Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for Friday September 4th in the 2026 fall show . . .

waltzing in air as the raptor awakens from her morning nap and stares down from the top of the mast of a ghostly ship . . . what will she find . . . who knows . . . a haunted something for the end of the world . . .

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it. The image is Rotten pumpkin. ca. 2021. American. beadwork. Kathleen Ryan, artist via aizenmaj on Instagram.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-d30

Very Eerie Pre-Halloween Art for September 2nd in the 2026 fall show . . .

wailing along as the ancient monks readjust their hoods and make their way up the volcano’s last slope through sulphur smelling steam and smoke . . . prayers and a desperate anything . . . the fire goddess appeased . . . or perhaps not . . .

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-f37

my series post for today at the link if you’d like to see it. Its around 20 images including this one

Purple dragon. 2021. @Lanaasy on Instagram. via Instagram.

POP + FIZZ

AND A FORGOTTEN CHAMPAGNE CORK IN YOUR SHOE.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/pop-fizz

my new 6000 word New England based story at the link over on my Substack. It’s got loads of images, too.

The silver shoes are from a Historical Clothing collection at Smith College.

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for Tuesday September 1st in the Year of Our Lord MMXXVI

scintillating on air as deep in an equatorial sea a long-dead sea monster starts to inch back into life . . . a stretch and a chunk of something swimming by for a little pick-me-up and a smile . . . fun today it will be . . . people on fishing boats to startle and navy ships to spook . . . no sea monsters they think but no not made up in some long-ago book but real, spouting water higher than the biggest geyser in Iceland and a tail strong enough to push any ship straight to the bottom. . .oh no . . . an aircraft carrier and all it’s little planes hovering like flies over something dead but a few chomps and the stern ripped off and the flies drowned . . . free

my fall series post for today published to my Substack at the link. The artwork is “The Witch’s Daughter” by Frederick Edwin Church. Enjoy!

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-585

Down to the garden and back later. Paintings of the outdoors by English impressionist painter Wynford Dewhurst. Living from 1864 to 1941, he swapped out his original name, Thomas Edward Smith, when he was studying art in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts.

*A Corner of the Garden.* 1905. English. Oil on canvas. Wynford Dewhurst, painter (1864-1941). Signed and dated ‘Wynford Dewhurst 1905’ on the lower left. Image © Bonhams 2001-2026. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/32231/lot/77/wynford-dewhurst-rba-british-1864-1941-a-corner-of-the-garden/

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/heath-pond-leighton-buzzard-bedfordshire-26981/search/actor:dewhurst-wynford-18641941/page/1/view_as/grid

*Heath Pond, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire*. Undated, ca. 1907. English. Oil on canvas. Wynford Dewhurst, painter (1864-1941). Image credit: Buckinghamshire County Council. Collections of the County Hall, Aylesbury. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/heath-pond-leighton-buzzard-bedfordshire-26981/search/actor:dewhurst-wynford-18641941/page/1/view_as/grid

*The Blue Valley.* 1908. English. Oil on canvas. Wynford Dewhurst, painter (1864-1941). Image credit and collections of the Manchester Art Gallery. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-blue-valley-204857/search/actor:dewhurst-wynford-18641941/page/1/view_as/grid

*The Brigand’s Mill.* Crozant in the Creuse valley in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Central France, with the ruined castle above. Undated, before 1926 when a dam was built. English. Oil on canvas. Wynford Dewhurst, painter (1864-1941). Signed on the lower left. Image credit and collections of the Kirklees Museums and Galleries. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-brigands-mill-22278/search/actor:dewhurst-wynford-18641941/page/1/view_as/grid

*The Picnic.* 1908. English. Oil on canvas. Wynford Dewhurst, painter (1864-1941). Image credit and collections of the Manchester Art Gallery. Artwork in the public domain because the artist died before 1960. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wynford_Dewhurst_The_Picnic.jpg

Bric a brac to put out around the house that you’ll have to do your best to live up to. Maybe it’s impossible. The bric a brac has won. Leopold Weininger, goldsmith. Living from 1854 to 1922, Weininger was listed in the Branchenverzeichnis der Meisterlisten als Spezialist, as a specialist for enameled pieces imitating the antique, starting in 1909. He worked in Vienna, Austria but his pieces were sold to customers all over Europe.

Time traveling my way back to a fancier hotel. The heck with the one next to the casino; I’m heading for the Hotel Adlon in Berlin. Imagery from a 1905-1907 piece of promotional ephemera put out by Lorenz Adlon whose hotel it was. Where Kaiser Wilhelm and his friends spent the winter. And summer.

