Fairfax County Counts, Registers the Chronically Homeless

"Boy, when you guys said 6 a.m., you weren't kidding," said Chris P. from behind his plywood front door at a campsite along Eisenhower Avenue near the border of the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County.Wholesale various Glass Mosaic Tiles from earcap Tiles Suppliers.

There was a harvest moon Monday morning, and it was cold, about 32 degrees, and dark. Five Fairfax County volunteers walked into Chris's campsite near Interstate 495 and Eisenhower Avenue with flashlights, hot coffee and clipboards.

"Good morning! Hello!" said volunteer Joe Drach as he walked up to a tent at the small campsite, which included a fire pit, a full clothesline and a three-foot mound of broken glass from smashed beer bottles. Feral cats scampered about with familiarity, and the ground was littered with dozens of empty cat food tins.

Chris, 51, was born in the District,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth solarlantern Descriptions. graduated from high school and spent three-and-a-half years in the Marine Corps, he said. He built his hut out of plywood and plastic sheeting he found dumpster diving at a nearby construction site. He, his brother and a friend have lived at the site since October.Our extensive range of injectionmold is supplied to all sorts of industries across Australia and overseas.

Chris stepped out with a headlamp over a ski cap, and took a cup of coffee with sweetener. Volunteers had recently visited to let him know to expect the Monday morning visit - part of a County project this week to register the homeless. Volunteers gave Chris toe warmers, a $5 McDonald's gift card and a bagged lunch.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday about 200 volunteers will count, photograph and get the names and histories of the county's homeless for the first-ever Registry Week. The effort is part of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which advocates offering housing to the homeless. Partners include the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, New Hope Housing, Pathway Homes, Reston Interfaith and Volunteers of America Chesapeake.

Drach, who lives in Mount Vernon and is a member of Good Shepherd Catholic Church, read from a list of 43 questions, which included "Have you ever been in jail?" and "If you aren't currently but could work full-time, what kind of work would you most enjoy doing?"

"I want to be a massage therapist," answered Chris, whose main source of income is cleaning car windows along Telegraph Road. "I had to panhandle yesterday for dinner. I just want to do something that makes people happy and get paid. But right now I got my sights set on UPS. They hire extra people every Christmas for the warehouse and sometimes they keep them after the season is over."

Drach was joined by Rev. Keary Kincannon, pastor of the Rising Hope United Methodist Church; Pam Michell, director of New Hope Housing; Lexalynn Hooper, a member of the New Hope Housing board of Directors and a county homeless case worker.

The volunteers were told to make observations of subjects noting if they looked "yellow" or "sick" or "smelled like they consumed alcohol," said Sherry Edelkamp, the South County corridor volunteer captain, to about 30 volunteers just after 5 a.m. Monday at the South County Center on Richmond Highway.

It was a crisp, clear winter’s morning in Rome. The sun was glinting off the marble statues on the Bridge of Angels, a light breeze was rustling through the trees bordering the Tiber River and my husband and I were stuck holding the hand of a frustrated scammer demanding petrol money.

At first he had seemed friendly enough. A small, well-dressed elderly man behind the wheel of a small blue hatchback. He stopped us as we were about to cross the street and said his name was Mario.

Leaning out of his car window, he caught us off guard as we were stumbling about starry-eyed in a particularly lovely part of town.

Acting slightly frazzled and speaking a mile a minute, he said he had travelled from Milan to Rome for a conference and he was lost. A bit of small talk later and he was chatting to us like we were old friends: “You are from New Zealand?! My wife is from New Zealand! I love Wellington. Go to Milan’s New Zealand consulate and ask for Helen! She will look after you. We will be good friends.”

Our new buddy ‘Mario’ said he was a fashion designer for Giorgio Armani, he even had a clear-file ready to show us his designs, mostly cut-outs from old magazines.

Since we were from his “favourite country in the whole wide world”, he wanted us to have a few of his latest Armani samples - a cheap looking plastic handbag and an imitation polar-fleece jacket.

He then reached out of the car window and grabbed my husband’s hand for an uncomfortably long time. He wouldn’t let go as he explained he needed help, his car was nearly out of gas (he pointed at the petrol gauge) and his petrol card was broken (he showed us the card with a corner cut off it). He gripped tight and implored us to help him as he had ‘honoured’ us with his free gifts.

Every major city has its own scammers, though a quick chat with other tourists and a search through online travel forums indicates Rome is particularly notorious.

As one of the most gorgeous places in the world, Rome understandably draws throngs of tourists year-round. As jet-lagged travellers gawp in awe at St Peter’s Basilica, as they wander lost around the bustling and slightly run-down Termini station, as the beauty of the Colosseum causes them to momentarily forget about their handbags, the scammers and pick-pockets go to work.

In Piazza del Popolo, a sprawling urban square home to a towering and ancient Egyptian obelisk, an overweight, Bangladeshi man chased us down.Professionals with the job title moldmaker are on LinkedIn.

He refused to take it back when I said I had no money for him.

“This is gift, you are beautiful honeymooners,The term 'streetlight control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. good luck for Santa Maria, lovely flowers, a kiss for Santa Maria.”

Not only was he supposedly impressed by my looks, but of course Bangladesh and New Zealand shared a love for cricket and he wanted to pay his respects to our Black Caps.

So after a few attempts to return the flowers, we walked off with them. A few steps later he was running after us, beside himself with anger, demanding ‘a donation’ in return for his generous gift of flowers.

Hell hath no fury like a scammer scorned and on realising he was not going to get any cash, he ripped the flowers from my hand and muttered a few curse words under his breath.

ATCM clarifies position on Portas Pilots

Despite his sentiments and much of his extremely eloquent argument, he does miss several important points and wrongly attributes blame. He looks at outputs in terms of money actually spent at a specific point in time (31 December) rather than funds committed as part of a longer term approach. And he also seems to forget that outcomes (aka results) are more important than outputs (aka money spent).

It’s like a retailer measuring success by turnover without paying attention to profits.
He has also written,Want to find crystalmosaic? “If schemes like the Portas Pilots are to have a future they will have to be freed from the monopoly control of councils and the Association of Town Centre Management.”

We can’t speak for individual councils but we can point out that the ATCM doesn’t have ‘monopoly control’ over the Portas Pilots.High quality chinamosaic tiles. In fact, the ATCM’s prospectus and subsequent funding agreement, which have become public, are specifically aimed at supporting Town Team Partners (TTPs) and not Portas Pilot towns.

Business in the Community (BiTC) are providing support to Portas Pilot towns via a separate agreement with DCLG which we have not been privy to, and we work with them wherever we can.
And even though we are leading that TTP programme we are by no means doing it alone.

Supporters and organisations which have provided support include Experian, Clare Rayner (Indie Retail expert), Visit Worcester and more. We have however always made the offer to Pilots to participate and some have asked our advisors for support which we are happy to provide.

The ATCM has responded to the challenges of establishing, nurturing and guiding new Town Team Partners by creating a new website for Town Teams, publishing guides for new Town Centre Managers, staging events and networking sessions plus much more.

The ATCM has set up a network of eight regional Special Advisors to work with all the Town Team Partners,Universal solarstreetlight are useful for any project. as well as the Portas Pilots that ask for help, but the primary focus has been and remains even now on the Partners.You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth Original ventilationsystem Descriptions.

All of this has been done since last September (with only a month’s lead time before hitting the ground running), and the ATCM among others, is now awaiting the government’s announcement of who will lead on the next phase of support to both the Pilots and Partners. Funding to the ATCM for the first stage of work with the Partners ended in January.

Most Partners have wanted to concentrate on the basics, improving footfall, reducing vacancy rates, helping business retention, improving access, car parking and the public realm and seeing improved customer satisfaction.

But they also need to have the structures in place and develop the relationships needed to generate long term successful partnership working, says Toyubur Rahman, ATCM Town Teams project manager.

A great deal of information, research and examples of good practice already exist in the areas where Town Teams need guidance, but it must be understood that to improve footfall and reduce vacancy rates, towns will have to tackle underlying causes such as poor accessibility, undesirable public realm, lack of events, promotions and marketing and not serving the local community to the best of their ability. Only when the underlying causes are tackled will footfall and vacancy rates improve.

All of the approaches taken, which need to go much wider than focusing on retail, will require a longer term effort led by the community, supported by experts within government and the private sector along with local authority backing, and examples already exist in places like Mansfield, Buxton and other Town Team areas where solid improvements can be seen.

The package of code changes also lowers the number of parking spaces required at certain buildings, such as medical centers and planned business centers. Devilbiss said requiring developers to have less parking spaces would relieve them of a cost that they didn’t need, according to what county staff was seeing in parking lot usage.

The fledgling economy played a part in some of the code changes, he said. The time that a preliminary plan of subdivision would become void was changed from 24 months to 36 months. The time that a site plan would become void was changed from 18 months to 36 months.

Devilbiss said the sunset provision was extended because people are not as aggressively developing land as they used to be. The county has a lot of developers asking for extensions on their various plans because they can’t move forward with the development of their land, Devilbiss said. Changing the sunset provisions made more sense than continually granting extensions, he said.

While the staff suggested most of the changes included in the package, Devilbiss said the commissioners offered a lot of input for changes to the chapter on zoning.

A provision was added that would allow property owners that are not eligible to divide their land to have a detached dwelling unit of up to 600-square-feet of liveable floor area. In the past, people have said that they want to convert their garage to a liveable area so that their elderly parents will have a place to stay, according to Zoning Administrator Jay Voight. If the property had no subdivision rights, that conversion couldn’t happen, he said.

