Q: My husband and I are researching for a trip to Europe this summer. This will be our first visit there, and we have two weeks to celebrate our 40th anniversary. What issues do we face? A: First, make sure you have a valid passport. Even from Mexico and Canada, returnees must show a passport. Check with your travel agent as to the new passport regulations. Next, check with your doctor to make sure you ... [full story]

Sail on over to SureCruise.com for deals on the seas. Onboard Regent Seven Seas Cruises, guests receive perks on certain seven-night trips to Alaska and the Mediterranean. SureCruise.com provides flights for up to $1,000 credit per guest. Each cruise gives guests a "bon voyage" cocktail party before leaving. A concierge is also available to passengers for assistance when trying to find land tours or the best places to buy souvenirs. ALASKAN CRUISE - The ... [full story]

When my daughter Chloe was still barely toddling, one thing she loved to do was sweep. Someone had given her a little red-handled mini-broom and she liked nothing better than to industriously sweep the floor. And just recently I ran into a little boy who was infatuated with his mother's hand vacuum. There's a long tradition of kids playing with housekeeping toys - not only cleaning and washing, but cooking, baking, serving, and storing and, ... [full story]

Q: Enclosed is a photo of a framed print that I would like to know more about. It belonged to my husband's aunt who has been deceased for many years. She wrote the word "Hope" on the paper that covers the back of the picture. Could you please tell me the history and value of this print? A: George Frederick Watts painted the original picture around 1885. He was an English Victorian symbolist artist who ... [full story]

THE SPANISH AUTHORITY Freshman Vassar College student Penelope Casas was enamored with everything Spanish. In 1962, the native New Yorker and Spanish major discovered her passion during a language immersion program in Spain. She not only fell in love with the country, but also with the son of the family she was staying with. "We've been married now for 42 years," she said with a laugh. A decade later, Casas tried to become a travel ... [full story]

Visitors have been exclaiming about the area where northeastern North Carolina meets the Atlantic Ocean for a long time. In fact, what we today call the Outer Banks received its first rave reviews in 1584.   CAPE HATTERAS - The Cape Hatteras lighthouse, at 208 feet, is the tallest lighthouse in the United States. CNS Photo by Fred J. Eckert.    ROANOKE ISLAND - The Roanoke Island Festival Park is a living history museum. 'Settles' are decked out in ... [full story]

In other cities, the monuments that define a place are a source of pride. In this city, the 50th anniversary of the Plaza de Toros, or bullring, is being celebrated with its demolition. The news shocked bullfighting fans and local historians, since the bullring was still in operation last year, hosting its last corrida on Aug. 20. Before the ring opened, in May 1957, Tijuana already was known as a bullfighting town. It was part ... [full story]

She's been a model, a cover girl, the focus of celebrity-driven TV programs and of tabloid media gossip as well as being a TV celebrity in her own right. But flip to the next page on the resume of Ivanka Trump, The Donald's 25-year-old daughter, and you'll find a former star student at the Wharton School of Finance (graduating with honors in 2004) who has become a jet-setting wheeler-dealer. Her real estate footprints extend from ... [full story]

At first glance, it seems like an unlikely place for the Queen of Hearth and Home to make an appearance, this arid California valley in the hinterlands just south of March Air Reserve Base. But Perris is part of Southern California's low-cost housing frontier. And among the suburban tracts sprouting seemingly everywhere in and around this city is one with homes bearing a seal of approval from Martha Stewart. MARTHA'S EMPIRE - Martha Stewart ... [full story]

Who was the first political cartoonist in America? Harry Katz poses the question with a smile on his face. Not many people would have a ready answer. But he does. Cartoons and comics have long been a central passion of his, and for many years he was in the right place to preserve the originals for posterity: the Library of Congress. He was its head curator of prints and photographs when he left his major ... [full story]

We're reminded of how much medical care has changed for the better every time we visit our chiropractor, Steven Digles, in Frederick, Md. What a contrast with 60 years ago. Then, nothing would have gotten us to visit chiropractors. The medical profession maintained that chiropractors were almost frauds, making people feel better for a while but without the knowledge "real" doctors had that might cure them. Don was in medical school in Chicago in the ... [full story]

Q: My 63-year-old husband died of a heart attack two years ago. We've always lived in the same city where we were born. Soon after we married, we bought a large, two-story home and raised three wonderful children in it. Now, my children, who live in various parts of the country, are strongly encouraging me to sell out and move near one of them. I can't decide whether I want to do so, as I ... [full story]

It's not only the parents of grown children who grapple with the empty-nest syndrome. Caregivers who lose their elderly parents go through a similar sense of loss. Many of them find themselves at loose ends, feeling they've lost their identity and purpose for being. Dutiful and loving adult children look after parents for years, advocating, cooking, laundering, chauffeuring, toileting, medicating, etc.. Then, Mom or Dad dies and the grown children are left with countless hours ... [full story]