Linda Lavin on The Good Wife

Post positions for all the Breeders Cup races will be drawn this afternoon at Santa Anita, so I'll write about them tomorrow.  Yesterday our temperature was in the upper 70s and I spent most of the day in shorts and a T-shirt.  The first cold front came through about midnight, and brought a little light rain.  The second wave is pushing in under bright sunshine - but I was wearing jeans, wool socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a heavy fleece jacket and a hat with ear flaps when I walked Rosie this morning. - And it isn't really that cold - it's the north wind that's bone chilling.  We're supposed to have our first hard freeze tonight (in the 20s), so I ate as many ripe raspberries as I could find this morning in the berry patch.  This cold snap might also bring the apples down in the front yard...  Eighty percent have fallen  from the back yard trees, but the front yard apple has held tight to it's fruit this year.
  Last night I watched The Good Wife, and had a blast, as usual.  I watched the Saints and Packers game before and during, so I also got a good dose of football, also.  Now, I've been watching each episode of The Good Wife this season, and I have thoroughly detested Cary's pre-trial bail probation officer.  Her name is Joy Grubick, and her mannerisms are perfected to drive someone up the wall.  And I was really enjoying hating this character, when it suddenly struck me that I knew the actress.  I realized that I have talked to her multiple times, and that she was always friendly and easy-going, and completely unlike the character she was portraying.  I can't really use the excuse that I've always liked Linda Lavin's work as a comedian as an excuse that I didn't recognize her in a dramatic role.  I have watched her play Ms. Grubick in at least 4 episodes, and have loved to hate her - but I didn't realize until last night what a tremendously gifted actress she is.  [I "know" Linda Lavin from her time as a home-owner on Chincoteague Island, and her work with (and support of) the Senior Citizens' Center there.]  What tipped me off was a thing that Ms. Lavin does with her tongue, when she is thinking - when I saw Joy Grubick make the same move with her tongue last night, I almost fell over in surprise.  I hope that the folks writing The Good Wife keep Joy Grubick in the story for the rest of this season - it's great seeing Ms. Lavin again!