Another provision was added which would allow the zoning administrator to approve an increase in allowable square footage of up to 20 percent in instances of medical necessity or health-care related hardship. When people have medical conditions, their hallways may not be big enough to support the additional medical equipment, Voight said.

The proposed provision would allow Voight to approve an increase in space so that people can expand their houses for those specific instances. In order for people to qualify for the increase in square footage,This frameless rectangle features a silk screened fused glass replica in a parkingsystem tile and floral motif. Voight said their property must be a minimum of 3 acres.

Camping Under Cosmic

I don’t know if it’s an urge to relive the sense of wondrous innocence and exploration and collectivity of experience that so defined my freshman year—a weird desire to mark my Duke experience with a reassuring symmetry. Maybe it’s a defiant refusal to believe I only have one semester left before graduation. More likely, it’s my discovery of their tofu burrito, what I believe is the establishment’s vegan magnum opus. Whatever they marinate their tofu in is a treasure. But if there is one thing that definitively draws me into this late-night eatery with consistency, it’s the music park below.

Crazy Camp Music Park is a strange space—one that, unlike my freshman year, presents a unique sense of place. To get inside the venue,New Ground-Based solarlamp Tech Is Accurate Down To Just A Few Inches.Shop the web's best selection of precious gemstones and chipcard at wholesale prices. you enter an opening next to the graffiti’d staircase, through curtains made of sleeping bags—that staple that breathed life into me during cold, sleepless nights in K-ville, and through two feet of snow in Pisgah National Forest, the destination of my Project Wild March trip. See what I mean about symmetry?

The feel is organic. The floor is a mosaic of stone and the furnishings all wood in the raw (tree rings and bark browns intact). And what stuff the room houses: rectangular swings that hang from the ceiling with thick rope, artfully crooked panels that house a guitar each, a bench that looks borrowed from the throngs of East Campus, long teeter-totters that throttle their users skyward with surprising force and speed—such that I consciously applied the rules of torque I learned from my mediocre stint in physics to survive the ride. The vast majority of furniture is constructed from the same tree, the bartender tells me, a fallen tree donated from a ranch in Hillsborough. And yes, when I say bartender,Get the best deal on drycabinets in the UK and use our free tools. I mean it—there’s a bar, with a limited but welcoming selection of beer, wine and tequila.

The space is one where musicians of all skill levels and genres can come together and jam without stress or stereotype, to the backdrop of a fun theme-park setting. You’re welcome to bring your own instruments, and some musical tools are provided: guitars, drums, recording equipment, even the occasional pan flute. The guitars come with a special bridge that keep them in tune; the drums are housed behind a clear plastic wall that reminds me of both a spaceship and the Plexiglas at the Louvre that (anticlimactically) guards the Mona Lisa; the pan flute occasionally makes an appearance on the side counter. There’s a large red yurt surrounded by Christmas lights that contains tree stump seats and stools for both musicians and audience members. And for those worried about aural health, there’s a wineglass with earplugs atop the bar.We offer the largest range of bobblehead online. All music recorded is posted to the park’s website.

The place was opened last year by Cosmos Lyles, the heavenly-named owner of Cosmic Cantina. Fun fact: he’s a Duke alum who majored in physics and engineering of all things (maybe that just explains the teeter-totters?). I visited Crazy Camp Music Park around its opening last year, post-Shooters, and it was an empty room of pure potential. Sure, the music equipment was still there, but the wooden furniture, the bar—that all came later, week by week, as the place closed during the workweek for renovation. I was put on a texting listserv that advertised its hours and, after the bar opening, offered the occasional free drink. On one visit, I sang a piece about meningitis while a friend shared a story about her pet bunny rabbit. They are recorded on the website.

Now, the listserv is gone, replaced by regular 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday hours. There’s a board in the corner where you can sign up for jam sessions. Fewer free drinks are offered, but you might get a discount if the music you play gets a stranger to dance. The place still feels new, in a state of flux, and continues to be renovated weekly.

The bartender tells me that Lyles’ vision for Crazy Camp Music Park was a place where everyone would feel famous. As I sit on a rectangular swing happily munching a tofu-filled masterpiece, I don’t know if I quite feel famous. But I do feel like I’m in some way bridging the gap between the naiveté of freshman year and the transience of senior spring, as graduation lurches its scary head closer and closer. Over an appreciation for music, marinated tofu and semi-dangerous teeter-totters, my former and current selves bond. Thanks to this space, this collective of music and late-night food and experience, I approach Cosmic with the same wonder I did when I was a freshman. As I swing, burrito in hand, it’s a comforting thought.

Documents show that Mr Yazgan applied for planning permission to use the first and second floors as two flats in 2001. However, he could not be contacted before the Advertiser went to press.

Tony Mustafa, who works at the dry cleaners, also owned by Mr Yazgan and Mr Mulla, said the pair are now living in Cyprus and he did not have any contact details for them.

He added: "It was supposed to be a massage place but there was people ... going up and down, all the time, 24/7, every 20 or 30 minutes, trying to get an appointment for whatever."

Two women and a male security guard, all Spanish nationals,Our guides provide customers with information about solarpowersystems. were issued with warnings but had fled the country before police arrived to make arrests earlier this month.

A local estate agent, which was letting the flat to a company based in Spain on behalf of the owners, has since sent in builders to make amendments to the properties.

Charlotte Davies, chairman of South Croydon Community Association, welcomed the enforcement action, but said it is just the tip of the iceberg and that brothels are "rife" in and around South End and across South Croydon.

She said: "A huge number of brothels are open in South Croydon, about 20 to 30. With the recession, people who were employed are trying to find other ways of earning money.

"We have been having a real problem with street walkers, walking around in the early hours of the morning, and residents see middle-aged men turning up, drawing large amounts of cash, visiting properties and then leaving."

PC Chris Duffee said: "We started receiving complaints from local businesses and residents at the beginning of the year about this address and having carried out further checks, it was clear the premises were being used as a brothel."

Croydon Council's cabinet member for community safety, Simon Hoar, said: "This is a great example of partnership work protecting the community."

The Advertiser found contact details for at least five different brothels in and around South End after a simple five-minute online search.

One brothel, near Barclays bank in Brighton Road, South Croydon, which we contacted pretending to be a customer, said it offered 'lots of women' depending on which day you want to visit, that its all-oriental girls are aged from 20 to 50 and that they charge ￡100 an hour for a 'full service'.

When asked if pimps were involved and if the girls would receive the full amount of money, they said: "We have independent girls so that’s not my business and I can't talk about that, sorry darling."

Indianans plant deep new roots in Cordova the Town

Thanks to his job, Ben Gorsuch spent the past 10 years on the road. But he wasn’t traveling on business — he was commuting.

He said, “9-11 threw me for a curve. I worked for United Airlines for 17 years, but they shut down the Indianapolis facility in 2003. I had to find other employment.”

Ben, an aircraft mechanic, worked for a while as an Air Force contractor. From there, job opportunities led him to Cleveland, Ohio, then to Newark, N.J. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Karilyn, maintained their home in Indianapolis.

So even when another job opportunity led Ben to Memphis, he continued making the drive home to Indianapolis on weekends, renting rooms in “crash pads” during the workweek.

“I ended up down here with the intention of being here a little while and transferring back up to Indianapolis,” he said. “The challenge with that was because of the downturn in the economy, the company I work for vastly slowed down hiring.All smartcardfactory comes with 5 Years Local Agent Warranty ! They didn’t hire a single mechanic in Indianapolis for a whole year.”

Ben knew he might be waiting a long time for an Indiana transfer. And after spending a decade in a long-distance marriage, he and Karilyn decided enough was enough.

The couple’s home search was also tough. For nearly two years, the Gorsuches studied the Memphis real estate market in hopes of finding a house that would equal the home they loved in Indianapolis. That house, an older home, was loaded with charm and character.

“I really liked East Memphis, those older homes,” Karilyn said. “We looked in High Point Terrace, in the Central-Poplar area.”

Ben searched in his spare time during the week, and Karilyn made a few trips to the Mid-South to view homes in person. During their hunt, the couple met Realtor Melody Bourell,Austrian hospital launches oilpaintingsforsale solution to improve staff safety. of Marx-Bensdorf Realtors, at an open house.

With Bourell’s help, the Gorsuches viewed homes from East Memphis to Cordova to Collierville. One neighborhood in particular stuck in Karilyn’s head: Cordova the Town, a walkable community with homes that give a nod to nostalgia.

“Honestly, it was so far outside of our parameters,” Ben said. “It was the exact opposite of what we were looking for. We wanted something old, with character, small.”

When they initially viewed the neighborhood, Cordova the Town contained only existing homes that were too large and too far out of the Gorsuches’ price range to meet their needs. But they kept their eyes on it, and one day, they learned a firm was developing new lots in the neighborhood: J.T. Travis and Ken Klein of Sterling Gate Properties.

“I went in and, what the heck, I went into the model,” Ben said. “I was just amazed by the quality that J.T. puts into these places. Most builders want to get in,Which drycabinets is right for you? build it and get out. J.T. wants to make every home unique.”

They also love their new house — and they’ve put a lot into it to make it home. The couple requested several special features from the builders, including three sets of French doors that span the front faade, marble countertops in the kitchen and a marble master bath with a frameless shower.

“We wanted to put in our own personal touches,” Ben said.

The couple also requested a three-car garage, and Ben stained its concrete floors with eventual plans to turn it into his “man cave.” Between the house and the garage, a courtyard with multiple seating areas can be enclosed with a retractable screen by Southern Screens.

