Notes for the Month: July - Permission to Play

There are summers we remember because of where we went. And then there are summers we remember because of who we were. Not because anything extraordinary happened. But because we laughed a little louder. Stayed a little longer. Forgot what time it was. Walked home barefoot. Read one more chapter. Jumped into the sea before thinking about the temperature. The older we become, the rarer those moments seem. Not because they disappear. Because we stop believing we have permission to choose them.

Somewhere along the way, play becomes something we postpone. After the emails. After the dishes. After the holiday we've finally planned. After life settles down. Only it rarely does. July doesn't arrive asking us to become someone new. It simply reminds us of someone we've met before. The version of ourselves who never needed an excuse to stay in the water until sunset. Who believed a towel, a peach, a paperback, and one good friend could fill an entire day.

Perhaps that's why summer stays with us long after it ends. Not because of what we achieved, but because of how fully we inhabited it.

Play, after all, isn't only about games. It's about presence. About following curiosity before obligation. About doing something simply because it feels good.

Children rarely hesitate at the water's edge. They don't wait for the perfect temperature or the perfect moment. They simply run. Somewhere between growing up and growing busy, we learn to stand still instead. But summer has a quiet way of undoing that. It invites us to stay for another swim, another conversation, another peach, another page.

Play doesn't always look like the sea. Sometimes it looks like lunch in the park between meetings. A train window left open. Fresh peaches from the market. Reading until the light moves across the room. Calling someone with nothing urgent to say. Choosing the longer road home. Doing absolutely nothing without apologising for it.

Summer never promises to last. Maybe that's why it teaches us so much. To swim while the water is warm. To say yes before we think too much. To stay a little longer. To play before we forget how. Perhaps that's all July is trying to tell us. Not to become younger. Simply lighter.

WHAT WE'RE READING THIS JULY

A Room with a View - E. M. Forster

Some books seem to belong to a season. Warm, observant, and quietly liberating; A Room with a View reminds us that life rarely changes through perfectly planned decisions. More often, it shifts because we choose openness over certainty and curiosity over convention. The perfect companion for slow mornings, open windows, and afternoons that ask nothing more of you than one more chapter.

WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO THIS JULY

New Constellations - Hot Blooded

Dreamy, nostalgic, and made for golden hour drives. It's the kind of song that lingers like salt on sun-warmed skin; soft, cinematic, effortlessly summery. Also on repeat:

• Khruangbin - People Everywhere (Still Alive)

• Men I Trust - Show Me How

• Mild Orange - Some Feeling

• Hermanos Gutiérrez - El Bueno y El Malo

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING THIS JULY

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

This month we're revisiting The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A road trip through vast Australian landscapes, unforgettable costumes, unexpected friendships, and the kind of freedom that only comes from letting go of who you're supposed to be. It's colourful, unapologetic, funny, and surprisingly tender. A reminder that sometimes play begins the moment we stop taking ourselves so seriously.

WHAT WE'RE SAVOURING THIS JULY

Simple seasonal food has a way of slowing us down without asking us to. Cold watermelon straight from the fridge. Peaches from the market. Ripe tomatoes with olive oil and sea salt. Fresh herbs, warm bread, cherries shared from the bowl, and dinners that quietly stretch into the evening. Nothing complicated. Just food that tastes like summer.

A SIMPLE SLOW LIVING RITUAL FOR JULY

Leave ten minutes unscheduled this week. Take a towel. A book. Or nothing at all. Sit somewhere you can hear water, birds, or the wind moving through the trees. Stay five minutes longer than you intended. Sometimes that's where play begins.

INSPIRED BY JULY

The pieces we're reaching for this month:

• Ocean Turkish Towel

• Terra Coral Turkish Towel

• Rose Kimono

• Taha Bathrobe

Designed for beach mornings, slow breakfasts, spontaneous picnics, and long afternoons that gently turn into evening.

Happy July! Where play reminds us that joy doesn't need a reason.

With care,

Prickly Pears Sisters 🌿

Bengisu & Nagehan

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For this month, we're holding a gentle intention close;

to make room for play, to follow curiosity a little more often, and to remember that joy doesn't always arrive with a reason.