Students of Emerick Elementary School couldn't wait to learn the identity of a surprise guest at a special assembly. More than 400 of them crowded the Purcellville school's cafeteria Tuesday, in the final hour before dismissal for their Thanksgiving break, to find out who it was.

The Leesburg Town Council unanimously endorsed a plan Tuesday to widen Route 15, authorizing local officials to apply for state permission to acquire the needed land.

Fauquier High School's Falcon Marching Band won the 2009 All-States championship in the U.S. Scholastic Band Association's 1-A competition in Allentown, Pa., on Nov. 14.

BLOOD DRIVES, Type O Blood Drive, 3-8 p.m. Dec. 7, Claude Moore Recreation Center, 14605 Loudoun Park Lane, Sterling, 800-448-3543; 3-8 p.m. Dec. 8, Ashburn Fire and Rescue, 20688 Ashburn Rd., 800-448-3543; 7 a.m.-noon Dec. 13, St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct.,...

1. Loudoun Valley Estates II, Section 6, east side of Loudoun County Parkway, at Evergreen Ridge Drive. Subdivide 145 acres zoned PDH-4 (planned development housing-four units per acre) 4) for 122 residential lots.

In each of the past eight seasons, Stone Bridge High School football coach Mickey Thompson had led his team to the same stage: the region title game.

Late in the first half of Friday's AA Region II Division 4 final against Sherando, Broad Run quarterback Connor Jessop threw a tight spiral to Adrian Flemming in the back of the end zone to increase the Spartans' lead to 14-0.

News that appeared Nov. 22 to 28 in The Washington Post that is of interest to readers in Loudoun and Fauquier counties.

The Fauquier SPCA is at 9350 Rogues Rd., Casanova. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. For information, call 540-788-9000.

QUILTERS, 7 p.m. first and third Tuesdays, Bethel United Methodist Church, 6903 Blantyre Rd., Warrenton. Also meeting on occasional Wednesdays, 10 a.m., at members' homes. Free. Call for information. 540-349-8473.

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

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.

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...

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

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

Loudoun County native Dana B. Thompson is known for still-life oil paintings that are larger than life. There are just a few days left to see "Pots and Pansies," above, and other works in "Re-Collections" that feature dramatic compositions of vintage items, organic matter and reflective objects. The...

Tens of thousands of visitors flock to Bull Run Regional Park every year for this holiday celebration that features a drive-through 2 1/2 miles of shimmering light displays. On certain days (Dec. 4-6, 11-13 and 18-21), you can park and enter the Winter Wonderland Holiday Village, where you can take...

These sales were recorded in Loudoun County and supplied to The Washington Post by the Loudoun County Assessment Office. To find sale and assessment records for homes in Loudoun and other Washington areas, visit www.washingtonpost.com/realestate .

The following organizations need volunteer help for a day, a week or on a regular basis.

TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING DINNER, everyone is welcome to an outreach event hosted by several churches and civic organizations. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Bethany United Methodist Church, 100 W. Main St., Purcellville. Freewill donation. 540-338-7648.

These were among incidents reported by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg, Middleburg and Purcellville police departments. For information, contact your police or sheriff's department.

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 following cases were handled by the Loudoun County Department of Animal Care and Control. For information, call 540-882-3211 or 703-777- 0406 or go to http://www.loudoun.gov/animals .

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.

"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.

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...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...