An envisioning. 1962 and an early morning in mid-winter at the house on Swan Pond.

Oh to be here.

More hot chocolate and an entire canning kettle more needing to be made. Colder than the dickens and the only thing that can warm up everyone at once. Hot cider and hot buttered rum, perhaps. But extra pots, pans, and measuring cups, and too much work. The other, easier, and an entire display of jumbo bags of mini marshmallows on sale at the A&P, so four to each mug instead of two.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1962-and-an-early

*Autumn Stroll with Poodles.* Illustration that ran in the September 1955 issue of The American Magazine. 1955. American. Tom Lovell, illustrator (1909-1997). Information via various websites. I found it here https://www.instagram.com/beautiful.classic.world/p/DTkomZIiJSP/?hl=en

An envisioning. 1952, and the sun in its late-morning spot behind the water tower at the house on Sassafras Lane.

Oh to be here.

A holiday for the school for something or other that grownups never get off and the children out in the driveway playing hopscotch and jumping rope.

my new short fiction piece published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to read the rest. the image is the cover of a 1957 record album that I found over on the Internet Archive. At the end of my article there is a link back so you can listen to all the songs.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1952-and-the-sun-in

An envisioning. 2021 and January, with breakfast time inching towards brunch.

Oh to be here.

Floddenfield House and nothing much to do except wait for the frozen rain to start pounding on the roof like an entire forest’s worth of acorns falling off the oak trees all at once.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-2021-and-january-with

Mia Goth in *Frankenstein* wearing jewelry that was part of a collaboration with Tiffany and Company. 2025 image. Photo credit and © Ken Woroner/Netflix. via https://www.voguescandinavia.com/articles/tiffany-jewellery-frankenstein.

An envisioning. 1972 and five o’clock in summer with the heat still like noon at the house in Christabella Greene.

Oh to be here.

Out in the wilds of Rhodesia, visiting someone or other related to Great Uncle. Another tray of lime squashes making its way around the terrace, followed by bowls of salted peatnuts and sweetened up pecans. Funny, what with everyone at the club practically living on beer and hot tea. But it making sense, what with Great Auntie having come from somewhere down on the coast, where whales danced just past the sand bar, the way lions roared from the other end of the reserve. Where life, at least in memory, was a combination birthday picnic/cocktail party that never ran down.

my new short fiction piece at the link if you’d like to read the rest. The image is a photograph from the archives of photographer Slim Aarons.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1972-and-five-oclock

*March 1976—Manuela Bormanero and a friend holiday in the Italian ski resort Cortina d’Ampezzo. Winter Wear* Photograph, Slim Aarons, photographer. From the Slim Aarons Archive which is housed at the Getty Institute in California. © Estate of the photographer and the Getty Institute. Fair use license. https://jonathanadler.com/products/slim-aarons-ldquo-winter-wear-rdquo-photograph

An envisioning. 1985 on the outskirts of Tulsa. Ten in the morning in July with the sun shining away at the house on Melford Lane.

Oh to be here.

The children off to day camp. A morning with nothing better to do than watch the bubbles rise from the bottom of a glass of ginger ale. A new table runner to start weaving, but having to wait for the lady to approve the design. No point in starting today, what with the colorway not decided and that not being something that can be switched out.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1985-on-the-outskirts

*Florida State University cheerleaders at Orange Bowl Stadium – Miami, Florida.* 1972 photograph. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 29 Dec. 2025.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/11155>

An envisioning. 1961 and December starting to drift past Christmas towards New Year’s Day between storms up on the Baltic coast near Kiel.

Oh to be here.

Half a castle, and that better than no castle, even with the stables turned into a bicycle factory and most of the great hall taken over by one of those event-planning places that needed a place to store tables and chairs and wire flower frames between wedding receptions.

my new short fiction piece published to my Substack if you’d like to read the rest. The photograph is of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany photographed in 1917.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1961-and-december

An envisioning. 2022, with the lilac starting to come in at the House of the Seven Stars as the sun shines merrily away.

Oh to be here.

Out in the Berkshires with an apartment bigger than Auntie’s entire house. Three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, with rose-scented soap sitting on rose pink colored soap dishes. A porch filled with potted begonias from end to end. Like mother’s friend’s kitchen, it is, but with bright red something blooming away at each porch post instead of in each window, putting the red gingham café curtains to shame.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-2022-with-the-lilac

Masonic and Eastern Star Home, Greensboro, Guilford, North Carolina. Image ca. 1920. The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina Collections via Digital North Carolina.

An envisioning. 1965 and sunset on a bright and balmy day at the cabana at the end of the Wellington Club beach.

Oh to be here.

Virgin Islands and getting to winter over year round in a place everyone spends hours flying down to, their winter coats flung over their shoulders until they reach the airfield and drape the things over their mounds of luggage heaped on the carts the red caps haul them around on.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1965-and-sunset-on

Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts USA. December 2024 photograph. Photo credit and © Jack Daryl Photography jackdaryl on Instagram. Taken from the photographer’s Instagram.

An envisioning. 1968, September, and the sun just starting to rise at the apartment on Sunray Bay.

Oh to be here.

Twenty minutes on the bus to work in San Antonio. That not bad. Assistant to a prominent photographer, having more fun than the last three jobs rolled together. A bit of fashion work, but mostly shooting for home features in the Sunday papers. The dining room centerpiece needing to be dusted every other day, so a housewife glancing down as she peels her potatoes over newspapers spread out on the kitchen counter will think it’s an actual ladies’ shrimp salad luncheon with petit fours for dessert, not the staged kind.

my new short fiction piece published on my Substack at the link below if you’d like to read the rest. https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1968-september-and

1924 Spearman High School girls basketball team. Spearman, Hansford County, Texas. The girls are pictured in light-colored clothing with dark sashes and headbands. The headbands have the school mascot name “Lynx” across them. The coach of the team is a man who is pictured wearing a dark color suit. Collections of the Amarillo Public Library via The Portal to Texas History. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth160146/?q=spearman

An envisioning. 1985 and high noon in early spring at the hotel at Tallulah Falls.

Oh to be here.

Georgia and the waterfall sparkling even more than the biggest diamond solitaire at the jeweller in Savannah.

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

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1985-and-high-noon