gothic books just know what they're doing when they give us rotting mansions full of wild poisonous gardens with a few ghosts steeping in the wallpaper, and then add in a lovely, sweet main character who turns out to be the most unhinged one of them all. please continue.
a list of nice things for u: the stark contrast of bare branches against the blue sky, clomping in your winter boots along a familiar path, rescuing someone’s scarf before it’s lost, your supper warming your tummy, the wind whistling outside while you’re happily curled up reading
when a book becomes tattered and yellowed with dog-eared pages and scribbles in its margins, it transforms like the velveteen rabbit, made real through love
Hercule Poirot had it exactly right: stay warm, ride trains, keep a mug of hot cocoa on the night stand and pick the sort of career where people regularly invite you to visit their lavish country estates
a list of nice things for you: an elegant mid-century desk, the sound of seltzer softly fizzing next to you, that typewriter *ding*, sunscreen that doesn’t leave any white cast, butter & apricot jam on toast, candlelight reflecting in someone’s eyes, that blue hour after sunset
list of nice things for u: a cardinal eating from the feeder outside your window, burrowing your nose into your scarf, the deep azure of the sea in winter, steam rising from a cottage pie, the certainty that you carried yourself through last year & you’ll get through this one too
“Spooky season is over,” you say? Let me introduce you to the Mari Lwyd, the Welsh skeleton horse that goes from door to door during the Christmas season having rhyming contests in exchange for food and drink.
a list of nice things for you: opening your curtains to see fresh snow, milk dissolving into a cup of coffee, a song that brings you to cathartic tears, decorating cookies with a friend, a classic black & white movie that still lands its jokes, the shadows of a flickering candle
list of nice things for you: sitting in a coffeeshop to watch people pass on the street, a room full of miraculously green plants, the sound of a street musician playing saxophone, a dog that’s just happy to be included, the solid weight of your blankets at the end of a long day