Dupont Circle

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.

After hearing hype that rivaled the Super Bowl, after sweeping the supermarkets clean and stockpiling enough food for a winter's hibernation, the Washington region braced Friday for a storm that was expected to leave at least 20 inches of snow on the ground by late Saturday. The District of Columbia declared a snow emergency, ticketing cars parked on emergency routes and changing traffic signals to handle an early evening rush hour. The school systems that bothered to open at all - in the District and the Maryland counties of Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel - sent everyone home early.

Never mind the frosty winter chill: Inside Firefly, it's eternally summer. Inspired by what its creators say are "memories of summer nights spent lazing in the backyard," this Washington restaurant, bar and lounge has become a haven for simple, unhurried pleasures. "We're not formal, not stuffy," says John Wabek, a Salisbury native who juggles dual roles as general manager and executive chef. "It's someplace you can be comfortable." Much like its name, Firefly's decor suggests casual fun and the relaxed, leisurely days of summer.

TRENDS Get ready for some mom time Last year it was "mancations." Next year it could be "seniorcations." But, for this year, the "cation" that the travel industry hopes will catch on is the "momcation." Billed as "the revenge sequel" to male-bonding "mancations," the "momcation" targets mothers seeking a break from screaming infants and frustrating adolescents. According to Josh Lesnick, founder of the Web site I'm in!.com (imin.com), groups of women with names such as the Hard Working Moms, the Book Club Babes and the Runaway Mamas, are using the site to plan getaway trips.

The triangular area between Connecticut and Massachusetts avenues northwest of Washington's Dupont Circle provides an especially pleasant place to walk on a fall day. The neighborhood welcomes strollers, with dignified townhouses clustered on quiet, intimate streets.Equally pleasant, though not so obvious at first, is the area's role as a mecca of art. Oh yes, the Phillips Collection at Q and 21st streets is well-known. It has one of the great assemblages of modern masterpieces by the likes of Renoir and van Gogh, Braque and Rothko.

WASHINGTON -- On one heavily traveled street in the Dupont Circle area, three panhandlers crouch in the grass beside the sidewalk, asking passers-by for money. On another, a man sits on the steps of a rowhouse, rattling the change in a paper cup. On a third, a man threads his way through a noonday crowd, meekly extending a tin can.To several merchants, to the police and even to some panhandlers, the docile, even polite, behavior of those asking for alms on a recent weekday is the result of last spring's Washington law banning aggressive panhandling -- a law that is very similar to legislation being considered by the Baltimore City rTC Council.

WASHINGTON -- On one heavily traveled street in the Dupont Circle area, three panhandlers crouch in the grass beside the sidewalk, asking passers-by for money. On another, a man sits on the steps of a rowhouse, rattling the change in a paper cup. On a third, a man threads his way through a noonday crowd, meekly extending a tin can.To several merchants, to the police and even to some panhandlers, the docile, even polite, behavior of those asking for alms on a recent weekday is the result of last spring's Washington law banning aggressive panhandling -- a law that is very similar to legislation being considered by the Baltimore City Council.

WASHINGTON -- When a search team discovered Rep. Sonny Bono's body at the base of a 40-foot pine at the Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in January, the first person they informed was his wife, Mary.Next to hear the tragic news was Geary Simon, 3,000 miles away in the nation's capital. Simon immediately caught a plane and jetted to Lake Tahoe, and then to the Bono home in Palm Springs. Over the next week, he helped with the funeral arrangements, answered reporters' questions and lent a hand to the family.

"Independent Eye," the MPT showcase for independent film, makes its season debut tonight with a documentary focusing on one of the leaders of the ill-fated Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. Washington-based writer-director Mary L. Flannery's "Freedom Fighter: The Story of Lian Shengde," mixes new interviews with rare archival footage to tell the story of Lian, who now lives in the U.S. after being prosecuted and jailed in China. He remains involved with the freedom movement.MPT received 250 short films and documentaries for inclusion in "Independent Eye" this season.

TRENDS Get ready for some mom time Last year it was "mancations." Next year it could be "seniorcations." But, for this year, the "cation" that the travel industry hopes will catch on is the "momcation." Billed as "the revenge sequel" to male-bonding "mancations," the "momcation" targets mothers seeking a break from screaming infants and frustrating adolescents. According to Josh Lesnick, founder of the Web site I'm in!.com (imin.com), groups of women with names such as the Hard Working Moms, the Book Club Babes and the Runaway Mamas, are using the site to plan getaway trips.