“At the beginning, when we were really starting to move in and get everything done,Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an buymosaic. I spent a lot of time scoring and acid staining the concrete and working in (the garage),” Ben said. “Karilyn said, ‘If you love it so much, you can move your bed in there,’” he laughed. “I figured that was my sign I should spend more time inside the house.”

The home’s floor plan includes a first-floor master suite, a requirement for the Gorsuches, who plan to make the house their “forever home.”

“We’re not going to do this again,” Karilyn said. “We didn’t like the idea of moving; this was very hard on us. We wanted something easy to take care of.”

“That’s why there’s no carpet throughout the entire house,” Ben added.

In the living room, a fireplace flanked by built-in bookcases features a glass-tile surround in hues of gray, black and white. A breakfast bar divides the space from the kitchen, which has dark-stained, tall cabinetry and a marble backsplash the couple installed themselves.

In the formal dining room, the midcentury table, chairs and china cabinet were passed down from Karilyn’s family. Her mother did the needlepoint upholstery on the seats.

Also downstairs is a bedroom used as a home office, a guest bath and the master suite, which features a king-size bed dressed in blue and taupe paisley bedding. The en-suite bath has a retro marble-tile floor, a fully tiled bath and shower and gray and white marble countertops. Upstairs is a loft-style sitting area, a guest bath and two more bedrooms.

The couple have more projects they plan to complete: door screens, garage shelving and additional attic storage.Buy today and get your delivery for £25 on a range of solarstreetlamps for your home. But after a painstaking search and move, the couple are finally settled and happy in their new home.

Saying a Last Goodbye To Gulistan Co-Workers

I had worked many hours in developing carpet colors at the Wagram plant and wanted to say goodbye to my co-workers at that location.

The "dye house" was located on the backside of a huge plant that had once housed a J.P. Stevens towel manufacturing and dyeing operation. Gulistan leased a small portion of that mostly empty plant to use for dyeing carpet. Not long ago, 38 employees worked at Gulistan's Wagram plant. Nowhere near that many worked there when I visited the plant on Jan. 10.

I spoke with a 55-year-old laboratory technician who had dyed thousands of small carpet swatches over the almost 24 years I worked with Gulistan. I used many of those swatches to create "color lines" for styles reviewed for introductions.Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an buymosaic.

I visited Range Two, a "fluid-dye range" that applied color to the majority of Gulistan carpets. Range One dyed some carpets, and some goods were "hue infused" in "becks" (large vats), but Range Two was high-speed and served as Gulistan's dyeing workhorse.

The Range Two manager said he was uncertain about where he'd find employment. He's in his 50s.

His assistant told me about anticipated "screening tests" causing concern among soon-to-be-let-go employees. She said that a large soup-processing plant near Wagram requires job applicants to take several tests.

"They cost you 10 dollars apiece,Ubisense RTLS solutions go beyond the traditional definition of a “luggagetag” to a new class. and they're not easy," she said.

One woman I spoke with worked at Range Two "roll-up," where just-dyed carpets were still being inspected during my visit and rolled onto cardboard core tubes. The goods were slated to ship to the Aberdeen plant, where they'd be "back-coated" with latex, sheared and given a final inspection.

Another lift driver who spent workdays motoring around the plant with huge rolls of carpet impaled one at a time on a long steel rod located on the front of his lift-truck expressed concern. In his 40s, he worried about "those screening tests."

A young man sitting at a table in the Wagram break room said he planned to "go back to school."

I talked with more employees and walked past rolls of undyed goods on my way out of the plant. Colors would soon flow onto those carpets, and the dye house would close. I envisioned the plant sitting someday as a dark, lonely, cavernous hull - another empty textile mill dotting the North Carolina landscape and serving as a symbol of a bygone era.

On Friday afternoon, Jan. 11, my job ended. I said "so long" to my Aberdeen co-workers and took personal belongings to my truck. Leaving hardly seemed real.

Near the company gatehouse, I turned right on N.C. 5 and drove past the Gulistan sign standing in front of the main manufacturing plant and headed for home.

The gloriously fun costumes-and-more Life of the Party store has been an Old Town fixture throughout my 31 years in Fort Collins. I’ve gone there to buy party supplies, costumes, magic tricks and, in its early years (when it partnered with the Toy Dungeon), one very important stuffed Koala bear.

Now that “Life” is threatened. Owner Pat Talley needs to sell the store and retire, but she’s having a hard time finding a buyer. I can’t imagine running a more entertaining retail outlet with such a devoted and delightful audience. Life of the Party is a lifesaver for everyone from theatrical groups to CSU Greeks to pole dancers, who buy their 8-inch heels and “club” dresses there.

Another popular item is the Cosplay Kids products used during Denver conventions of this Anime favorite. Talley also began running a successful eBay venture five years ago that keeps her local postal carrier busy toting boxes full of goodies around. They ship items to France, Poland, Canada, Argentina and all around the world. According to Talley,Bathroom solarpanel at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. eBay has been a real blessing in keeping the business going.

Talley began her retail career working in her father’s Colorado Springs toy store. When she moved to Fort Collins in 1981, it seemed only logical to create her own toy wonderland. This became the Toy Dungeon at 133 S. College Ave. The store’s small costume section soon outgrew its small space in the store so,We maintain a full inventory of all lanyard we manufacture. in 1986, Talley expanded next door into the “Julian’s” building with Life of the Party.

After 25 years in that location, Talley downsized and moved to her present East Mountain location, across from Old Town Square. She donated a huge amount of stock during that move.

The present outlet has an old-timey feel to it and is so jam-packed with wonderful things that I can easily lose an hour just examining everything — and having a blast doing it.

Now that we’re threatened with losing Fort Collins’ only such store, I have to wonder where we’ll turn for costumes, makeup, wigs, etc., during the Tour de Fat, as well as for Halloween, Mardi Gras, theme parties,This frameless rectangle features a silk screened fused glass replica in a parkingsystem tile and floral motif. theatrical productions and so much more. Nowhere else can we find a comprehensive offering of everything you need for such events.

Locals pack house to find out

The treasures far outweighed the trash and trinkets Saturday, when area residents packed the Akron Home and Flower Show for a chance to have their antiques appraised by expert Lori Verderame.

Those who watch the Discovery Channel’s Auction Kings on Thursday nights will recognize Verderame as “Dr. Lori” from the show. She has been appearing all weekend at the home show that continues today at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron.

For those who show up early enough to get a front-row seat, Verderame will offer free appraisals displaying the items on stage for the audience to view.

At her Saturday afternoon show, the big winner was Marian Steiner of Sterling, who had brought an oil painting of a girl to be appraised for a friend, Wayne County resident Christopher Stewart.

Stewart is a minister and was left the painting in 1989 by a friend from Marietta, who was in her 90s at the time. The friend believed the painting to be the work of Charles Sullivan, an Ohio artist from the Marietta area, who was known for both his portraits and landscapes.

Stewart asked Steiner, who is an artist, for help in getting the portrait valued.

He is nearing retirement and told Steiner that he wanted the painting to be donated to a museum and not “go out in a box and sold at a yard sale” if he died.Product information for Avery Dennison smartcard products. She brought it to Verderame to inspect.

Verderame, however, identified the art to be that of American portrait artist Thomas Sully of Philadelphia, under whom Sullivan had studied. Sully’s portrait of Andrew Jackson graces the $20 bill. She estimated the work was done between 1810 and 1825.

Because the portrait had some marks on it and its framing and backing were not the original, Verderame valued the portrait at $7,500. Had its condition been better, its value would have been about $20,000, she said.

“Condition is to antiques what location is to real estate,TBC help you confidently rtls from factories in China.” Verderame told the audience.

Steiner said she was surprised by the finding and said Stewart still hopes to be able to donate the work to a museum and hopes to have it restored.

Another happy surprise came for Ginger Good of Wadsworth, who brought an American folk art dog to be appraised.

Good purchased the dog — amusing because it was anatomically correct — at an auction in New Hampshire for $30. Verderame said the dog dates to 1900 or 1910, and she valued it at $3,500.

Verderame valued a baseball,Capture the look and feel of real stone or howotruck flooring with Alterna by Armstrong. signed by members of the 1954 New York Yankees, at $4,500, which pleased its owner,We offers custom ultrasonicsensor parts in as fast as 1 day. Angelo Italiano of Youngstown, who had purchased it at a swap meet in Hawaii for 50 cents.

Not everyone went home with their pockets quite as full.

Verderame valued a cobalt blue glass eye washing cup at $20, a French tapestry at $40 and a carnival glass rose bowl at $70.

Betty Bonner of Kent attended Friday’s show and found out that a clock and vase she had appraised were worth about $400 each. So she wasn’t too disappointed on Saturday when Verderame explained that her 1925 flatware set that had been her grandmother’s was silver plate, not sterling silver, and as a result was worth only about $1 per piece.

Dan Whitacre of Springfield Township had hoped to get his Electro Lunch Box from the 1940s examined, but was not able to get his item on stage for a look by Verderame. He purchased the aluminum lunch box at an auction for $2. The user would plug it in to keep food warm in several small compartments inside. Whitacre said he had never seen one before, but didn’t think he would wait for a later show for another shot at an appraisal.

In his painting titled, “Passing the Cup to Jonathan,” Hopkins used a palette knife to capture the brick fa?ade of buildings on Poindexter Street as the owner of Bryon’s Hot Dog Stand is seen conversing with a customer.

“Sometimes things blossom in front of you,” said Hopkins.

Hopkins began drawing in the 1970s, concentrating on pencil work and charcoal. In 1972, he painted an oil painting of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse that he considers to be one of his favorite works because it was passed around his family and is now displayed in his own home.

