Ruminations

Blog dedicated primarily to randomly selected news items; comments reflecting personal perceptions

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Not Too Bright, Huh?

Or, since I'm Canadian - Eh? Which is to say sometimes it seems the poor old cerebellum goes into hibernation. It could be embarrassing, but at my age I'm beyond that. Just a nuisance. And, in the case, such as this one, when a product has been purchased erroneously, from a source which will not accept returns, it's also a waste. On the other hand, we had decided in any event, to retain it, just in case it's needed.

Ours is, after all, a northern climate, and our winters tend to get very cold; icy in fact. So that, the product which we purchased in error and which we must now keep since JYSK does not accept returns of bedding products, will remain here in our home. Never know when you might need a featherbed. Don't know what that is? Obviously, I didn't, either, since I thought it was just another name for a duvet.

It most definitely is not; that, I now know. Last year we bought a duck-feather duvet for our granddaughter's bed. She and her mother live in a log home built in 1864, on the edge of the Canadian Shield. Beautiful property they're on, with a wetland directly below and behind the house, tall trees all about, and granite not too far from the surface anywhere you look. They heat with a propane stove, located in the central chamber, a great room.

Really, it is a great room, with high and massive log rafters, and the propane stove does a fairly good job. Additionally there are electric heaters in all the other rooms. Given the cost of electricity, these are used as seldom as possible. Given the cost of propane as a fuel it too is used relatively sparingly and layering of clothing is the order of the day to preserve comfort.

This time we went shopping for a duck-feather duvet for our daughter, and bought the Queen size. Except what we really bought was a featherbed. And when we were at our daughter's house and prepared to envelop the featherbed-cum-duvet in the duvet cover that we'd also bought, we discovered the "featherbed" to be somewhat lacking in dimension.

It's a fair bet that any European would never have made such an error. There, where the tradition of featherbeds and duvets is long and knowledgeably practical due to the lack of central heating, they know the difference. Featherbeds are heavy-weight and they're meant to lay directly on a mattress, therefore they're the size of a mattress. One lies upon them.

Duvets are light by comparison, and warm too, of course, and are meant to be used as cold-weather covers. One lies under them. Back we went to the store, determined to get the King-sized "featherbed" as it would surely have the correct dimensions. And, speaking to one of the sales personnel, mentioning the size-inadequacy of the previously purchased item, the light dawned as the lovely woman patiently explained the difference to us.

Ah, yes - of course. So we purchased this time a true-blue duvet, with two matching pillows. Laughing at and to ourselves at our naivete. Hadn't a clue.

That was several days ago. Today, reading a recipe in the food section of our daily paper, I came across reference to rutabagas, and the tip that, despite that I'd always thought a rutabaga was really only another name for a turnip, it's just not so. Stupid me. They may seem similar but they're different vegetation-beasties.

When I mentioned this to my husband, he regarded me with a piercing gaze and finally said "you're really going downhill fast, aren't you? Don't know the difference between a featherbed and a duvet, haven't a clue that a rutabaga isn't a tulip. What'm I going to do with you?"

What, indeed.

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