25 May - Art on the Edge of the Woods



Natasha admires our new enviromental installation artwork, Woods Curtain, currently on view in the Janus Museum Forest Preserve. It was conceived and executed by the famous budget enviromental artist Dragomir Panić. Not as much an event as Christo's

25 May - Chat de Chateau



Here is a moody and hauntingly beautiful photograph of a cat at

25 May - Dabbling



I can't explain it, but in my opinion it's amazingly satisfying to just stand around and take pictures of dabbling ducks as they dabble. That's how I ended up with 116 photographs of duck butts down at the Capitol Basin yesterday. Eventually the ducks began to eye me uneasily as I stood there snapping and giggling; they finally edged away from me in embarrassment. I'm surprised that they didn't turn me in the my old chums in

22 May - Day of Extreme Cuteness



Yesterday was a day with enough random extreme cuteness to make one's teeth ache. Downtown, I ran into this fond mallard family at

Back to home, where I was introduced to the latest additions to the Washington Grove Circle Cat Club:



Please meet Kittens Milkshake (left) and Buddha. Kitten Buddha is not to be confused with our other buddy

20 May - Anoint Me With Catsup



Here we have a giant blue-eyed fiberglass hotdog condimenting himself. I took it last year in

18 May - Fez Accompli



Haw, haw! I could keep this up all day - it's easy and fun with

18 May - All the Rage



This is my own brave attempt at making a

The bit about TSA finding grenades in luggage is what caught my eye. Based on experience, you have nothing to worry about. Last fall I was in North Carolina area for meetings. A co-group had done up these same squeezee-foam grenades as internal schwag. My son loves all things related to munitions, so I decided to take a few home for him. I had FOUR of the "grenades", packed together and stuffed in my very-full carry-on. When going through screening, I did not offer up the fact that I had such toys in my bag, figuring if they were discovered and confiscated, no big deal. Their screening process required me to remove belt and shoes, but the machines did NOT detect the foam grenades.

18 May - Le Cinema du Chats Dire



This terrifying poster for a Ghanaian movie reminded me of the the fab Demonic Cat poster

15 May - Viral Marketing



Remember the

15 May - Masked Visitor



Here's a snap of a visitor who came to the Museum last evening, possibly to view our trash can exhibit.

14 May - Folksong Day


The Hare - wood engraving by Thomas Bewick

It's the great historical events that tend to hold a monopoly on our memories - we celebrate the Fourth of July, and we remember September 11, and November 11, and December 7 - some of us do, anyway. But I maintain that lesser events deserve some sort of commemoration, too. November 22, 1963 is chiefly remembered as the day Kennedy was assasinated, and I'm bet that I'm the only person who also observes it as the date I came down with the mumps (it's also the date, somewhat earlier, of Sir Arthur Sullivan's death, by the way). It's a curiosity of folk-song that three songs commemorate small events that fell upon on the 14th of May:

In the first,

13 May - Stress Reduction through the Use of Grenades



There was a great public service fest down on the Mall in DC the other day - all of the branches of the military and many civilian agencies of the gummint set up booths and displays of varying degrees of interest - the Army's display of classic machine guns tended to draw larger crowds than the Department of Labor Statistics's earnest exhibit, worthy as it was. There was also a vast harvest of free stuff. The best and most alarming freebie was the Army's squeezable hand grenade, illustrated above. When I saw the tempting display at the Army booth, I said "Ooh! Grenades!" and asked nicely for one - the soldier eyed me uncertainly, and said "It's for stress reduction". Oh, right - as if a grenade has to be squeezable for stress reduction purposes! The grenades proved to be very popular souvenirs, and I wondered briefly what the TSA chaps at the airport would do when tourists started turning up at the airport with grenades in their luggage and carry-ons. Won't there be some larfs in the security lines! I took my grenade home, and didn't I have some kind of fun with it:

Maintenance Man with Toy Hand Grenade -

13 May - The Perfect Cat Storm



Here's another excellent cat-related ex voto - a devotional painting or medal, commemorating a miraculous intervention - that our tragically lame collections committee refused to acquire, just like

In the news said that that night will freeze as never before, the mayor ordered to look for and to give refuge to the vagabonds without home, but nobody thought in the animals, so my daughter and I come out and we picked up to the aley cats and later to the dogs and we put up them in our house and we feed them, we thank to the Virgin from Guadalupe for the miracle them they didn't fight among them and that they were calm until the terrible freeze passed and because all survived.