Sprinkled around Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood are some of the city's lesser-known museums. They are not lesser museums, by any means. But it is difficult to stand out in the shadow of the Smithsonian. So these institutions go about their daily business, relatively unnoticed by the packs of tourists that crowd the city's other museums. The staffs of these collections are far from alone, however. Residents from the area learned long ago the joys of walking through the Dupont Circle neighborhood, meandering among the embassies, art galleries and private homes, to stop and visit these small gems.

Four years ago, when Randy Kuczor and three friends bought a Victorian rowhouse in Washington's Logan Circle area, the neighborhood wasn't exactly hospitable. Drug dealers and prostitutes wandered among abandoned buildings and late-night chop shops. Restaurants and retail establishments were few and far between. But the four men persisted, sprucing up their property on 10th Street Northwest and transforming a patch of concrete into a garden. Soon, others began following their lead. "All of a sudden, gardening became a competitive sport," says Kuczor.

Never mind the frosty winter chill: Inside Firefly, it's eternally summer. Inspired by what its creators say are "memories of summer nights spent lazing in the backyard," this Washington restaurant, bar and lounge has become a haven for simple, unhurried pleasures. "We're not formal, not stuffy," says John Wabek, a Salisbury native who juggles dual roles as general manager and executive chef. "It's someplace you can be comfortable." Much like its name, Firefly's decor suggests casual fun and the relaxed, leisurely days of summer.

IN PHILADELPHIA, where Adam Goodheart grew up, he heard stories of police rounding up gay men, shaking them down for bribes, blackmailing them to keep their secret. In Chestertown, where Goodheart lives now, he can proclaim his sexuality to the world without serious worry. On such differences do we measure a nation's sensitivities. But now comes a generation's newest test. In Massachusetts last week, the state's Supreme Judicial Court gave approval to gay marriages and sent reverberations across the country.

Teeth baring. Territory marking. Chain yanking. In the dog-eat-dog world of American politics, these are all required job skills for our nation's elected officials. Yet, lately, there's more fur flying than usual in Washington. At the official White House Web site (www. whitehouse.gov), Spotty, Laura Bush's springer spaniel, gives a pun-filled tour of where he lives. And when Legally Blonde 2 opens at movie theaters July 2, what's the top priority for congressional aide Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon)

DRIVERS ARE going around in circles all over Howard County, and, apparently, some of you are not happy about it. It's something we're going to have to learn to live with, though. As of September, Howard County has more than 25 modern roundabouts at state-maintained intersections, in addition to the 10 or so the county has installed, not counting the mini-roundabouts on small residential streets. Given this proliferation of circles, many of you, like Charley McCullough of Ellicott City, have expressed concern.

IN PHILADELPHIA, where Adam Goodheart grew up, he heard stories of police rounding up gay men, shaking them down for bribes, blackmailing them to keep their secret. In Chestertown, where Goodheart lives now, he can proclaim his sexuality to the world without serious worry. On such differences do we measure a nation's sensitivities. But now comes a generation's newest test. In Massachusetts last week, the state's Supreme Judicial Court gave approval to gay marriages and sent reverberations across the country.

Teeth baring. Territory marking. Chain yanking. In the dog-eat-dog world of American politics, these are all required job skills for our nation's elected officials. Yet, lately, there's more fur flying than usual in Washington. At the official White House Web site (www. whitehouse.gov), Spotty, Laura Bush's springer spaniel, gives a pun-filled tour of where he lives. And when Legally Blonde 2 opens at movie theaters July 2, what's the top priority for congressional aide Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon)

"Independent Eye," the MPT showcase for independent film, makes its season debut tonight with a documentary focusing on one of the leaders of the ill-fated Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. Washington-based writer-director Mary L. Flannery's "Freedom Fighter: The Story of Lian Shengde," mixes new interviews with rare archival footage to tell the story of Lian, who now lives in the U.S. after being prosecuted and jailed in China. He remains involved with the freedom movement.MPT received 250 short films and documentaries for inclusion in "Independent Eye" this season.