1998, and a mid-morning in July, the birds in the trees chirping to the hum of the lawn mowers at the townhouse on Camelot Lane.

Oh to be here.

Another iced tea, maybe, and then getting ready to go into town. A niece having a Sweet Sixteen. A family lady needed to go looking at places. Funny. Mother, having been so good at that, helped look at places for half the town, but the family not being like that anymore. Better on the food and what to buy at the quinceañera boutique than who has the prettiest ladies’ room and the nicest view.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/1998-and-a-mid-morning-in-july-the

my new short fiction piece posted to my Substack at the link if you’d like to read the rest.

Fans to waft in the scent of spring. All of these from the latest email from Fan d’Eventails, Paris.

Chantecler fan. Wooden sticks and guards with the paper leaf painted with a rooster to illustrate the play created by Rostand in 1910. Signed by the Spanish fan maker Bach. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/19th-century-fans/4638-chantecler.html

Fan in the style of Alphonse Mucha. The black tulle leaf being applied with painted silk and embroidered with sequins, displaying in a central medallion a woman in profile in the style of Mucha or Gendrot, surrounded by flowers and mistletoe branches. Engraved and gilded horn sticks and guards. Art Nouveau in style. Duvelleroy, maker. Marked Duvelleroy on the reverse of one of the guards. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/fr/eventails-art-nouveau/4659-duvelleroy-belle-au-gui-eventail-dans-le-gout-de-mucha-periode-art-nouveau.html

Two fans made by Duvelleroy, one with a cream silk leaf and the other with pale green silk leaves, both embroidered with green and gold sequins. One with horn sticks and guards inlaid with green sequins and the fan with the cream silk leaf having horn sticks and wooden guards that are inlaid with gold stars and small green sequins. Both fans stamped Duvelleroy on the reverse of the counter-guard. French. Made ca. 1900. Revival Empire, inspired by the earlier Empire style. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/19th-century-fans/4653-duvelleroy-revival-empire-fan-circa-1900.html
Small hand-fan. Silk and tulle leaf embroidered with sequins with horn sticks and white mother-of-pearl guards, engraved and gilded. Made ca. 1905 in the Empire style. French. Duvelleroy, maker. Signed Duvelleroy. Comes with a Duvellory box that is also stamped Duvelleroy. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/19th-century-fans/4644-duvelleroy-coffret-rose.html
Iris and peonies hand-fan, the green silk and tulle leaf embroidered with sequins. Tortoiseshell sticks and guards. Art Nouveau, ca. 1892-1910. French. E. Kees, maker, with E. Kees written on the back of one of the sticks. The case stamped in gold with the initials M.H. on the exterior with Ernest Kees. Fabrique d’éventails. 8 Boulevard des Capucines – Paris stamped in gold on the inside. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/art-nouveau-fans/4655-kees-iris-and-peonies-art-nouveau-fan.html
Hand-fan with a delicate silk muslin leaf applied with gold metallic paper and embroidered with gold sequins. Red-stained bone sticks and guards inlaid with gold sequins. French. First French Empire, ca. 1820. Mullot, maker. With its case, the label reading: Mullot, 130 Rue St-Denis. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/19th-century-fans/4656-mullot-red-first-french-empire
Wild orchid fan. Horn sticks and guards, the silk leaf painted with wild orchids in pastel shades. French. ca. 1900. Vanier Chardin, maker. Inscribed Vanier Chardin on the reverse with the case stamped Vanier Chardin too. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/art-nouveau-fans/4645-vanier-chardin.html

“Dollhouses and other Miniature Worlds” for April 8th in the 2026 spring show . . .

my spring series post for today at the link if you’d like to see it. It has around 20 images-

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/dollhouses-and-other-miniature-worlds-317

Leek or spring onion brooch, the leaves set with round green garnets and the bulb set with diamonds. 1989. French. JAR Paris, maker. Workshop mark for JAR Paris. Image via Sothebys.