*Front cover of Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt. Image 1. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon-Berlin. Haupt-Portal unter en Linden.* Page 4 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/n4/mode/1up

Seine Majestat, der Deutsche Kaiser. Vollzog die Eröffnung des Hotels Adlon durch Allerhochstes Besuch am 23. Oktober 1907 und beteiligte sich ferner im März 1909 an dem historischen Dinner anlässlich der Hundertjahrfeier des Königlichen Kriegsministeriums im Kaisersaal des Hotels Adlon. Nach dem Original- Gemälde von l’rof. Nostor im Hotel Adlon. Page 6 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/n6/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – Empfangsraum mit Kasse und Post.* Page 6, Image 17 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/6/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – Blick in den Palmengarten.* Page 9, Image 20 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/9/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – American-Bar. Vicado Holz. Alt Vergoldete stuckdecke. Gemälde: Bacchanal Von Paul Hermann.* Page 16, Image 27 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/16/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – Bronze Kandelaber: Sonne und Planeten. Entwurf von Professor Richard Guhr-Dresden.* Page 18, Image 29 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/18/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – Aufgang in das Restaurant am Pariser Platz. Bronze Kandelaber; Tierkreis U. Planeten System. von Professor Richard Guhr-Dresden*. Page 20, Image 31 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/20/mode/1up

*Hotel Adlon – Berlin – Ein Bade-Raum.* Page 52, Image 63 of *Hotel Adlon Berlin. Erbaut 1905-1907 von dem Eigentümer Lorenz Adlon-Berlin. Hoflieferant Sr. Majestat D. Kaisers u. Konigs.* Published in Hesse-Darmstadt.Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/hoteladlonberlin00adlo/page/52/mode/1up

my earlier piece with a different Hotel Adlon photograph and a special World War II story. https://sarahbguestperry.blog/2018/10/07/an-envisioning-eight-in-the-evening-and-a-compact-out-of-ones-evening-bag-the-powder-room-of-the-hotel-adlon-in-berlin/

The Hotel Adlon, this version, burned down after World War II but has been rebuilt on the same parcel and is very fancy too. Visit them in real time or here https://www.kempinski.com/en/hotel-adlon

Pretending to be a docent or perhaps just dressing up as a rehearsal for the masquerade ball. Tableaux vivant for grown ups. Old pictures from 1892-1915 ish. Fun whatever their reason was.

Costumed portrait of Jane Adams Patterson and her husband Henry W. Patterson, II dressed in his father’s Civil War uniform. Identification of this item came from Michael Burr Patterson (b. 1936 in Wayland), grandson of the subjects of the photograph. Undated photograph but I think it’s from around 1900-1905 judging by the rest of the collection its a part of. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Sears and Cutting Family Papers, Historic New England Collections. Rights status not evaluated but probably in the public domain because the photographer died over 70 years ago. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:pn89dz92n

*Eleanor Drew posed for living picture (tableau vivant) at Unitarian Universalist Church vestry.* Wayland, Massachusetts. Photograph ca. 1920. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Alfred Wayland Cutting Photographs Collection, Wayland Historical Society. CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. via https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6395xh93s

*Eleanor Heard Russell at Old North Cemetery dressed as a mid 19th century lady. Photographed in Wayland, Massachusetts.* 1914-1915 photograph. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Alfred Wayland Cutting Photographs Collection, Wayland Historical Society. CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. via https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6395xk961

*First Parish Church choir on the 100th anniversary of the building of the church, dressed as 1830s or 1840s ladies I think. Wayland, Massachusetts.* 1915 photograph. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Alfred Wayland Cutting Photographs Collection, Wayland Historical Society. CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. via https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6395xk55s

Jane Adams Patterson wearing a Sioux Indian costume purchased by the Patterson family at Fort Laramie Wyoming in around 1868. Presumably photographed in Wayland, Massachusetts. Identification of this item came from Michael Burr Patterson (b. 1936 in Wayland), grandson of the subject of the photograph. Undated photograph but I think it’s from around 1900-1915 judging by the rest of the collection its a part of. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Sears and Cutting Family Papers, Historic New England Collections. Rights status not evaluated but probably in the public domain because the photographer died over 70 years ago. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:pn89dz89b

Sunday School play, boys and girls in costume. Wayland, Massachusetts; probably the Sunday School at the First Parish Church, too. 1892 photograph. American. American. Alfred W. Cutting (1860-1935), photographer. Alfred Wayland Cutting Photographs Collection, Wayland Historical Society. CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. via https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6395xh411

EL PHOENIX STORY (TO START)

April 2, 1919.

Picking up her eraser, Kathy Leonard goes back to her arithmetic homework. More interesting than English class and the new paper having to be written, true, but needing to erase bits ten times more often and that not seeming to be a good thing.

One good part, each problem being like its own little house with that good feeling when one was finished. Not like most of the classes where you could read and read and it still seemed to take forever to finish. If only “Silas Marner” was as interesting as the books in the library, she thought. If it was you could read if in a jiffy not a month when the teacher said two weeks.

These are the first paragraphs of Scene I in my upcoming coming of age 5,000 word piece which will be over on my Substack with a link here. I’ve written more than the first two paragraphs here so you can read them at the link of you like

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/el-phoenix

Some pretty black and white versions of fireworks from the 1939-1940 World’s Fair held in New York City. I don’t know whether they all became real fireworks or are in a forever dreamland of their own. Collections of the New York Public Library.