Smile

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)

"Deep" and "sitcom" are not words often used in the same sentence. But a visit to the "VEEP" soundstage in Columbia gave a glimpse of the larger cultural power of this savvy satire from HBO, returning for its second season Sunday night. I also came away dazzled by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who last year won an Emmy as best comedic actress for her portrayal of Vice President Selina Meyer. "VEEP" drills as far down into the state of the national psyche as any TV comedy has in the past 30 years.

Bob Baffert strode into the Preakness stakes barn Friday morning, shouting toward Orb's trainer Shug McGaughey loud enough so all could hear. "OK, Shug, I'm here to take away that media spotlight for you," he said. Baffert, indeed, is one of the few people in the sport who could have swiped some of the attention from McGaughey and his heavily favored colt this week . Baffert has won the Preakness five times, and on three occasions he's moved on to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown.

  “Grammarnoir 5: The Shame of the Prose” is a four-part serial, running on Mondays from February 11 until the thrilling conclusion on March 4, National Grammar Day.  Grammarnoir is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance of characters to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Part 1: See a Fellow About a Scam Part 2: The Capo   Part 3: Cocktails with Colleen Colleen Newvine was the Stylebook 's hotsy-totsy enforcer.

"Deep" and "sitcom" are not words often used in the same sentence. But a visit to the "VEEP" soundstage in Columbia gave a glimpse of the larger cultural power of this savvy satire from HBO, returning for its second season Sunday night. I also came away dazzled by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who last year won an Emmy as best comedic actress for her portrayal of Vice President Selina Meyer. "VEEP" drills as far down into the state of the national psyche as any TV comedy has in the past 30 years.

Walter Fullwood strode up to the window of the Snowball Stand in Woodstock on a recent, steamy afternoon and handed over a bag of four "empties" before placing his carryout order. One of the stand's original customers, he has made weekly summer pilgrimages from his Ellicott City home of 42 years to the nearby rural spot since it opened in 1975. He has also made a habit of returning the cardboard containers as a courtesy. Fullwood requested four of the 101 varieties of the tasty treat Tuesday, including chocolate with a center of marshmallow for his wife, Marilyn, and plain vanilla for Winston, their 2-year-old Australian shepherd.

My time is short and so is yours, so why not tell the truth: A person can get along very well in life without one bit of the mathematics and physics they rammed into our brains in high school. Fifty years later, and there hasn't been a single moment when I've thought, "Oh if only I could remember higher algebra!" No, it isn't smarts, it's personal charm that propels you forward in this world and I, who grew up on the windswept godforsaken plains, know this for a fact. We Midwesterners have a charm deficit from day one and never catch up. Southerners have it in spades and many big city people and Texans and Unitarian women and Hispanic folks and black church ladies and hospital nurses and Jewish mothers, of course, but we prairie dogs are solemn and cold and people do not gravitate toward us and I, having been brought up fundamentalist, am a colder fish than most.

As the top Girl Scout cookie seller for Carroll County last year, Erin Saunders sold 1,004 boxes by smiling. Many of the sales were made from her home, as Erin had a cast on her ankle at the time, from a sprain. But when she was out selling, whether at cookie booths or at her bowling league, she made sure a smile was on her face, she said. "All I do is, every week, I go out and sell them and then I go to a bunch of cookie booths," Erin, 9, said, of her past success. "I ask people ...and smile.

A DOCUMENTARY photographer and ethnographer we know said she spent two years interviewing and taking pictures of the people who live on a single block in Hampden and who are famous locally for the enthusiasm they bring to the decoration of their houses at Christmas. During this season, the sidewalks of the 700 block of W. 34th St. are busy with smiling "tourists" from other parts of town; cars stream slowly by, their drivers and passengers gawking and grinning at all the glittery lights and the blood-bright faces of plastic Santa Clauses.

For Josephine Nguyen, a friendly and happy teen-ager, the hardest part of Plebe Summer at the Naval Academy was learning to control her emotions. Yesterday was graduation day -- her toughest test."

Antwan Reddick leaned against the padded blue walls of the Owings Mills wrestling room and smiled. With a 26-1 record this season, the 152-pound senior hopes to win his third straight county title in this weekend's Baltimore County championships at Franklin. The first two came in Prince George's County while he wrestled at DuVal, and he finished as the Class 4A-3A runner-up last season at 138 pounds. Yet sometimes it's hard for him to smile. Since he was 5 years old, Reddick has been in foster care.

