Summertime is my favorite season, the one time when sitting down with a good novel or going to a movie on the spur of the moment does not feel indulgent but just right.  Perhaps, like Proust, I am transported back to those childhood days when, after riding a dusty train for many hours we arrived in my mother's home town in the Argentine heartland....the coolness of my grandfather's house, the chirp of the crickets, the obligatory early evening paseo to see and be seen, enjoy an ice cream, or listen to a band concert in the main square.  Then a few days later we'd continue to the estancia, to be welcomed by an asado and settle in for a month-long stay, riding horses, sitting on a lounge chair in the porch and taking long walks and long siestas.  
 
A voracious reader, I went through the old books and periodicals in my grandfather's musty library, and it is there that I came across the book that started my fascination with the Napoleonic epic.  Emil Ludwig's Napoléon sparked a love affair with the man and his period that has lasted to this day.  Only much later did I begin to appreciate Napoleon's "sweet and incomparable Josephine," to whom he wrote some of the most passionate and incandescent love letters in recorded history. She was the last to realize the greatness of the man she married ("he is funny, Bonaparte") and her early indifference and infidelity almost led to divorce.  They reconciled, but his disappointment was deep and lasting, and when she finally fell in love with him, it was too late to rekindle his ardor.  Yet he made her an Empress, and only reluctantly divorced her over her inability to bear him a son to fulfill his dynastic ambitions.  Theirs was a successful partnership; he once said "I win the battles, Josephine wins me the hearts."  She performed her role with unfailing charm and finesse, and became one of the most popular consorts in French history, imparting a note of grace, warmth and humanity to a military society. Her contributions to creating and establishing the Napoleonic brand in the furnishings, styles, and visual arts of the Empire, are incalculable.    
 
This issue's portrait of the month is Chateau Gardecki, a dynamo of many interests and talents and the owner of a brand new boutique in Fairfax, VA, which is the first to carry Swan Ways' scarves, shawls, and accessories. 
 
During the summer, I hope to do a major upgrade of Swan Ways' web site and perhaps open a small internet store with some selected items.  Please take a few moments to e-mail me your views and suggestions - answer one, two, or more of the questions in our survey below or send me any comments or ideas that can help make www.swanways.com one of your all-time favorites! 
 
Have a wonderful summer!  
 

                    Alix Sundquist