed that the amount for the last month was an estimated amount.  After checking the REAL reading on the gas meter it turned out that Con Ed had overestimated to the amount of 100 therms – my reading was 9079 on Monday and the LAST bill (Sept 14) was 9113.  AND then I saw that the LAST TWO readings had been estimated – so the last REAL reading was in July and both the Aug and Sept bills were over charged.

Gas Reading:

September 14, 2009 Estimated Reading 9113
August 13, 2009 Estimated Reading 9087

The next meter reading is scheduled for: Wednesday, October 14, 2009.

Luckily my reading for the October bill is this week (today in fact) and so I went on line and entered the correct meter reading – which the website was not happy about – making me enter it in twice as it was such a difference from their last reading.  Then had a conversation with a rep who agreed with me!!! and then offered to call me back today (the actual reading date) and record the reading officially and proceed from there.  We agreed on a time – and amazingly she called back.  The reading was up one therm.  They are crediting my account for the last two months errors and the extra will be applied to my electric bill.

We also confirmed (after she went thru many different people) that the meters have been replaced and they will be electronically read – in fact this week would be the first one.  Apparently they were replaced at the end of Sept.   However, I will continue to monitor the readings and record what I find.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket?

there was great excitement on our street last week: on wed a powerful wind storm rampaged thru Westchester – and in our village on our street, two houses over, a huge 100+ year old magnolia tree was felled. 

by a miracle it fell in the ONLY open space in the backyard of my new next door neighbor, mr. b, a great guy and recent owner who is renovating this house himself.  he is JUST finishing a total gut and rebuild of the rotten addition to the back of the house (for the bathrooms)and his guardian angels were most certainly watching over the house that day. 

the tree was very tall and very old and had been dead/dying for quite a few years.  when i first moved here five years ago, for the first few springs there were magnolias and leaves – not in abundance but enough to cover the tree – however in the last two years there has been a steady decline and this past spring there were no leaves on any of the branches – just a few sprouts right near the fork in the trunk of the two large branches.  whether and how to take it down had been of concern – here in the village proper, the lots are small and there is practically no access to back yards.  it would have been a very expensive procedure.

the owners, mrs l and mr a, good friends of mine, are so lucky that it fell were it did – not on either their house or their garage (with the convertible in it) nor on mr. b’s almost completed renovation (seen in the photo on the right) nor on the tin shed (seen on the right side of the photo above) with all of his construction supplies, wood, and tools.

on the recommendation of my sister, my friends hired her gardeners and they came on Friday afternoon.  as it happened my nephews (W almost 6 and L almost 3) were visiting while my sister ran errands and at the PLEADING of the eldest we watched the gardeners work.   unfortunately i was holding the youngest and the eldest was holding onto me (as exciting as chain saws and cutting trees is, chain saws are LOUD and hanging on to the adult near by is reassuring) so no photos of the actual tree removal.

there were a gang of five workmen – a foreman and his helpers.  at one point one of the braver workmen climbed up on the branch that was resting along the fence.  this was after all of the branches in front of the fence were removed. W’s eyes were so wide at the sight of the worker walking along the top of the branch – “that is so scary” he whispered and we talked about how dangerous it was to do that – L chiming in “dangerous, dangerous”.  

it was surprising that NONE of the workers handling the chain saw wore safety glasses nor ear muffs. (things discussed with the boys as well).

when my sister came, this space was all cleared up and the workers were moving to the backyard were the tree stood.  W was so excited and insisted on staying with me longer so we moved over to watch the removal of the remaining branch and the tree trunk.

once again, the same brave worker went into action – up the trunk he climbed and out on the remaining branch cutting off as much as he could reach.  at one point the chain saw stopped working and the foreman had to fix it – which he did about three feet from W – who gave me a running commentary of what the “workman” was doing to the chain saw. 

amazingly, it took only about two hours for them to clear the tree from both back yards and sweep and stack all the cut lumber. 

and then i took a very tired and very excited boy home to his dinner.  secretly i was glad W wanted to watch because i did too, but when you are not almost six it’s harder to justify hanging around watching men cut down a tree.  thank goodness for nephews!

Classic ITV drama Upstairs Downstairs is being brought back by the BBC.
The drama, about a Belgravia family and their servants, was a worldwide hit in the 1970s. It was reportedly seen by an audience of more than one billion.

The series was created by actresses Jean Marsh and Dame Eileen Atkins. Both will have roles in the new version, which will be set in 1936.

It will be re-launched with two 90 minute films next year. Heidi Thomas who wrote Cranford, will pen the drama.

Times have changed
Jean Marsh will return in her previous role as Rose, the parlour maid. She will now be housekeeper to the new residents of 165 Eaton Place, the wealthy Holland family.

The BBC say it will be set in the years running up to the Second World War, with Rose discovering times have changed, as servants are no longer cheap and obedient.

Jean Marsh will again play Rose
Jean Marsh said: “I am hugely looking forward to spending time with Rose. I have missed her enormously.

Dame Eileen Atkins will appear in a new role: “I am delighted to have the chance to star in the new version for the BBC,” she said.

The veteran actress previously starred in Cranford, which was also written by Thomas.

“Heidi Thomas is an extraordinarily talented writer and it is always a complete joy to work with her,” the star added.

The full cast will be announced next year and filming will begin in the Spring.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | BBC revisits Upstairs Downstairs.