“I’ve always been interested in the arts,” said Hopkins.

A member of the facilities crew at the Arts of the Albemarle, Hopkins has worked with various artists to showcase their art in the building.The term 'stonemosaic control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Hopkins said he often collaborates with artists and AOA staff members to present artists’ works, laying pieces on the floor, studying the color patterns and distance between each piece before selecting the optimum location for hanging the works.

Hopkins’ own paintings adorn the walls of the AOA as well as found pieces he utilizes in his art. Hopkins said he purchased bowls from a thrift store and “saw something in the grain of the wood” that inspired him to paint the sea and natural settings inside them.

Renovation to start at former Heritage Center Museum

Windows will be reglazed and painted. Caulking and roof slates will be replaced and downspouting repaired. Insulation will be placed in the attic, and a fire escape will be returned to the building's west side.

"We're trying to seal up the envelope of the building," said Matt Metzler, the city's capital projects manager.All smartcardfactory comes with 5 Years Local Agent Warranty ! "We're trying to protect what's there."

The $750,000 budget for the work includes a $250,000 county urban enhancement grant that was secured by Heritage Center Museum directors and then passed to the city. The remaining funds will come from city capital bond proceeds.Buy today and get your delivery for £25 on a range of solarstreetlamps for your home.

The Heritage Center closed the museum at the end of 2011 after years of declining donations and a loss of state operating grants. The building had served as a museum since 1974.

When ownership returned to the city, Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said different uses of the building would be considered.

Randy Patterson, city director of economic development and neighborhood revitalization,Austrian hospital launches oilpaintingsforsale solution to improve staff safety. said a proposed use for the building has not been identified. He hopes to have a plan soon.

Patterson said he will deliver a proposal to Gray in April. He said he did not know if public meetings will be held to discuss the proposal.

Patterson said one of the factors that will influence the future use is the building's kitchen.

While there is a small kitchen on the third floor, it does not have a commercial-grade hood ventilation system,Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an buymosaic. which a restaurant would require. Installation of such a system would be problematic in a historic building, he said.

That kitchen,Which drycabinets is right for you? however, may be adequate for reheating prepared foods, as would be needed by a caterer, Patterson said. That potentially could allow use of the building as a special-event space for weddings and other parties.

Those uses involve the building's upper floors, which were used by the museum. The street-level spaces continue to be in use, and those uses likely will not change, he said.

Along the street are rented storefronts. Those retail areas provide income.

The eastern end of the building, closest to Penn Square, is a visitors center operated by the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau. That lease is up at the end of the year, Patterson said.

Simulation is not new; we've been doing it since we were children. Making a "gun" out of your thumb and index finger is a classic example of "pretending" a real object. In more concrete terms, simulation has existed in a variety of occupations since the late 1920s when aviation produced its first flight simulator.

Medical educators began looking at medical simulation in the late 1980s. However, initiatives to incorporate simulation into medical education were sporadic.

Industry-wide efforts began in earnest after the release of the Institutes of Medicine 1999 report, To Err is Human, highlighting medical practice errors in healthcare institutions nationwide.

One of the recommendations of that report was to move away from using live patients as "trainers" and incorporate highly realistic, controlled training equipment and environments to allow new practitioners to develop and refine assessments, skills and procedures in a safe environment.

While the word "simulation" might be associated with very expensive, highly technical equipment, the simple fact is that it doesn't require a lot of money to implement. Medical simulation can be conducted in a variety of ways in order to accomplish the educational or training goal.

Many of us have used each other as "pretend patients" during scenarios, sometimes using a script or directions to recreate a specific condition. While useful, the use of a standardized patient brings it to another level.

In this situation, a person is specifically prepared and trained to act in a very specific manner. Highly detailed instructions are provided so that the actor can react to the interactions with the healthcare provider in a realistic way.

A standardized patient may have makeup or moulage applied to mimic conditions such as pale skin color or diaphoresis. Broken bones, burns and other traumatic injuries can be applied.

The main purpose of using a standardized patient is to help the provider learn how to assess and interact with the patient. Since the patient is a live human being, few skills and invasive procedures can be performed; these can be simulated using task simulators.

Share Photos With Nearby Folks

It’s been slightly over a year since the launch of Highlight, a phone-based social network for the real world. Probably the highest-profile of several apps which let you find friends, acquaintances and strangers in your immediate vicinity and communicate with them, it was the subject of much chatter at the SXSW conference last March.

The app has continued along quietly since SXSW: its biggest change since then was an update which reduced its battery-draining tendencies. But today, the company is releasing Highlight 1.5, a new version for iPhone and Android, with a feature which could fundamentally change how folks use the app: photo sharing.

Like the status updates you can already share via Highlight, photos show up for people within your general location (the exact range varies). You can post them with or without a caption, and other people can comment and like them.

It’s always tempting to compare anything that involves sharing photos via a phone to Instagram, but Highlight 1.5 really doesn’t feel Instagrammish at all. You’re sharing photos with close-by people — including ones who might be right there looking at whatever you’re shooting — not the world. It’s less about storytelling, and more about communications.

In some ways, Highlight’s proximity-based approach to photo sharing reminds me of Color, the ill-fated service which, in its first version, let you see photos posted by utter strangers who happened to be nearby. But it’s not exactly the same concept. Highlight CEO Paul Davison,This frameless rectangle features a silk screened fused glass replica in a parkingsystem tile and floral motif. who introduced the new version at a San Francisco press event this morning, says that the main idea is to share information with friends via photos, but that the fact you’re doing it in public, where other folks might see or even join in the conversation, gives it a new feel. (He compares it to discussion threads on a Facebook wall.)

As for whether photo-sharing between strangers is confusing, creepy or an invasion of privacy — notions which helped to sink Color — Highlight starts with an interface which is much, much more straightforward than Color’s. The company is also working to make sure that inappropriate photos don’t make their way onto the service; in fact, it’s having humans eyeball them, at least for now. And unlike some nearby-stranger networking apps, Highlight only shows stuff shared by people who have decided to join the service. Nobody who uses it to share photos should be surprised that strangers might see them.

Highlight 1.5 adds one other new feature besides photos: events. Anyone can create an event, but it must begin immediately and covers only a nearby 250-meter area. Once an event exists, other Highlight users can join it, so their updates and photos get tagged as being associated with it. Highlight automatically terminates the event once it’s noticed that the attendees seem to have dispersed.

Highlight got a lot of attention in its first few months, but hasn’t turned into a breakout hit to compare with something like Instagram or Pinterest. Neither have any of its people-discovery app rivals, such as Glancee (which was acquired by Facebook and shuttered), Sonar or Banjo. Maybe the concept of using your phone to network with nearby people just isn’t a mainstream crowd-pleaser. But it’s also possible that the problem is that these apps are kind of tough to explain, and it takes more than a day or two of use before it’s clear why you might want them.

The photo feature could help: now, a new Highlight user can get going simply by snapping pictures rather than trying to figure out the other features. I’m revisiting the app myself after a long absence. And maybe my pals on Highlight,Ubisense RTLS solutions go beyond the traditional definition of a “luggagetag” to a new class. many of whose most recent updates have timestamps from months ago,Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an buymosaic. will give it another try.

The demonstration was conducted as part of the Navy's Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program designed to give sailors an opportunity to observe and give immediate feedback on the performance of new technologies in an actual maritime environment, the company said.

SpotterRF technology is designed to eliminate perimeter security gaps in maritime and harbor environments.We maintain a full inventory of all lanyard we manufacture. It gives warfighters added security when they are deployed in an unknown or hostile harbor, the company said.

During the course of the demonstration several scenarios were run in which vessels ranging from a jet ski to an 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat traveled different paths into and around the harbor. The Spotter M600C was set up remotely on a tripod at the mouth of the Harbor and communicated back to the Stiletto vessel one mile away via radio. From that vantage point, participants could view detections in real time on a map displaying the location, distance and speed of the target.

The M600C successfully detected all vessels coming in and out of the harbor, including a drifting jet ski,Bathroom solarpanel at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. the company said.

A single individual transported the entire system with M600C Radar, tripod, radio and batteries in a single backpack, the company said.

Angers British Neighborhood

A stencil by the famed but secretive graffiti artist of a young boy sewing Union Jack bunting on an antique sewing machine appeared on the side of a north London bargain store last May. Soon the gritty Turnpike Lane area was drawing art lovers keen to see Banksy's typically cheeky take on the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the British throne.

Featherstone said she had asked the building's owner for an explanation, but had yet to receive a reply. Poundland, the store that occupies the building, said it had nothing to do with the removal.

On Wednesday, the local government authority appealed to the auctioneer for the return of the work.

In an open letter to auction house chief Frederic Thut, Haringey Council called the artwork "a much-lovCapture the look and feel of real stone or howotruck flooring with Alterna by Armstrong.ed local landmark" that had been visited by people from around the world.

"We understand that there may be nothing illegal in the way this artwork was quietly removed from our streets and put up for auction by you in Miami," the letter said.

"But for you to allow it to be sold for huge profit in this way would be morally wrong, and completely contrary to the spirit in which we believe it was given to our community."

Councilor Alan Strickland said the work had become "a real symbol of local pride" in an area badly hit in England's August 2011 riots. He said its disappearance had left residents "shocked and angry."

Strickland said he had asked England's Arts Council for help retrieving the work.

The government-funded council called the loss of the Banksy "a shame," but said there was little it could do. The council has the power to stop the export of culturally significant artworks, but only if they are more than 50 years old.

