Area

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

A fire was reported at the popular Wegmans grocery store in Abingdon late Sunday evening, causing a brief evacuation of the store by employees and customers. No injuries were reported, and the store re-opened shortly after the fire was contained, a Wegmans spokesperson said. The store also was open at its normal time on Monday, at 6 a.m. The fire in the first block of Wegmans Boulevard, was reported between 6:45 and 7 p.m. Sunday, when firefighters responded for reports of smoke coming from the computer room, according to the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association Facebook page.

For many folks headed to Preakness, the focus of the afternoon isn't the race. It's the fashion — and we don't just mean hats. If you're in the grandstands, the Jockey Club area or Corporate Village, you'll want to dress the part. Betsy Dugan, owner of Bettina Collections in Cross Keys and former co-owner of Octavia in Pikesville, has been dressing women for Preakness for years. "This is the time ... to dress up," she said. If there's one rule of thumb, it's that ladies and gentlemen at Preakness should look like ...well, ladies and gentlemen.

Beginning Monday morning, the Maryland Welcome Center on northbound Interstate 95 in Howard County will be closed for paving, the State Highway Administration said. The northbound rest area lots and the travel plaza will be closed 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. The facility will be open overnight. No work will take place on Memorial Day or May 28 and the rest area will be open those days. The paving will be complete by June 30, weather permitting. Last week, crews repaved the southbound rest area as part of the $1.2 million renovation project.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently received a gag gift of protective headgear after she suffered a concussion and blood clot near her brain after a fall. While Clinton can now make light of the injuries, a blood clot can be a serious health risk that can lead to death. Dr. James L. Frazier, III, a neurosurgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, talks about the dangers. What causes a blood clot to form in the brain? A blood clot or thrombus can form in the arteries that supply blood to the brain.

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

A snowball stand's success depends on two key things: hot weather and lots of hard work, say Baltimore-area purveyors of the summer treat. Add those ingredients to the crushed ice and syrup concoction that has long been a regional favorite, and summertime entrepreneurs say they can make a decent living during the season's warmest weeks. "A lot of people think it's easy to start it," said Margo Torsell, who along with family members runs a three-year-old stand on Liberty Road in Randallstown.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Gardeners are forever looking for something to wrap a flower bed around. There has to be a bed along the front of the porch, and others might be carved out around a garden shed, a birdbath or the trunks of shade trees. For many people, there's another opportunity right out by the curb: the mailbox. A garden bed around a mailbox gives gardeners a chance to put their horticultural stamp where it's sure to show. In the midst of handsome shrubs, interesting ornamental grasses or hard-working annual and perennial flowers, a standard-issue mailbox on a post becomes a piece of functional art. When there's a flower bed to visit, the trip out to the mailbox is much more interesting, even if the postman brings nothing but bills.

I'm confused about choosing a color to paint my kitchen. I've heard that green is the color of the year. And then I hear about gray being the new neutral. What are the best colors to paint the kitchen? A kitchen should be an inviting gathering space, so warmer or brighter tones are ideal, such as deep ivories, rich coppers, luscious reds, golden yellows and yellow-greens. Be sure to take countertops, appliances and floors into consideration when selecting your color. You'll want something that complements these accents and flows naturally into the surrounding rooms of your home.

What started for Robert McCollum as a two-year leave of absence from a teaching job in Chicago has expanded into a five-year stint guiding 300 students in a Christian school in Bogota, Colombia. That enrollment was about a tenth of what McCollum was accustomed to in Chicago, but that wasn't the biggest difference. McCollum, 44, said the work "really helped me to frame my own thinking about what Christian education should look like. " After serving as secondary principal and director of academics at El Camino Academy in Bogota, McCollum has returned to the U.S. to serve as the upper school principal for Annapolis Area Christian School.

Annapolis Area Christian School is looking for a varsity swimming coach and a girls varsity soccer coach for the next school year. For information, contact athletic director Jim Domoracki, jdomoracki@aacsonline.org or 410-519-5300 x3150.  

Jacob Lutz, a senior in Catonsville High School's Information Technology/IT Programming curriculum, was named the Southwest Area winner of a $1,000 scholarship during the 39th annual Career and Technology Education Student Recognition Reception April 24 at Loch Raven High School. The award was one of four Anthony G. Marchione Scholarships (named in honor of a former BCPS superintendent) presented to area winners. Jasmine Wise, a business management and finance student at Milford Mill Academy, received a total of $3,000 in scholarships (a $1,000 northwest area scholarship and a $2,000 overall scholarship)

"Estate" is not a description that should be used indiscriminately — yet the term clearly when referring to the Colonial-style mansion at 1105 Bellevista Court in Severna Park. Located on nearly one acre in the subdivision of Belleview Estates, this four-story brick home with almost 9,000 square feet of living space was listed at $1,995,900 and sold for $1,850,000. It closed April 30 without ever being formally listed on the market. "[This was] one of the highest-selling, non-waterfront homes in Anne Arundel County and an example of the positive turn our housing market is taking," said Jennifer Sowers of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, one of two co-listing agents.

Baltimore-area home sales rose 15 percent in April compared with a year earlier, and newly pending deals soared as buyers kicked the spring housing market into higher gear, according to data released Friday. Prices remained largely unchanged at $238,000 for the typical home in the region — Baltimore and its five suburban counties. That remains well under the region's April peak of $275,000 six years ago, after the housing bubble pushed up prices but before the bust and financial crisis deflated them.

Four Division III teams from the area will open the first round of the NCAA tournament this Wednesday. Stevenson (17-2) will play host to Christopher Newport (8-8), Washington College (12-4) welcomes Colorado College (13-4), St. Mary's (12-6) visits Lynchburg (12-5), and Salisbury (14-5) hosts Susquehanna (12-6). Here is what each coach had to say about his team's respective first-round opponent. Salisbury coach Jim Berkman on Susquehanna: “Not much, other than their coach is a former Sea Gull.

Storms with winds reported at or near 80 mph blew through the area between 1:30 and 2 a.m. causing damage and electricity outages. WBAL-TV was reporting that the National Weather Service was working to confirm reports of a possible tornado in the 2200 block of Fleetwood Ave.

These area businesses and local groups are among more than 150 exhibitors and businesses by and for women represented at the 11th annual CCBC Women's Expo March 10 and 11 in the gym on the Catonsville campus of the Community College of Baltimore County: Advanced Radiology Aone Services Bakers Park Bandals Footware Bay State Chiropractic Bizness Concepts The Candy Box Deltz Jewelry Dixie Chicken ...

For years, the Ravens quietly tried to make the case to the NFL that Baltimore-Washington would function best as a single television market. The current system -- in which the Redskins and Ravens have separate markets -- left some Ravens fans, in effect, behind enemy lines. The Ravens said in 2010 that about 12 percent of their personal seat license holders have residences in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia or Montgomery or Prince George's counties -- the domain of the Redskins.