Trends in bidding, like trends in fashion, go in one year and out the other. Light opening bids are in vogue now; one day the pendulum may swing back toward soundness.


Bridge - Technology - Structural Engineering - Games - Card Games

bc-stewart-bridge 09/05 TMS Original bc-stewart-bridge09/05TMSOriginal

DEAR AMY: My husband's mother sent him a five-digit "early inheritance gift" and a letter specifying it as a gift for him, "spouse excluded."


Ask an Expert - Advice - GAMSAT - Opinion - Massively meta

Some of today's most adventurous artists could not be who they are if they could not project their art.



Video projector - Business - Arts and Entertainment - Tools and Equipment - Business Services

Veteran choreographer Liz Lerman melds science and art, brain and body, for a production called "The Matter of Origins."


Arts - Paul WS Anderson - Three Musketeers - Logan Lerman - Milla Jovovich

On Saturday, Vampire Weekend will headline at Merriweather Post Pavilion. It will be the New York-based indie-rock quartet's first gig at the Maryland amphitheater, but for the band's drummer, Chris Tomson, the show will mark an anniversary of sorts.


Jam band - Music - Arts and Entertainment - Rock - Art

Al Masino has the grand title of Director of Exhibitions, Design and Special Projects at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum -- but you can think of him as Chief Tech.


Business - Electrical - Lighting - Shopping - Business and Economy

In a society where public attire has grown increasingly pajama-fied, the first lady offered proof that informal doesn't mean sloppy and pulled-together doesn't have to be stuffy.



Michelle Obama - Recreation - Fan Pages - Magazines and E-zines - Bluewater Productions

Like the Go-Go's said: "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N"

ST. LOUIS • The new president of the Missouri Botanical Garden brought a lovely gift from home when he arrived in St. Louis this week.

Dear Dr. Fox — We have an 11-year-old, spayed female indoor cat. For 10 years, she used the litter box without fail, but in the past year, she has started to defecate all over the house.

Dear Abby • My fiancé and I are preparing for our wedding next spring. This is the first marriage for both of us. We are well-established in our careers and have a nice house with everything we nee

Dear Dr. Donohue — A friend in his late 40s thought he had the flu and called his doctor for medicine. Later he had trouble breathing and went to the emergency room, where they said he was having a

My family will travel halfway around the world to see a koala bear sitting in a eucalyptus tree, but for some reason it took us four years living in Boise, Idaho, to see the city's spooky 19th-century

Kunde Family Estate • 9825 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood, Calif.; kunde.com or 1-707-833-5501. Online registration available, fees range from $25 for hikes with tastings to $45 for dog hikes with lunch.

They say great wine is made in the vineyard. Now some vintners are inviting guests to check that out through walking tours aimed at giving the real dirt on winemaking.

Scott Cairns is a professor of English and director of creative writing at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Born in 1954 in Tacoma, Wash., Cairns is a poet and a Christian who has traveled an unus

Broccoli and cauliflower should be staples in an autumn vegetable garden.

There’s a big range in price and sophistication, from pitchers to whole-house systems.

Community gardens grow more than produce. Besides the added benefits of exercise, better nutrition and family recreation, friendship and understanding often blossom across cultures as gardeners work side by side.

Between classes, extracurricular activities and home chores, many young students carry a heavy load.

Honeybees are beneficial insects that pollinate a third of the crops we grow for food. Bees pollinating flowers help gardeners, but a nest of bees near a home can pose a serious hazard to the occupants and their pets as well as neighbors and visitors.

Pazzaz, a San Diego nonprofit helping thousands of children overcome academic struggles, invites parents and children in grades K-12 to enjoy educational workshops, informative exhibits, live entertainment, continental breakfast and lunch, and backpacks and school supply giveaways.

Mindy Goldis, a natural foods chef specializing in combining macrobiotic and raw food cuisine prepared in a healing gourmet style that is both nutritious to the body and pleasing to the palate, will give a presentation from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Clairemont Branch Library.

Explore some of the smallest, hardest-working plants and animals in the sea.

The Widows or Widowers Club of San Diego holds weekly walks at Lake Murray in La Mesa, at Lake Miramar, at Mission Bay, and in Chula Vista.

After a day of sun, surf and sand, it's good to sink into an old- fashioned bed steps from Newport's pier.

"It's nice to know there are still some quaint and out-of-the-way places even in the O.C. The location offers good access to lots of iconic SoCal sites," says reader Caitlin Tusher of Placentia, in her nomination letter.

Readers weigh in on places that let them down but also share some pleasant surprises.

You know those destinations you feel obligated to visit but don't really want to? Travel section readers do. We asked them to tell us about some of the places they were certain weren't right for them, and here's what they said. Sometimes, the destination was a wonderful surprise; other times, not so much. Read more online at latimes.com/placeswehate .

A family happens upon adventures small and large in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Belgium.

We're packing the mobi for a madcap trip across Europe to see as much as we can in 18 days. If this trip goes badly, it's our daughter's fault. This is her idea, pitched from her apartment in downtown Antwerp during a call months earlier.

Tag along with a Metro-riding native who visits parks, restaurants, galleries and other favorites, all for less than $20 a day.

Boasting posh restaurants, luxury boutiques and a flock of millionaires who indulge in them, Moscow is considered one of the most expensive cities on the planet. Just take a walk through the rows of tinted Range Rovers and Bentleys parked behind the Bolshoi Theatre and you'll understand why this is the city that hosts the conspicuously named Millionaire Fair.

A casual trip from Corfu, Greece, to Sarande, Albania, is more delightful and history-filled than you might expect.

Somewhere on Earth there must be a cheaper, easier, more exotic cruise, packed with even more beautiful sights and filled with more history, providing even tastier food, but for now, I'm happy to settle on this one: Ionian Cruises' daily excursion from Corfu, Greece, to Sarande, Albania.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO MOSCOW From LAX, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Delta, British and Swiss offer connecting service (change of planes) to Moscow. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $602.

A Thai center plucks dozens of the animals from brutal labor camps and shelters them in a tranquil setting while offering interaction with visitors. You might get close enough to hear them purr.

It was, unquestionably, the best $2.55 I've ever spent on vacation.

Visiting Barcelona, Málaga and Granada, a mom learns to just let the fun happen for her kids, husband and herself.

My husband, Tony; my daughter, Callie, 15; and son Zeke, 12, and I spent 10 days traveling in Spain in July. Callie had been living with a family there for three weeks before we met her in Málaga, on the country's sunny southern coast. From there, we traveled to Ronda and Granada before settling in Barcelona for five days. It was a lot to fit into a 10-day trip, but I had it all mapped out. Day by day. Hour by hour.

She dreamed of being a bejeweled samba dancer at the annual party. So how did she end up in a frumpy white suit and tricorn hat?

It was near midnight and the rain-drenched streets had already stained my white satin slippers. A Napoleon-style hat, adorned with golden beads and white plumage, was perched precariously atop my head. Stepping delicately in my soggy shoes, I gripped my ruffled lace pant legs to keep them from dragging on the wet cobblestones.