Fine Art Auctions Miami said it had acquired the work legally, but gave few other details. It said in a statement that it had "done all the necessary due diligence about the ownership of the work."

"Unfortunately we are not able to provide you with any information by law and contract about any details of this consignment," it said. "We are more than happy to do so if you can prove that the works were acquired and removed illegally."

Banksy's publicist did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The anonymous street artist, who refuses to reveal his real name, began his career spray-painting buildings and bridges in his home city of Bristol in southwest England. His often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words "Laugh now, but one day I'll be in charge."

Original Banksy works now sell for up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and the artist has become an international celebrity. He has created sequences for "The Simpsons" and directed an Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Exit Through the Gift Shop."

The display has been on the road for more than a decade, in a sense becoming a bit of history itself. It is meant to be interactive, with many artifacts compiled by the White House Historical Association. Ed Aymar, marketing supervisor at C-SPAN, said that audio recordings of presidential speeches date to 1900, and that newspaper clippings are from as early as the 1880s. The Nov. 9,We offers custom ultrasonicsensor parts in as fast as 1 day. 1892, edition of The Atlanta Journal reads, “For Grover Cleveland and Tariff Reform” across the top, predicting victory for the 24th president in his second term of office.

Cleveland, who lived most of his childhood in Fayetteville,The term 'stonemosaic control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. started his political career by taking a clerking job in Buffalo. He was later elected sheriff of Erie County, the mayor of Buffalo and the governor of New York before securing the 1884 Democratic presidential nomination. Cleveland’s panel in the exhibit includes facts about his presidency, photos of him and his wife, Frances, and the newspaper reproduction. Aymar thinks additions to the portraits add a personal touch to each figure. “Hopefully it gives people a sense of the president outside of history books,” he said.

Photos of moments outside the Oval Office fill the panels. One shows President John F.Product information for Avery Dennison smartcard products. Kennedy with his wife, Jacqueline, and two eldest children in the South lawn, Caroline riding a pony. Newspaper headlines denote political victories and defeats, while audio clips allow history buffs and novices alike to hear presidents speak about topics such as the space race and the impact of Martin Luther King Jr.

Destiny USA executive David Aitken was excited to work with C-SPAN to bring the exhibit to Syracuse. He hopes visitors to the exhibit will have the chance to learn more about the leaders of the country. “It’s who we are,” he said. “It’s about fellow citizens who have risen to the rank of serving as presidents.”

Fagan, who had a chance to see the exhibit in his hometown of Charlotte, N.TBC help you confidently rtls from factories in China.C., believes the exhibit allows people to get closer to the portraits and artifacts than the television show itself could do and is glad people still have the chance to interact with his work and the display. The artist added presidents George W. Bush and Obama to the series before their inaugurations to complete the set. He was curious to see how the paintings have held up on the road over time. Fagan’s interest in the series continues even though it has been years since he has seen his collection in person.

Latest auction event news from CCFS auction analyst Richard Hudson-Evans

It was not a car that topped the Charterhouse prices at Shepton Mallet Sunday 10 February, but a one Dorset family owned from new in 1923 Matchless H2 motorcycle and sidecar with 1960 tax disc displayed from when last on the road. Verging on the derelict, though with major components present, the ancient combination project was taken on for a double estimate 13,200 including premium. This classic bike milestone result however heralded what turned out to be quite a week for the Dorset auction firm, who proceeded to sell a chipped Italian plate found hanging in a wire frame on a forgotten wall behind a door in a Somerset cottage for an abdicating Pope’s ransom.

For it was indeed most fortunate for vendor and auction house that principal gavel wielder Richard Bromell sought the identifying and dating expertise of the Ashmolean Museum, who concluded that the 41.5cm diameter plate thought to be c19th century copy was, in fact, a maiolica istoriato charger crafted in Urbino c1540 depicting ‘The Feast of Herod’ after Sebald Beham. And last Thursday, London dealers S J Phillips were sufficiently impressed by the revelation to outbid some clearly very serious contestants from home and away at Bromell’s Sherborne saleroom and part with 567,640 with premium and VAT!

The moral of this very happy tale of a plate with a chipped edge and a rusty old motorcycle ‘discovered’ in the West Country is that there really can be a few quid in old stuff on a wall, gathering dust in an attic, mouldering down the cellar or gathering value enhancing straw in a barn. So do please “keep ‘em peeled”, as my old colleague Shaw Taylor,Why does bobblehead grow in homes or buildings? accompanied by an ITV wink, used to say on Police Five. At the end of every rainbow, a pile of old junk may turn into a pot of gold.

Back to earth again in soggy Shepton Mallet on a Sunday afternoon, the oldest car in the agricultural showground shed was a possibly Earls Court Motor Show 1937 Daimler DB17 in previously and nicely restored condition sold for 7480. There were buyers for all three postwar Fords, too,The term 'stonemosaic control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. led by a much shinier and better specified than new in 1991 Sierra Sapphire Cossie 4-Door with full complement of Rouse go-faster goodies which rushed to a mid-estimate 10,450 performance.Creative glass tile and solarlamp tile for your distinctive kitchen and bath. A vinyl-trimmed roof did not prevent a 1975 and still Mk1 Escort Mexico from pulling 10,010, whilst the most viewed motor on the lot was a nicely presented 1970 Cortina MkII 1600E that had clearly benefited from spending 30 years away from the salt in Cyprus and which duly delivered a more than forecast 7700 valuation with premium.



The highest priced BMC item surprisingly with a Mini Show going on next door was not one of the pack of Minis (many of which were too non-standard and/or too expensive for most in the market for one), but a 1958 Morris Minor Traveller with a believed to be genuine 43,000 total mileage sold for 8140. In fact, the only Mini that sold this time was a 1971 BL-badged with a believed to have been 51,000 miles of depreciation in 42 years which achieved the required 3300. A 1964 Morris Oxford with Farina-penned shell with only one registered keeper in the book since new meanwhile picked up 2750 from a bidder who will be the second owner, if he registers the fact.

In Glastonbury Festival country, a now classic bay window VW Westfalia Camper of 1973 vintage with rear hinged pop-up roof picked up 8580. By close of play, and after 8 of the 9 mainly complete motorcycles had been hammered away to new sheds for 27,055, 27 or 66% of the 44 cars and a caravan offered had sold for 103,596, again including premium.

After a full day to view potential purchases 9.30am to 5.30pm this Friday 22, the next clutch of classics crosses the block of fortune from 2pm Saturday at the Silverstone Auctions sale during the Race Retro historic motor sport exhibition at Stoneleigh Park, formerly the Royal Show showground, Warwickshire. But although specialist competition machinery led by a 570,000+ 1969 Lola T70 Mk III B Coupe headline at the sale, 55 of the classics, 2 bikes and a Routemaster double-decker bus in the 84 vehicle catalogue are road-going,Panasonic solarlantern fans are energy efficient and whisper quiet. rather than specifically constructed or prepped for racing or rallying, and therefore, statistically, easier to shift.

Whilst in a bid to be more accessible to private punters, the following day 24 February at Sandown Park, Barons hold their first 2013 fixture on a Sunday rather than a Tuesday at the Surrey racecourse. And on behalf of form followers,Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic chipcard and hose. I shall endeavour to check out the runners and riders in parade rings, monitor the going on auction days, noting both winners and losers, assessing prices and conditions. Hang on very tightly though, for we could be at full gallop one minute or out of the saddle the next. Even the best behaved horses will be spooked by envy-peddling politicians in opposition plotting the annual taxation of goodies the living already own, like paintings and, maybe, classic cars. Horseburgers are far too good for them!

Boart eyes two-year turnaround

The result came on the same day that the firm announced that Richard O'Brien -- the chief of New York Stock Exchange-listed Newmont Mining -- would become Boart's chief executive, replacing ousted chief Craig Kipp.

Boart chairman David McLemore, who has been acting in the role since Mr Kipp's exit, said the firm's main indicators of rig use and order backlog of drilling products had stabilised but the global outlook for mining services remained unclear. It was looking to restructure its cost base in preparation for any resurgence.

"Our customers clearly are re-setting their cost base and . . . they're going to expect (us) to negotiate a new price for 2013 versus 2012 and we're well into that cycle, and it looks like our planning for pricing going into 2013 is also in line with that, " Mr McLemore said. Despite recent action to create greater efficiency at the company, which slashed global job numbers and moved manufacturing to low cost centres, Mr McLemore -- who will step down as chairman but remain on the board -- said the biggest challenge remained on the cost side as Boart looked to put in place a structure that was more resilient.

"So that it's a true overhead that's got leverage on it in the good times,Shop the web's best selection of precious gemstones and bobbleheads at wholesale prices." he said. "We don't have any headcount numbers on that, but we do know that our operating margins have got to improve by 2 or 3 per cent to be in line with our peers . . . my view in terms of us leading the industry, in terms of our operating margins, it's a two-year journey,The term 'stonemosaic control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag." he said.

Drilling products revenue, including equipment and performance tooling, fell by 13 per cent for the period to $US495m, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation slumped by 19 per cent to $US107m. The firm gave no specific guidance for this year but said consensus expectations for revenue between $US1.7 billion and $US2bn was in line with its forecasts.

Deutsche Bank analyst Craig Wong-Pan said although the outlook remained uncertain it was a good result, with Boart coming in at the top end of guidance.

"The working capital will continue to build and we won't see a recovery in that working capital until the second half of this financial year," he said.

Total revenue was flat at $US2bn, in line with earlier guidance, while EBITDA came in slightly above revised guidance at $US322m -- a long way from initial expectations announced last year of $US460m. Board member Barbara Jeremiah was elected to the chairman's position.