Ten years ago, a debilitating heart attack left Bernie Weisman unable to walk or talk, and yet the rabbi at his recent funeral said Bernie never had a bad day. With confidence the rabbi made that remark, having been assured by those closest to Bernie that the happy spirit he displayed for his first 55 years remained for the last 10. Such a spirit is not easily disabled. "At the end of his 65 years of life," Rabbi Dana Saroken of Beth El Congregation said at last month's funeral, "this is who Bernie was and who he always will be — a man who lit up the room wherever he was, a man who, despite any circumstances, never had a bad day, who smiled from morning until night; a man you could meet and within five minutes you would fall in love; the most generous and giving person who couldn't do enough for you, who never had an unkind word to say about anyone, who made time for everyone, and would even answer the phone lovingly — 'Hey doll!

I don't know who made the decision to print the picture of the monster Adam Lanza, but it truly was not very well thought out ("Lanza 'would just shut down,'" Dec. 17). How dare you show this boy waving and smiling. It looks like he is mocking all of us. Why should he achieve exactly what he set out to do: Get attention in the most tragic and unimaginable way? You have some nerve putting his picture there like that, only a page away from those little angels and the heroes who died trying to save them.

Two of the more memorable observations to come out of Mitt Romney during the first presidential debate had to do with fibs and Big Bird. The candidate said that as the father of sons, he knows that repeating a lie doesn't make it true. As to the latter? Look out, "Sesame Street," your days as a "victim" on the federal dole are numbered. The two seemingly unrelated remarks are worth mentioning because they intersect in Mr. Romney's tax and budget plans which, even by the most generous of interpretations, don't add up. If President Barack Obama failed in the debate, it was in not making that point strongly enough.

Welcome back to 'Homeland', where some reasonable length of time has passed since we last saw our heroes, and everything seems normal despite the fact that Northern Virginians have elected a possible terrorist sleeper to Congress. The season premiere of the Emmy-crushing Showtime drama begins with Carrie living at her father's house, gardening, teaching what appears to be English as a second language and managing to mostly unplug from her life as a now-disgraced national security agent.

As the top Girl Scout cookie seller for Carroll County last year, Erin Saunders sold 1,004 boxes by smiling. Many of the sales were made from her home, as Erin had a cast on her ankle at the time, from a sprain. But when she was out selling, whether at cookie booths or at her bowling league, she made sure a smile was on her face, she said. "All I do is, every week, I go out and sell them and then I go to a bunch of cookie booths," Erin, 9, said, of her past success. "I ask people ...and smile.

Lyle the Crocodile is full of life, love and amusing tricks. Although Lyle has traveled the world and appeared on the silver screen, his favorite place to be is with the Primm family on East 88th Street in New York. Lyle loves doing household chores, conversing with people on the street, and making everyone laugh. His personality and charm give him the reputation of being the nicest crocodile people have ever met.Book titles in the Lyle the Crocodile series include:"Lyle, Lyle Crocodile," by Garrett Christopher"Lyle Finds his Mother," by Bernard Waber"Lyle at the Office," by Bernard Waber"Lyle & the Birthday Party," by Bernard Waber- Courtesy of Visa Rewards' "Read Me a Story"Pub Date: 5/03/98

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, I have one for you. It came to mind last week when I heard of the death of Neil Armstrong, famed for being the first to set foot upon the Moon. His boyish face appeared on many photos through the years, as a Korean fighter pilot, civilian test pilot and eventually as one of the second group of astronauts selected by NASA. After John Kennedy's challenge to land on the moon before decade's end, one of the men in this second group that called themselves the "Next Nine" or the "Nifty Nine" - in contrast to the "Original Seven" astronauts - was destined to be the first to touch the lunar surface.

The Ravens go through their first full-team workout of training camp Thursday and if you want to see something special taking place in the hot, thick air at the Castle, you keep your eyes on Ray Lewis. Watch him run around in those baggy sweats like someone half his age. Listen to him talk trash with his teammates and coaches. Watch him flash that Chiclets smile every five minutes, too, the smile of a man who seems perfectly in his element. And do yourself a favor. If you get a chance to talk to him, don't ask when he plans to retire.