There are Thanksgivings that evoke general thanks, and there are Thanksgivings that evoke specific thanks. For the Ganey family of College Park, this year it will most certainly be the latter.

The opening of a bike lane down one street in the District generated a lot of interest among readers [ Dr. Gridlock, Nov. 15 ]. I think one reason is that we don't get many chances to talk about innovation in our transportation system. Another is that changes in travel patterns tend to divide...

Think your home is less polluted than a city street? Think again.

Before she went rogue, Sarah Palin got lost. She was stalking "majestic dall sheep with their thick curled horns" in a national park, she writes in her new book, "Going Rogue." "I was only about eight years old, and for a couple of anxious hours of climbing hillsides and calling my name, no one...

On this day, as the nation sits down for the annual feast that launches the holiday season, it could be the way you say something to a friend or relative -- and not your mother-in-law's gravy -- that makes or breaks the day.

I have an eight-year-old kousa dogwood, chosen for its purported disease resistance, that lost its leaves from the inside out over most of the summer. The leaves just yellowed and dropped, and by late August the tree had leaves only on its outermost tips.

Dear Dr. Fox: My 10-year-old male cat had to be euthanized.

The housing market might be iffy right now, but there's still an audience for homes made of delicious gingerbread. At least that's the hope behind this 10th annual contest and show at Darnall's Chance House Museum, with one category for children and another for adults. A Gingerbread House Committee...

Nov. 26 "MYSTERY IN MO'TOWN" This murder mystery follows representatives of a record label on the road to find new talent. With karaoke for the audience. Thursday at 2 p.m., show at 4 p.m.; Friday-Saturday at 6:30 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m. Blair Mansion Inn, 7711 Eastern Ave., Silver Spring....

You might think you've heard every story about Santa Claus and his reindeer. But the folks behind "Mooseltoe" came up with a new twist. Mooseltoe the moose longs to fly with Santa's sleigh team. His tale unfolds with eight original songs, dancing and such costumed characters as snobby penguins, a...

Deborah Tannen's advice on how to create a living room that encourages people to talk to one another:

Gathering today with your nearest, dearest and others? Holidays, much like relationships, can be "made, maintained and broken" through conversations, says Georgetown University linguistics professor Deborah Tannen, who has written many books on analyzing conversational styles.

"We'd like this to be the informal area where we can eat dinner without worrying about spilling on nice dining room rugs."

As the holiday looms on the calendar, I sometimes think it ought to be called Angstgiving. Assembling the throng is tricky enough.

These were among sales recorded recently in Anne Arundel County and supplied to The Washington Post by Spatial Systems Associates, the Maryland Office of Assessments and Taxation and the Maryland Office of Planning. To find sale and assessment records for homes in Anne Arundel and elsewhere in the...

Having a sale? The Sales Talk column is looking for super deals on home furnishings, accessories and services at stores across the area to share with our readers. Let us know the details at least two weeks in advance. Write us at localliving@washpost.com , or call 202-334-4409.

Here is an edited excerpt from The Post's On Parenting blog. Read the latest posts at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/parenting .

Their most recent adoption was in June. That's when Gary and Vickie Ferko officially brought their 14-year-old son, Jesse, into the family fold. The teen had been living with them as a foster child for five years.

These sales were recorded in Howard County and supplied to The Washington Post by Spatial Systems Associates, the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and the Maryland Office of Planning. To find sale and assessment records for homes in Howard and other Washington areas, visit...

These were among incidents reported by the Howard County Police Department. For information, call 410-313-2236.

The following incidents were reported by the Anne Arundel County Police Department. For information, call 410-222-8050.

After being mesmerized by the slow and pretty leaf drop of autumn, we wake up around Thanksgiving day to the reality of the naked garden.

Do the planet and your garden a favor by recycling fallen leaves. Leaves can be added to the compost pile or spread as mulch over garden beds. They should be chopped up first with a lawn mower to speed decay.

Mold grows like crazy in all my bathroom toilets, in four of the seven faucets and in one of the two shower heads.

The holiday season brings with it an overabundance of advice on how to avoid gaining weight in the face of all those festive meals, cocktail parties and plates of cookies brought in by co-workers. Depending on whose advice you're inclined to heed, you can cut back on carbs, mind the glycemic inde...

Picture this: You and a dozen other people are gathered on couches somewhere today, watching a football game on the big screen and consuming a ridiculously fattening selection of snacks that precede an enormous and even more fattening Thanksgiving meal.

Near the end of her struggle to find the right high school for a son who does not always share her tastes, Tracey Henley was overjoyed to discover that some of her son's best friends had endorsed her choice and that his resistance had vanished. "So now we don't have to forge his signature on the...

The governors of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware have announced a partnership designed to promote and coordinate the development of wind energy off the mid-Atlantic coast.

These food establishments were closed because of health code violations. The list, compiled from health department reports, reflects actions taken by the departments.