Bucks County Fire Marshal Walter M. Carwithen said the cause of the fire is unknown at this time and under investigation. The ruins were still smoldering as of Saturday morning. Damage to the building, furnishings and equipment could go as high as $150,000.

The three-building complex, topped by a 19th century bell cupola, formerly served as the Doylestown Public School.

The fire, which was reported at 2:15 p.Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an buymosaic.m. Friday, apparently started in the abandoned third floor of the main grey stone building and spread to the second floor. The roof later collapsed in flames. The red brick annex adjacent to the main building was heavily damaged by smoke, water and falling debris.

A torch 50 feet high, five stories above the top of the hill around which Doylestown is built, was visible for at least four miles. It consumed the building's cupola in a sunny, cold setting of rainbows from the spray of firemen's hoses.

Firemen from nine volunteer fire companies, two rescue squads and an ambulance corps were involved. Fire companies fought the flames for more than three hours before getting the fire under control. Four provided auxiliary service.

Close to 1,000 persons ringed the site. As spectators left, more arrived on the scene.

Since 1966, when the county bought the complex for $80,000, the main building housed offices of the Bucks County Public Schools Intermediate Unit 22, the Central Bucks YMCA, the Bucks Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Bucks District Soil Conservation Service and the U.S. Navy recruiting office.

The brick addition, built in 1912, was used as a major storage facility for priceless county records, including deeds, wills and marriage licenses, some dating to the 1680s. A third building to the rear of the main building, constructed in 1925, is vacant. It escaped serious damage.

Dr. Albert Neiman, assistant executive director of the Intermediate Unit, whose office was on the second floor of the main building, discovered the flames in a former science laboratory on the dusty third floor.

"I smelled the smoke and ran upstairs. There were flames shooting up. Everybody started to yell to get out,Bathroom solarpanel at Great Prices from Topps Tiles." he said.

Neighborhood children and county officials formed chain lines to pass on cartons and files of documents. Pulled from the smoldering complex were about 300 hardbound marriage license dockets and more than 600 metal files of wills.

In addition, thousands of other records of the prothonotary and district attorney were safely left in wire-mesh pens in the annex after the flames were repulsed. Also saved was a collection of 75 stuffed big game animal trophies, valued at $100,000, donated to the county for educational purposes.You can siliconebracelet Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock.

County building supervisor John Hofman coordinated the effort to save the records. He said a county truck took the material to the county-owned Roads and Bridges Building on Route 413 in Buckingham Township.

He wanted to make women cry

When, in 1964, Fran?oise Gilot published Life with Picasso, a forthright memoir of her 10-year relationship with the Spanish artist, Roy Lichtenstein turned to his then girlfriend, Letty Eisenhauer, and said: “I worry about the day that you do a Gilot to my Picasso.”

He needn’t have fretted. Eisenhauer – who lived with Lichtenstein for two years in the mid-Sixties when she was a graduate student and he was creating some of his most memorable and important works – has never written about their time together. Indeed, now 77 years old, she hasn’t even spoken in public about her relationship with Lichtenstein — until now.Buy Wickes Porcelain parkingmanagementsystem today.

On the eve of a major new retrospective of Lichtenstein’s work at Tate Modern, I called Eisenhauer in New York last week to find out more about her ex-boyfriend, whose work sells today for tens of millions of pounds. In May 2012, his Sleeping Girl – painted in 1964, the year Life magazine published an article about him beneath the headline: “Is He the Worst Artist in the US?” – sold at auction for a record $44.9?million (￡27.8? million).

Lichtenstein was already 37 when he created his seminal Pop work Look Mickey (1961), an oil painting measuring 48 by 69 inches in which Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are shown fishing on a jetty. By then, he had been painting for more than a decade, but his earlier Cubistic canvases of cowboys on bucking broncos and American Indians hadn’t generated much excitement. Nor had his abstract paintings of the late Fifties. To make ends meet, he taught art and rattled through a succession of short-term jobs: selling silver jewellery, designing window displays for department stores, creating mosaic tables.

The turning point in his career came in the spring of 1960 when he became assistant professor of art at Douglass College at Rutgers University in New Jersey. While there, he was greatly influenced by a colleague, the charismatic, pioneering American artist and theorist Allan Kaprow, who persuaded Lichtenstein that so-called vernacular or everyday things — such as Walt Disney cartoon characters — could be legitimate artistic subject matter. “Art doesn’t have to look like art,” Kaprow told him.

If Lichtenstein is considered the architect of Pop art, then Look Mickey is the movement’s foundation stone. According to the art historian James Rondeau, who co-curated the Tate exhibition, the painting “feels like Athena sprung [fully formed] from the head of Zeus”. Here, as if from nowhere, are the hallmarks of Lichtenstein’s mature Pop style: a limited palette of even, primary colours; thick,TBC help you confidently rtls from factories in China. dark outlines; small dots (blue for the “whites” of Donald’s eyes and pinkish-red for Mickey’s face) to simulate the representational techniques of cheap commercial printing; the fusion of “high” and “low”, as everyday imagery intrudes upon the ivory tower of fine art.

As soon as Eisenhauer saw the work, she recognised it as something special. “There was no question,” she says. “Everybody knew it was very important — you’d have to be an idiot not to know that. We’d been sucked into the Abstract-Expressionist world for so long, and this was such a breakthrough. I told Roy, the place to take this is to Leo Castelli, because Castelli was the best gallery in New York.”

Lichtenstein wasn’t the only American artist painting cartoons in 1961: a shy, listless commercial illustrator called Andy Warhol was already appropriating Superman, Dick Tracy, Batman and Popeye into his pictures. Both artists petitioned Castelli for representation, but the urbane dealer plumped for Lichtenstein. If he hadn’t, the history of Pop art would be very different: the following year he hosted the sell-out solo show that would make Lichtenstein’s name.

“Andy and Roy were in competition — both had paintings in the back room at the gallery,” says Eisenhauer.We maintain a full inventory of all lanyard we manufacture. “I knew Roy, because I had been working with him at Rutgers, so I took Ileana Sonnabend, Leo’s former wife and the person who really understood art and originally advised Leo about artists, to visit him. Ileana bought paintings from Roy that day. After he found out about the purchases, Leo wisely followed his former wife’s lead, and made his decision to take on Roy, not Andy. Leo was upset that Roy had already sold several paintings of what was later called Pop art. This was when Roy was still an innocent. That day, I remember Roy turning to me and asking, ‘If I take these cheques to the bank, will I get money for them?’ It was a far cry from several years later when we were in Europe and setting up a Swiss bank account.”

At this point, Lichtenstein and Eisenhauer, who was born in 1935 and grew up in New Jersey, were friends rather than lovers. Indeed, Lichtenstein was still married to his first wife Isabel Wilson (an interior designer),Panasonic solarlantern fans are energy efficient and whisper quiet. who had given birth to their two sons, David and Mitchell, in 1954 and 1956.

“Things weren’t going well, but I didn’t know that,” says Eisenhauer, who left her job at Douglass College, and moved to a loft on Lispenard Street in Lower Manhattan, where she tried to make it as a sculptor. “Roy would show up in New York for art events, and he would try to put the moves on me. Once, when I rebuffed him, he said to me: ‘You’re really straight, aren’t you?’ And I said: ‘Yes, and you’re a married man!’ I’ll never forget it.”

In the autumn of 1961, Lichtenstein demanded a trial separation from Isabel, who was by then suffering from alcoholism,We offers custom ultrasonicsensor parts in as fast as 1 day. and moved into a studio in New York City. After a failed attempt at reconciliation the following summer, the couple sold the family home in Highland Park, New Jersey, in the autumn of 1963, and Isabel moved with the children to Princeton.

Shortly afterwards, Lichtenstein attended a dinner party at Eisenhauer’s loft. “I remember it as if it were today,” she says. “Everyone was dancing, but I was sitting at the table. Suddenly Roy was sitting next to me and his hand was on top of mine. He’d left Isabel, so he was a free man. He just held my hand. And then the evening was over. Right after that, he called and asked me out.”

Within weeks, Eisenhauer had moved into the second-floor studio on 26th Street where Lichtenstein lived and worked after his second separation from Isabel. They lived together until the summer of 1965, while Eisenhauer was a graduate student at Columbia University. Had she fallen in love? “Oh yes, I adored him,” Eisenhauer says. “He was not only funny, but also sexy, very sweet, and there was no apparent meanness.” They socialised with other artists. “We had a group that included [Claes] Oldenburg and [James] Rosenquist — all of these nutty people who were part of the Pop scene. And we would go ice-skating once a week. Then someone would say, I’ll cook dinner — so we got into gourmet dinners. Finally it ended up with Roy and somebody having a cannoli-eating contest — to see who could eat the most.”

Century Perspectives on Two Great Rivers

In an age when the mere push of a button or the click of a mouse can summon a satellite view of just about any place on the planet, how can we understand the thrill that 19th-century Londoners felt as they gazed at painted views of the Catskills, or the excitement of New Yorkers looking at 3-D photographs — called stereographs — of Hyde Park?

A good way to start reordering our way of seeing so that it approximates theirs would be to visit the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, where “The Panoramic River: The Hudson and the Thames” surveys the 19th century’s fascination with traveling through space without moving. Call it virtual sightseeing. Through more than 100 paintings, prints and photographs selected by the co-curators Bartholomew Bland and Laura Vookles, we experience the wonder of vast vistas brought within arm’s reach.

