30 July - Snarls of a Summer Evening


Cat Natasha Rampant on a Field Vert

Natasha gets all rampant and stuff on poor Leroy. You'd think it's too hot for such zeal and activity, but I guess there's no off-season to having a whack at Leroy.

More serious is this message from Dr. John Herrera of

Last week I noticed Buster lying in the hot sun and panting. His third eyelid was visible and he just looked sick.

The vet took his temperature. It was 107. This is life-threatening. They cooled him down to 104 with water. This is still high but not dangerous. He said he also had some trauma to the side of his headaround his eye. The only thing the vet could think of is that he received a blow to the head that knocked him out and he couldn't get out of the sun, and got heat stroke.

I left him at the vet at about 3:00 P.M. I called at 5:00; still 104. At 7:00: still 104. They wanted to keep him overnight. The next morning, his temp was normal and I brought him home. He seems O.K. except for a swelled head. The other cats sniff him and they hiss at him and whack him or run off. I have to put drops in his eye, which he resists.

Very weird.

29 July - All We Like Sheep


Sheep, Accokeek, Maryland

This is positively the last sheep shot of the day. Oh, look - here's a shot of Gus, taken the same day, showing the other turkeys how to load film:



I had forgotten that he had tagged along.

29 July - Worthy is the Lamb Video


Lamb, Accokeek, Maryland

Well, maybe just one more video still from the farm at Accokeek - such a cute lamb, after all. And it hardly seems right not to include the video, too, it being just to hand and also pretty cute:



I should be doing something useful, I suppose, but here I sit digitally wool-gathering, instead.

29 July - Sheep Shot


Ewe and Lamb, Accokeek, Maryland

One side benefit of digitizing the old videotapes is that the software enables me to capture individual frames of the video - that's how I've produced the stills for the video presentations on this page. The stills are pretty low-resolution, but with a little Photoshop work, one may produce a nice impressionistic effect, like the sublime example above. Other images from Accokeek - the Park Service's

29 July - Grove House



Here's a cottage over on 1st Avenue, Washington Grove, with few changes from its original 19th century appearance. Not as splendid, perhaps, as

28 July - Ballgame Fashionista



Here's another moving glimpse of Szégy-Légy Family life as Brother Granville tries on caps before we leave for an Orioles game, 1992.

28 July - Prize Cat, Etc.



Fine stuff at Yale's

In the narrow band of shade under the northern wall of the Carcassone a compassionate gendarme halted his convoy of English prisoners -- seamen from detailed and captured ships for the most part. When they had cooled a little, eaten and drunk, they began to look about them. An English sea-officer, wishing to impress the lady with whom he was traveling, spoke to the sergeant of the gendarmerie, and the sergeant whistled to the master of the bear.

"Papers," he said. "A Spanish passport, eh? A very greasy passport too, my friend; do you sleep with your bear? Profession, bear-leader. Eh, bien: a led bear knows how to dance - that is logic. But I have to have proof; it is my duty to see the bear perform."

Dragged by its chain and beaten by its leader till the dust flew from its shaggy side, the bear shuffled forward. The bear-leader played a hornpipe, and the bear staggered through a few of the steps before sitting down again. The sergeant began to bawl, "En route, en route, les prisonniers."

The convoy’s dust settled on the empty road. Silence.

"When one sea-officer is to be roasted, there is always another at hand to turn the spit," said the bear. "It is an old service proverb. I hope to God I have that fornicating young sod under my command one day. I'll make him dance a hornpipe -- oh, such a hornpipe. Stephen, prop my jaws open a little more, will you? I think I shall die in five minutes if you don’t..."

28 July - Circle Cat News



Tuxedo Boy was a handsome stray fellow who showed up in the neighborhood about five years ago; he remained very shy of most people, but our neighbor Alice Negin was able to befriend him. She kept him fed, and eventually so gained his trust that he allowed her to take him to the vet and see to his medical needs. Eventually, Tuxedo Boy became the devoted friend of one of Alice's cats, Maggie, and it was very pleasant to see TB and Maggie sitting together on Alice's porch. So it was terribly sad to hear that TB was diagnosed with advanced cancer on a visit to the vet last week, and he was put to sleep. Tuxedo Boy was a respected member of the Circle Cats, and we'll miss him.

But a new candidate for Circle Cat membership has just started showing up in and around the Circle - a cute little gray tabby:



Miss Gray has been very eager to make the acquaintance of the resident cats - threw herself quite shamelessly at poor old Leroy, as a matter of fact. We're all sort of hoping that she'll submit her CV to Alice and join the gang.

25 July - Juche Realism



Say what you will of the Dear Leader or his old dad the Great Leader - "blood-stained megalomaniacs" comes to mind as a fair description - but they're both great supporters of the arts, as

18 July - Master Class



Today's video is extremely educational, so I expect everyone to pay very close attention. We watch master photographer

I know that you are all worried. And the news is not good. There is still no sign of the errant anteater. A spokesperson for the zoo told your correspondent today "It's like searching for a needle in a haystack". When I pointed out that all the posters in the village had disappeared, making it look like the crisis was over, she replied: "yes, people take them for souvenirs; it's too bad".