12 May - Azalea Season



Cat Leroy admires our famous azaleas, now in full bloom, between the busloads of azalea-crazy tourists. Did you know that Koreans make wine from azalea blossoms? It's called dugyeonju, and it's said to be sweet, viscous, light yellowish brown in color, with a strength of about 21% - an azalea hangover must be something fierce. One variety, Myeoncheon Dugyeonju, is designated by the South Korean government as

12 May - Cottage Commemorative



I'm pleased to announce that with the kind permission of the artist, Glenn Perry's

12 May - Important Discovery


Pilots of Flik 27, c.1917

One doesn't make an important photohistorical discovery every day, or even every other day, so I hope that a bit of pride and even gloating won't be taken amiss - here we have pilots of Flik (Fliegerkompanie) 27 of the Austro-Hungarian Air Service, c.1917, performing the beloved devil fingers behind the head humor concept - the earliest known instance I know of the concept.

Thank you - yes; I'm very proud.

6 May - At the Book Signing



I was available to sign copies of

In September or October of 1936, I was six years old, at school in Ridgefield, Connecticut, in those days a small, exceedingly rural town. I was a shy little girl, always trailing along behind my 10-year old brother Blair. One day we were outside during the lunch recess, when a shadow crossed the schoolyard. We all looked up; something huge was floating by. Blair said excitedly, "Hey, that's the Hindenburg! Let's follow it!" I hadn't the faintest idea what he was talking about or what a Hindenburg was, but whenever Blair said "follow," I followed; so I ran behind him and his friends, trying hard to keep up with the "big boys." We ran across fields and brooks and over stone walls, trying to keep the airship in sight. Blair finally admitted defeat - the Hindenburg was faster than we were - and we made our way back to the school, very late and very dirty, to face very angry teachers. I don't remember what Blair's punishment was, but I was made to stand at the blackboard and write: "I will not follow the Hindenburg" 100 times. And I did learn my lesson, at least in part: I continued to follow Blair wherever he led, but I never followed the Hindenburg again.

4 May - Utilization of Llamas in the National Defense



A couple of fascinating recent articles point out possible military and homeland defense uses of llamas.

10-18. Llamas have a dignified, aristocratic manner about them. Because of their curiosity, they have a delightful habit of coming close to sniff strangers. But despite your natural temptation to hug and cuddle them, they prefer not to be petted except on their necks and woolly backs. They are gentle, do not spook easily, and rarely bite or kick unless provoked. They are highly social animals and need the companionship of other llamas.

10-19. Llamas communicate their moods with vocalizations and a series of tail, body, and ear postures. Learning this llama language is one of the joys of ownership. Humming is a common manner of communication between llamas and indicates a variety of moods from contentedness to concern. Another interesting llama expression is the shrill, rhythmic alarm call emitted at the sight of a strange animal (especially coyotes and dogs) or a frightening situation.

10-20. Seldom directed at people, spitting is usually related to food disputes and to establish a pecking order between llamas. The exception to this is if a llama has been mishandled or becomes imprinted on people (through bottlefeeding as a baby). As with bottle-fed stallions, bulls, and rams, bottle-fed male llamas that have not been gelded at an early age can be potentially dangerous as adults (because they lack a normal fear of people and regard them as competitors). Therefore, males not intended for breeding and males that were bottle-fed must be gelded as early as possible to avoid undesirable behavior.*

10-21. Llamas are remarkably clean and even large herds are quite odorless. Dung-piling behavior is an important means of spacial orientation and territorial marking for these historically open-habitat animals—a convenience when cleaning their pens. By taking advantage of this habit, the handler can encourage the animals to establish dung piles in a new pen by "probating" four to five sites per acre with a shovel full of llama dung. The llama may frequently roll in the dirt, taking a dust bath to help maintain a healthy, fluffy coat of wool.

10-28. Surprisingly, there is a market for llama manure. It is high in nitrogen, basically odorless, weed-free, and easily collected. It is a valuable plant and garden fertilizer.

1 May - A Recent Acquisition


The Historic Cottage. Oil on canvas by Glenn Perry, 2006

I'm very pleased to announce that Glenn Perry's

1 May - Another Cinematic Pickelhaube



I was always sorry that of all the published installments of the fascinating Flashman Papers, edited by George MacDonald Fraser,