and in July, a lemonade

Elly. 20s. usa. reader & writer, allegedly. we’ll make a video to our future selves

[whenthegoldrays]

hi, it's been a while since i last saw you on here ! i hope you are doing well, take care 💕

hi, thank you so much for reaching out! 💖 I’m doing okay, I’ve actually moved over to @mercheriie, you can follow me there if you want! hope you’re doing well too <3

[252percent]

Spring

[popcultureds]

CINDERELLA (2015) dir. Kenneth Branagh

[stuckinapril]

Best brain hack is taking “this too shall pass” and applying it in the micro. The panic you feel from an argument with a friend, wanting to get on your phone when you should be studying, the absolute obsession with someone you’re crushing on, pain from rejection, utter hopelessness at a situation that is not entirely hopeless. Heavy on situations that induce panic and incentivize you to act out of turn, maybe to send a text you shouldn’t be sending or to blow up at someone or whatever it is. The antidote to knee jerk reactions is literally just “this too shall pass” and allowing yourself to feel the physical manifestation of your extreme emotion. Literally just ride it out. Even for things that can’t immediately be resolved, it makes such a big difference and prevents you from reacting in ways that you would undoubtedly regret down the line.

[kilncreatures]

being a fox party at the mossy wood at 10 dont be late

[badassdemonsword]

You couldnt come up with a jollier name for a bird if you tried

[minmos]

this thang has one of my favorite ebird descriptions of all time

[probuccalfat]

venus planet of love was destroyed by global warming and me i feel also not so good

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

It's some great character work that Valancy, who has been so reckless ever since she learned she was dying, is now doing the safe thing having realized she's going to live. Only the problem is that "safe" in this case is just giving in to fear (the original sin - John Foster can't offer wisdom anymore because John Foster is part of the problem).

Valancy has never, ever been wanted. No one ever chose her for anything. It is "safe" to retreat back into that pattern. If you reject yourself first, you don't have to deal with the pain of someone else doing it. If you assume that the most painful answer is the true one, you protect yourself from the pain of having your hopes dashed.

But, like Barney's coping method of running away, Valancy's coping method of self-sabotage isn't actually healthy or helpful. You don't protect anyone by taking choices away. By assuming she knows what Barney will say before asking him, Valancy denies him the chance to be honest and she denies herself the chance to be happy. And, of course, he's not here to ask because our man never met a problem he didn't try to solve by vanishing into the woods for 2-10 business years.

Both of them need to have that final character growth. Barney needs to stop running. Valancy needs to stop assuming. Only then can they actually be fulfilled.

[taciturn-nerd]

If they ever make a Blue Castle movie in the future, it needs to have a montage of their time living on Lake Mistawis: canoeing, trekking through the woods, eating fresh berries, sitting and reading by the fire, laughing and running through the rain, all while tranquil yet joyful music plays in the background. I need a cinematic scene that shows how free and happy and perfect that time felt for them.

[bjurst]

[jellycatsdaily]

Jellycat of the Day | 9th July 2026

↳ Maffles Manatee

[bountyhuntergirl]

phm spoilers!! 🪐 because Rocky deserves a bangin' Phil Collins song too!! 🎸

[scribeherself]

the art of making it matter

light a candle when you work. put on lipstick for the grocery store. play that song that makes you feel like you're in a coming-of-age montage. take the long way home. write love letters to no one. read poetry out loud to your plants. the secret isn't that life is inherently romantic—it's that you can MAKE it romantic by paying attention, by adding ceremony to the mundane, by refusing to let a single ordinary day pass unloved.

[deemoyza]

Thinking more about Valancy’s “shock of joy” that apparently cured her ailment, and I think that the phrase itself, while adequate to get the point across, doesn’t really get to the heart of what that moment meant to Valancy. Most notably, that her “shock of joy” comes as a result of her confronting the fear of death for the first time. Up until this point, Valancy has treated the specter of death as something to be resented, but also something inevitable: she (thinks she) has made peace with her own death, much the way Cissy did with hers. In both of these cases, she has had time to prepare, emotionally; not so with Barney, who simply went out for a hike that morning, as he has done countless times before. Suddenly, Valancy is confronted with the possibility of losing someone without the opportunity to say goodbye – someone she loves, no less, and someone she has counted on seeing her through her final days – and she understands the power and finality of death, how quickly it can swoop in and change lives, how quickly it can leave one with empty hands and an aching heart.

It’s easy to imagine the grip fear and grief had on her heart that night, and how keenly she would have felt relief when she saw Barney the next morning. That crushing pressure followed by release very well would have felt as if she’d “died and come back to life,” as she tells Barney at the end of Chapter 32. So, while yes, it was a shock, and yes, it was one of joy, it was also so much more than that. It was facing down fear and loneliness and finding a reprieve from both; it was a heart that went from wrenched and aching to relieved and jubilant in the space of a beat. A heart that was not supposed to withstand the least bit of strain, a heart that proved itself far stronger than Valancy had given it credit for, even in the days before she thought she was dying.

[whenthegoldrays]

when you know you know… and when you don’t you don’t 😔😔😔

[cy-lindric]

My illustration for the poster of Paris Citypop 2026 !

[scribefindegil]

I'm still thinking about the guy who saw me realize my wheelchair wouldn't fit in the elevator because he (also a wheelchair user) was already inside it and immediately quipped, "This elevator ain't accessible enough for the both of us."