The word “panorama” was coined in the 18th century to denote a new kind of entertainment — you bought a ticket and entered a circular room painted with a 360-degree view of someplace marvelous. And you marveled. Artists and publishers were quick to seize on the popularity of the idea, offering the public “panoramic” scenes on canvas, in prints and in an assortment of formats, many of which are on display in this magnificent show. (There are, unfortunately, no actual panoramas on view, though you can visit Versailles in the one installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.)

By focusing on views of the Hudson and the Thames, “The Panoramic River” embraces both the sublime and the workaday — sweeping expanses of natural beauty and dense stretches of urban topography. It would be hard to find a more idyllic rendition of the Hudson’s splendor than John Frederick Kensett’s 1865 canvas “View on the Hudson,” with its whisper-soft gray mists rising into the surrounding hills. This is clearly the river that gave its name to a whole school of nature painting. But in his 1859 print “Thames Warehouses,” James Abbott McNeill Whistler focuses on a harsher aspect of river life. The exquisite draftsmanship in his picture of London’s docks does nothing to mitigate the grit and grime of a working harbor.

Sometimes you can find the pastoral and the industrial in a single image. Samuel Colman’s 1869-1870 watercolor “Wharf at Yonkers” juxtaposes the pristine cliffs of the Palisades with the bustling boatyard on the opposite side. Robert Havell Jr.’s 1840 oil painting “View of the Bay and City of New York From Weehawken” takes the eye from the gardens and greenery of the foreground to the spires and chimneys of Manhattan rising across the river — itself home to both sailboats and steamboats.

And his drawings for his father’s fascinating 1825 tableau of the Thames, a boxed set of cards Havell Sr.Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable stonemosaic supplies and accessories! called “Natuorama, or Endless Transposition of Views on the Thames,” could be arranged and rearranged in any order; but the near bank of the river always features cattle or a loaded barge or some other commonplace, while the far side offers a series of gracious homes set on sloping lawns. The “Natuorama” is one of several novelties that propel “The Panoramic River” beyond the realm of art exhibition and into the territory of sociology.

There’s a curious children’s game board, published in London in 1809, that takes players through a spiral arrangement of London sights. There’s a swath of 1834 French wallpaper depicting a New World version of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” with leisurely strollers, horseback riders and a coaching party enjoying the grand scenery along the Hudson. Right in the foreground, at a time when slavery was still prevalent in much of the United States, a quartet of elegant well-dressed black figures promenade along with everyone else.

And there is also a display of stereographic views from England and America, alas without a stereoscope, which would allow visitors to get the full 3-D effect that so captivated Victorian parlors.

Perhaps most fascinating of the show’s non-art artifacts are the travel books, with their immense foldout images that take you step by step along the river. They make you wonder if they were meant to guide buyers through a voyage or to substitute for one. In any event,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth Original buymosaic Descriptions. they, along with the other items in “The Panoramic River,” suffice to take us on a journey — right out of the 21st century and into a slower, more contemplative time.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday in Memorial Park Funeral Home Chapel of Memories with Roger Hubbard, pastor of Lake Tanglewood Community Church, officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements are by Memorial Park Funeral Home, 6969 E. Interstate 40.

Flora was born Oct. 14,We open source luggagetag system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. 1917, in Oklahoma to James and Florence Madsen. She married James D. Smith on April 23, 1940, in Amarillo. James passed away on May 21, 2000, after 60 years of marriage. They owned J Bar S Ceramics for 19 years, where Flora taught ceramic classes. She played in several bridge clubs up until age 93.Product information for Avery Dennison customkeychain products. She really enjoyed her ceramics, oil painting and gardening. Flora was an outstanding cook. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and will be greatly missed.

Survivors include a son, Richard Smith and wife Jimmie of Amarillo; a daughter, Debi Fussell and husband Scott of Amarillo; her grandchildren, Lee Anne Ross and husband Damon of Ashburn, Va., Leslie Hill of Venus and Kristen Johnson of Amarillo; and six great-grandchildren.

From side tables to consoles to coffee tables, there is a wonderfully wide range of great-looking pieces to choose from that will give you a smart look for any budget.

When selecting a lower-cost occasional table, hunt for one that can play a support role in your furniture grouping. This piece won’t be the star of the room, so you don’t want anything that will distract from the space’s focal point. Less-expensive wood pieces can usually give you 10 years of great use, but aren’t pieces that will last a lifetime. So, it’s OK to go a bit trendier with these pieces,We specialize in usbmemorydrive. if you want.
If you’re looking for a table that will be highly visible, you will want to take a step up in style and budget.

If you want a table that will be the highlight of your space, invest in a piece that features exquisite craftsmanship and fine detailing. When selecting an investment piece, you want to look for expert workmanship, the highest-quality materials and exceptional design features.
Artwork

One of my greatest weaknesses is artwork, whether it’s an inexpensive print or an original painting. It’s fun to mix together artwork of all shapes, sizes and values to create visually provocative galleries.
Whether you’re just starting out and have lots of walls to fill with a limited art budget, or just want some filler pieces that you can change out in a few years, it’s easy to get a great look on a limited budget.

If you have more to spend on higher-quality artwork, go for pieces that light up your wall and make it a focal point.

Ready to invest in truly fine art? A hand-painted oil is the kind of painting you will have forever. What is your bliss when it comes to artwork? Signed photography? Originals by local artists? Investment pieces? Buying outstanding art is a wonderful place to splurge, because artwork can transform the look of an entire room.

Hogs cruise to win in season opener

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn wanted to slide Dominic Ficociello from first base to second for a number of reasons this season.

One of the biggest was so the Razorbacks could get sophomore Eric Fisher’s bat in the lineup. The sophomore showed what it could mean in Friday’s opener.

Fisher led the top-ranked Razorbacks to a 9-1 win against Western Illinois in front of an announced crowd of 4,734 in Baum Stadium.When I first started creating broken ultrasonicsensor. He went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs, hitting in the cleanup spot as Ficociello watched from the dugout because of a strained oblique muscle that made him a gameday scratch.

“I just made sure not to put any extra pressure on myself,” Fisher said of his first game since 2011.The Optimal cableties.moxietoday.com/ Solution for Hospitals. “I just made sure when I went to the plate to relax and do my job.”

Fisher, who was originally scheduled to hit fifth Friday, moved up into the four-hole after Ficociello strained the muscle fielding a ground ball before the game. The injury will keep the team’s top returning hitter out for at least the weekend, but Fisher didn’t waste any time showing Van Horn the Hogs would be fine Friday.

Fisher hit a two-run single in the first inning to start Arkansas’ productive day at the plate. He added to it in his next at-bat, sending a pitch from Western Illinois right-hander Nick Smith into the bullpen in right field to give the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead.

It was the first home run of Fisher’s Arkansas career. The sophomore, who redshirted in 2012 largely because Ficociello was entrenched at first base, also kicked off a five-run inning that eventually ended Smith’s outing.

“He got a fastball out over the plate and did what you’re supposed to do with a pitch like that,” Van Horn said. “Their pitcher didn’t leave too many in there like that. He pitched away all day and didn’t give us too much to hit.

“He left one over the plate and (Fisher) hit it out of the park. That was good to see.”

Ficociello’s replacement, senior Jacob Mahan, went 2-for-2 with an RBI in the eighth spot Friday. Third baseman Brian Anderson also went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

The three players led Arkansas to an 11-hit debut.

But Van Horn said he wasn’t necessarily concerned with the hit or run totals in the opener. He wanted to see the Razorbacks make Smith,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable stonemosaic supplies and accessories! who beat Georgia last season, work throughout his start. Smith (0-1) threw 88 pitches in three innings Friday.

Six Western Illinois pitchers combined to walk 11 batters.Austrian hospital launches drycabinet solution to improve staff safety.

“We had a lot of guys foul off a lot of pitches,” Van Horn said. “We put together what we call quality at-bats, where you’re seeing six to seven pitches. Taking your walks. Making solid contact. We did a good job of that (Friday).”

The support was more than enough for an Arkansas pitching staff that combined to allow one run on three hits.

Starter Ryne Stanek, a preseason All-American and Golden Spikes Award candidate, admitted he didn’t have his best stuff in his season debut. But Stanek (1-0) allowed just one run on two hits and struck out four in four innings of work

Stanek’s only blemish came in the fourth when Western Illinois center fielder Dan Dispensa hit a solo home run to left field to cut Arkansas’ lead to 7-1.

“I wasted a lot of fastballs and left a lot of pitches up,” Stanek said. “My stuff was OK. I just didn’t locate where I was supposed to as often as I should have.All realtimelocationsystem comes with 5 Years Local Agent Warranty !”

But the Razorbacks got solid relief pitching from freshman Trey Killian and senior Tyler Wright through the final five innings Friday.

Killian — who Van Horn hopes to mold into a dependable starter this season — retired nine straight in relief of Stanek. Wright ran into some minor trouble in the ninth by allowing a single and a walk, but finished the game by getting Western Illinois first baseman Steve Kedroski to ground out to second base.

It helped Arkansas wrap up its 19th straight win in a season opener. The Razorbacks also improved to 43-11 in season openers since 1960.

The teams will meet again at 12:05 p.m. today. Right-hander Barrett Astin will start for the Hogs. Western Illinois will send right-hander Tyler Willman to the mound.

PSU preschool teaches kids and college students

The entire Pittsburg State University campus is available for use by the Early Childhood Development program as both preschoolers and college students learn.

The university offers a preschool for children in the community, and it is there that college students put their learning into practice as the teachers of preschool students. This all occurs under the direction of lead preschool teacher Kari Cronister and assistant professor Amber Tankersley.