Futuristic skyscraper monumental structure from the series Unwrapped. ca. 2020. American. Green chewing gum. Sam Kaplan, maker. samkaplan.com. via thisiscolossal.com.

Taking the waters hoping to run into Bertie, Prince of Wales and later Edward VII, who summered at these places hoping to get fit without giving up the foie gras. Imagery from “Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf.” Written by E. Heinrich Kisch and published in 1902.

Front cover. Image 1 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/mode/1up
Title page. Image 5 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/n4/mode/1up
Kreuzbrunnen, Marienbad. Image 51 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/51/mode/1up
Figure 4. Kreuzbrunn – Promenade, Marienbad. Page 54, Image 58 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Image credit Orell Füssli. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/58/mode/1up
Fürstenbad (Neubad). Marienbad. Page 71, Image 85 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/71/mode/1up
Figure 13. Louisenquelle. Franzensbad. Page 203, Image 217 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. Image credit Orell Füssli after J. Weber. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/203/mode/1up
Figure 23. Konversationssaal. Franzensbad. Page 205, Image 237 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/223/mode/1up
Figure 29. Inneres eines Stahlbad-Salons. Franzensbad. Page 212, Image 244 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/230/mode/1up
Miramonti.Franzenbad. Page 271, Image 285 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. Image credit Orell Füssli after J. Weber. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/271/mode/1up
Figure 6. Partie aus dem Schlossgarten. Teplitz. Page 298, Image 312 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. Image credit Orell Füssli after J. Weber. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/298/mode/1up
Figure 3. Kaiser Franz-Josephs-Quelle. Bilin. Page 367, Image 381 of Marienbad, Franzensbad, Teplitz, Johannisbad, Liebwerda, Bilin, Giesshubl Sauerbrunn, Krondorf, Neudorf. Published in 1902. Doctor E. Henrich Kisch, author. Image credit Orell Füssli after J. Weber. A. Haase, Prague, publisher. Collections of the Wellcome Library. Possibly under copyright. via https://archive.org/details/b24860323/page/367/mode/1up

and this too

Erinnerung an Marienbad fur das Pianoforte allein. Opus 89. Louis Spohr, composer. Published in Vienna in 1834. The sheet music (and this image) are at the link. a waltz for Marienbad. https://archive.org/details/imslp-an-marienbad-op89-spohr-louis

Summer looking like it might be coming in and time traveling the old camp brochures. Pictures from a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005) many of them of  Camp Pukwana on Sebago Lake in Maine. 1921-1927 ish. From an album up for sale by rare book dealer James Arsenault.

Group of campers at railroad station in Richville, Maine all wearing their middy tops with two of the older girls wearing their camp hats tilted to the side like the very popular cloche hats. They were probably campers at Camp Pukwana which is on Sebago Lake as is Richville so the closest train station. 1921-1927. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography

‘Peggy’ Walton instructing swimming. Probably photographed at Camp Pukwana which was on Sebago Lake in Maine. 1921-1927. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography
Cast of ‘The Wonder Hat’ – Grace Lorraine, Huldah Williams, Mary Leigh Seaton, and Gene Edmundson. Camp play, probably at Camp Pukwana which was on Sebago Lake in Maine. 1921-1927. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography
Mary Leigh Seaton and Huldah Williams. From the same camp play as they are wearing the same costumes as Harlequin and (probably) Columbine with the white pajama and dark pom poms. Photograph, probably taken at Camp Pukwana which was on Sebago Lake in Maine. 1921-1927. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography
Dance in the Historic Play – Camp Pukwana – 1921. Sebago Lake, Maine. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography
Hiking or on a walking trip and wearing middy tops and what were called gym skirts (what we would call culottes). They were probably campers at Camp Pukwana which was on Sebago Lake in Maine. 1921-1927. American. From a photo album kept by  Jane Erskine Williams (1908–2005). Image © 2026 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8050/jane-erskine-williams-photog-and-compiler/a-young-woman-s-photo-album-compiled-between-1917-and-1927-with-aviation-and-aerial-photography