16 July - Exciting New Game



Cat Natasha and I have come up with a thrilling new game which we call the Zombie Game. The object of the Zombie Game, for the human, is to pet the kitty. The kitty's object is to avoid the human's caress. It's called the Zombie Game because that's what I resemble as I shamble about in pursuit, arm out-stretched in the classic George Romero style. Natasha is superb at the game - cunningly lets me draw in close for the winning pet, and then darts away. Endlessly amusing (for Natasha, anyway), and excellent exercise for us both. Here's a video of a couple of recent rounds:



Leroy is briefly glimpsed in the video - he's not as much fun as Natasha, but he does let me win from time to time.

16 July - The Low-Calorie Beauty of Nature



So these dried navel oranges looked pretty good at the store - I was hungry. They turned out to be not so bad - a little sweet, a little bitter, kind of leathery, presumably useful in warding off

16 July - Weekend Snaps



Not exactly earth-shattering, stop-the-press type reporting, but here's some documentation of a hot weekend around scenic Washington Grove, Maryland. We're taking care of our buddy

15 July - Dangerous Situation in Littlebourne



Friend of the Museum John Drouot reports on harrowing conditions in Littlebourne, England, where

I popped my head out into the empty streets of Littlebourne to take this picture: my wife and son trying to hold me back - "Don't 'e go Pa" they cried, "'Tis still out there"

15 July - Lunar Video



This is kind of restful and contemplative - the full moon over Washington Grove on an autumn night in 1992 - clouds scud past - ethereal flute music plays in the distance - the rumble of a freight train is also heard. I'd like to figure out how to loop it, so it could play constantly. Try playing it full screen for the total ethereal (though blurry) effect. Feel free to bay at the moon video - it's an amazingly satisfying thing to do.

14 July - Historic Creampuffs



I've been digitizing some old videotapes and came across this brief story on creampuffs taken at the Wisconsin State Fair back in 1992. My brother, Granville Szégy-Légy, makes the claim that creampuffs are the state food. I thought it was

14 July - Hanuman at the Movies

14 July - Trolls



There's

10 July - High Technology Catwalk



Here is further experimentation with the Museum's camcorder's night vision feature; fortunately, Leroy and Natasha were still out and about in the Sacred Circle, and I got some thrilling test footage:




Leroy seems to be favoring his paw, but he's fine - just being dramatic, I think. I'll attempt a full-blown night catwalk out in the woods as soon as possible.

10 July - Another Artifact from the Dig



Here's another mysterious artifact from the Wallingford Grove dig, which I mentioned yesterday. It's probably an example of trade goods for bartering with the local Monocacy indians, or a votive offering, or a fragment off of a

9 July - Mysterious Artifact



Due to the tragic shortage of generous contributions to fund the project, our work on the archelogical survey of the grounds of

9 July - Old School Catwalk, Without Video



Although we're honored to be leading the New Media revolution in catwalk documentation with

Natasha lounges on the bridge, while Leroy hunkers down:




This is becoming

9 July - Further Belated 4th of July Coverage



We now present a selection of stills from our coverage of the 4th of July celebration in Washington Grove, Maryland, home of the Janus Museum. Above, the Muskrat Band has its yearly rehearsal prior to its yearly performance.

Our

Meanwhile, over on 5th Avenue, beyond the festivities, young Cat Buddha stalks an unconcerned squirrel. Buddha lost interest before the terrifying pounce.

8 July - A Pleasant Evening for a Catwalk



There's nothing like a catwalk with a posse of well-conducted cats on a mild summer evening. Last night, I caught the action as Leroy, Natasha, Peake and Tucker strolled about in the Circle, just outside

8 July - Belated 4th of July Coverage



Here, at last, is coverage of the 4th of July Festivities in Washington Grove. Above, Friend of the Museum Eve Zibart gets a good smoky flash in pan from the Museum's Charleville musket. Eve is a reporter at the Washington Post - one of her beats is reviewing restaurants, so this is the first portrait of her I've felt that I can conscientiously post here. Eve was kind enough to quote me in

8 July - The Power of the Internet Tubes



I originally posted the picture above

The Janus Museum
P.O. Box 1161
Washington Grove, MD
20880

4 July - On the Parade Route



Dog Max is ready and waiting for Washington Grove's

2 July - Thrilling Coverage of a Lazy Day



Here's a bucolic little video of a lazy day with Cat Leroy in

2 July - Catwalking Resumes



Following our

1 July - Snakes and Sensitivity


Debra Paget in Fritz Lang's The Indian Tomb (1959)

Alert readers, if any, will have noted that there have been none of the capsule movie reviews with screen captures that once enlivened this journal. Since around the time I received this