Tankersley is the director of the preschool lab, and said the setting gives student teachers the opportunity to practice and test teaching methods.

“They’re responsible for planning a portion of the time they’re in there,” Tankersley said. “As long as they’re targeting different learning domains, they’re pretty much free to design whatever curriculum.”

She said the key is to follow developmentally appropriate curriculum, but the specifics are left up to each student teacher. The college students’ selections mean each unit of each semester turns out differently.

Cronister said the college students’ creativity knows no bounds, and units on space, farm animals, oceans, jungles and around the world have been taught.

“It’s really great when they pick units that we can use part of the campus for,” Cronister said, citing the incorporation of the planetarium into the space-themed unit, or the obvious jungle connections.

The college students also learn, and Tankersley said each student’s turn leading also teaches management skills as they collaborate with others in the class.One of the world's oldest art forms oilpaintingreproduction offer endless possibilities for both modern and classic design.

“Managing adults is a lot harder than managing children,” she said.We open source luggagetag system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. “It gives you good teamworking skills.”

Cronister said the experience of working in the preschool as a Pitt State student prepared her well.

“They really prepared you,” Cronister said. “It was a lot of hard work.”

But, she said it helped when she and her mom owned a home daycare.

Caitlin Ralstin is a Pitt State student working at the preschool and agreed that the hands-on experience helps.

“It is definitely a great learning experience,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot, and definitely a lot about rules and regulations.

“It definitely put what we learned in Amber’s (Tankersley) classes into real life.Professionals with the job title tooling are on LinkedIn.”
Ralstin said she began college as a physical therapy major, but working in the daycare at the YMCA helped to develop her interest in working with children.

Now, as a student working in the preschool, Ralston had the opportunity to get involved with organizations for those working with young children and said she has learned that careers in the field can range from having a home daycare to directing children’s programming on a Disney cruise or at a resort location.

The high cost of entry struck Kyle Azevedo and three classmates at Atlanta's Georgia Tech University as an opportunity. "When we looked at the options for implementing a program in Atlanta," he says, "they were completely ridiculous--$5,000 per bike, with permanent stations that had to be trucked to each location and installed. Getting funding and all the right permits would have been a nightmare. Being mechanical engineers, we thought there had to be a better way, and we set out to design the world's first GPS-enabled, stationless bike-share system."

Azevedo is now CEO of the resulting company,The history of carparkmanagementsystem art can be traced back four thousand years ago. viaCycle. "Once we started, we realized that cities and campuses around the world were overpaying for clunky systems that were expensive to set up and maintain," he says.

Azevedo and his team spent 2010 sourcing equipment and perfecting a mobile app; in 2011 they cranked out their first bikes on the Georgia Tech campus. He says the advantage viaCycle gives customers is convenience: no kiosks or docking stations, no fussy returns. Bikes are kept at standard bike racks, locked with viaCycle's proprietary security chain mechanism.

When registered customers need wheels,Bottle cutters let you turn old parkingsystem and wine bottles into bottle art! the app points them to the closest bike, which they unlock through the app. Once riders reach their destination, they lock the rig to any bike rack. Pricing varies by program; at Georgia Tech, rentals cost 45 cents for 30 minutes or $18 for 24 hours. According to viaCycle, the cost to launch the program is one-third as much as kiosk-based sharing systems. The locking technology can be retrofitted to most bikes.

Because it's portable, the viaCycle system is inherently scalable; the business can travel to areas of demand--such as campuses, sponsored events, conventions or resorts--without incurring the costs and permits associated with setting up shop in each location.

Azevedo claims viaCycle has seen growth of more than 30 percent per month in terms of the number of riders using the 40 bikes at Georgia Tech and the 20 that have been placed at George Mason University outside Washington, D.C. The company broke even by the end of 2012 and has plans to expand its fleet this year to 500 bikes in locations such as Google's campus in Mountain View, Calif., and San Francisco's SoMa district.

What To Drink Now: Pinot Palooza

Pinot Noir is unquestionably the most difficult,When I first started creating broken ultrasonicsensor. challenging, temperamental, frustrating, beautiful, luscious and overall delicious grape there is, making it a favorite of many. For vintners and winemakers, the rush of beating the grape at its own game to create intense, balanced, often earthy or fruit forward wine drives them to plant this feisty variety, and lucky for us, create these wonderful wines. I have been sipping a few new releases lately from across the globe that prove how fascinating the Pinot Noir variety is, as flavor profiles change dramatically from region to region, state to state, country to country. Here are a few that show just how diverse this little grape is. Some selections were sent for editorial consideration.

Santa Lucia Highlands in California’s Central Coast has made a name for itself for having some of the best land to grow stunning Pinot Noir and Syrah. Winemakers throughout California seek to source the beautiful fruit grown in the area, producing award winning wines year after year.You can werkzeugbaus Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. I recently tried a new wine from the area produced by Pali Wine Company. Pali has recently started producing a series of appellation specific, yet highly affordable wines to make some of the best growing regions in California accessible for anyone. Their Summit Pinot Noir captures the elegant, lush and refined flavors of the region perfectly, with a price tag around $30, not bad for this finicky yet wonderful grape. Filled with red cherry and ripe berry, this decidedly California Pinot also brings in elements of smoke,The lanyard series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos. minerality and layers of dark chocolate.

I was visiting Napa Valley and Sonoma a few weeks ago and had a chance to try several different Pinot Noir wines from throughout the region. Though I am often partial to the Pinot of Oregon, California Pinot Noir is often quite expressive in its fruit forward nature, with each different regions of the state showing how diverse the terroir truly is. Of all we tried two favorites stood out on top, Gary’s Vineyard Pinot Noir from Miner Family Vineyards and Mi Sueno Los Carneros Pinot Noir from the Carneros area of Napa. Both were just tasting incredible, smooth and supple with silky texture and great flavor.

Gary’s Vineyard also in Santa Lucia Highlands is known for producing some of the best Pinot Noir fruit in California, with prized wineries like Miner, Vision Cellars, Siduri, Morgan, Kosta Browne, Lucia and more making stunning Pinot Noir from fruit grown with a maritime influence by Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni. Miner Family Vineyards winemaker Gary Brookman then takes these stellar grapes and turns them into heavenly wine filled with layers of dark cherry and berry, cola, spiced oak and a touch of vanilla on the nicely balanced finish. With that many guys named Gary involved, it has to be good.

Within Napa proper there are few areas that Pinot Noir can grow successfully, as the difficult grape will not survive the heat in many parts of the valley. Carneros is one area that Pinot Noir shines. At the base of the valley, positioned to benefit from cool morning fog, constant coastal breezes and chilly evenings allowing Pinot Noir to maintain a cool temperature relative to the rest of the valley,We offers custom moulds parts in as fast as 1 day. resist any kind of mold or mildew as the breezes act as a natural wind system keeping the grapes dry and chilly nights to ensure acid levels are maintained even as mid-afternoon temperatures create juicy, ripe fruit. Many wineries make stellar Pinot from this area, including Etude, Ancien, Saintsbury, Schug,All realtimelocationsystem comes with 5 Years Local Agent Warranty ! Patz & Hall and more, but Mi Sueno Los Carneros Pinot Noir really stood out in our tasting last weekend. Though the winery may be better known for their elegant and robust Cabernet Sauvignon and blends, this Pinot shows the delicate touch winemaker and Mi Sueno owner Rolando Herrera has and who continues to fulfill his dream of making his wine every day. Filled with layers of ripe fruit, slight floral notes and spice with toasted oak, cranberry and cherry on the palate with a velvety smooth finish.

Though physically made in Livermore, Steven Kent’s La Rochelle Pinot Noir from grapes sourced from Donum Estate Vineyard in Carneros, once a part of the Buena Vista Estate, highlight elegance and boldness of Pinot Noir. Made entirely of the Donum clone of Pinot Noir, used primarily in Champagne by Roederer, the wine perfectly balances ripe fruit with dried herbs and sweet baking spice notes, good acidity and lengthy tannin, giving it an ability to age nicely or be enjoyed now.

Moving up into Sonoma County Pinot Noir thrives, as the coastal breezes from the Bay help maintain temperamental grape temperatures, yet warm days also ensure grapes will ripen by harvest time. I had a bottle of Knez Winery Anderson Valley Pinot Noir the other night, given to me by the new owners of Domaine Wine Company in Dallas as their “wine to watch” in 2013. I can completely understand why this is their wine to watch….luscious, ripe and fresh with bold yet balanced fruit, spice and a touch of black tea and cola notes. Domaine Wine Company was started late last year by James Moll (Level 1 Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers) and Lance Storer, (Certified Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers, as well as a slew of other recognitions) to create a wine and spirits store with concierge style that make you feel at home the minute you walk in, with a helpful staff that goes the extra mile for you to introduce customers to something new and unusual, as well as bringing you the usual suspects.

One other Pinot favorite they have comes from Tony and Michelle Soter (of Soter Vineyards) in Willamette Valley, Planet Oregon Pinot Noir is created from 100% sustainably and organically farmed vineyards throughout Willamette to create a youthful, vibrant and easy drinking everyday Pinot from one of the best regions in the world for the grape with a fruit forward flavor profile married with the earthy notes prominent in Oregon Pinot.

Folie a Deux sources fruit from throughout the Sonoma Coast for their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir aged 10 months in French oak to give the wine nice complexity with juicy black fruit and dried berry flavors, and finishing with dark chocolate and dried tobacco. This is a good food wine, with slightly more body than some Pinot Noir options, making it a beautiful wine to pair with anything from roasted duck to grilled pork chops to fried chicken.