Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006

MemoryLane: The Fur Coat



As many of you know, I was born and raised in San Francisco.
For the first 18 years, I lived with my family (6 count) in a flat on Mason Street (cross Pacific), 3 blocks up from Grant Avenue (aka Dupont Gai), and a world away from the hustle and bustle of shopping, restaurants and crowds in Chinatown. Just about every day, we'd venture down three steep hills (and back up again!) to C-Town for food and entertainment. Though we didn't reside right in the heart of it, we were pretty darn close to Chinatown proper (great photo gallery in this link!). (Mom & her Family of Origin did live in the heart, but that's another story for another day).

In the 50's/ 60's before it expanded its boundaries a bit, Grant Avenue was Chinatown. Bordered by Broadway on the north and Bush Street on the south, t'was my 'hood. For all intent and purposes, I be a dyed-in-the-wool 'Chinatown Kid'.

The 3-story, 6 unit building we lived in was built long before central heating. No steam heat radiators either. The two mini gas faux fireplaces didn't work. In the winter (come to think of it, all year round), it was often quite c-o-l-d in the house. Most of the time, the family gathered in the kitchen which was kept warm by all the home cooking. The rest of the flat could get downright chilly. This was when I learned to dress and undress under the bedcovers to stay warm!

Dad did manage to rig up a large portable gas burning heater in the center of our long hallway, and we'd huddle in front of it for a blast of heat each night before heading off to the cold of our bedrooms. Once we got good and toasty, we'd scurry off to jump right into bed where we did our best to retain the heat. Each cold night was a bit like winter camping...indoors.

Besides the gas heater offering warmth, there was - The Fur Coat.

It belonged to Mom though I don't recall her ever wearing it. She acquired it back in the day when furs were de rigueur for any well-dressed woman (who could afford one). Waaaay before animal protection and all that good stuff.
At any rate, I believe Mom inherited The Fur Coat from a friend or relative. It was a bit of hand-me-down luxury which she could not have afforded on her own, particularly at this time of her life.

I'd almost completely forgotten about The Fur Coat until I posted about Mom's Jell-O and got the MemoryLane-machine goin'. The Fur Coat holds a very special place in the chronicles/anecdotes of my 'Growing up San Francisco', so is definitely worth a mention...

Much like the one pictured, The Fur Coat was a 3/4 length number, made of squirrel pelts, reddish brown in color and lined in matching satin. I remember the fur being oh-so-minky soft. The thing was really quite beautiful. When The Fur Coat came into my life, it was as a bed covering rather than a garment. On those extra-chilly nights, my two brothers and I would fight over who got The Fur Coat as an extra blanket to snuggle under. Sometimes Mom would even get a chance to use it. On rare occasions, someone would wear it as a robe. How ironic to be living in an unheated rental flat on the outskirts of Chinatown, and wearing what was once a high fashion fur coat as a bathrobe.

My most vivid memory of The Fur Coat is a tactile one: I loved 'petting' it and found comfort in its silky softness. Our landlord forbid us tenants from keeping furry pets (though we did have goldfish, turtles and a canary or two).

No worries - because, hey, we had The Fur Coat.
It took care of so many needs.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

There's always room for


dessert.
No matter how much we overindulge at a meal when dining out, we still pause a moment to consider something from the dessert menu.
Pie, layer cake, tiramisu, creme brulee, decadent chocolate brownies, cookies, Don Tot, Bananas Foster...
What about Jell-O? That simple concoction of sugar, water, gelatin and a wee bit of food coloring. It's still a viable dessert option for even the most satiated of post-meal tummies.
What a shame that Jell-O gets passed over for fancier desserts. Gosh, most of the time it isn't even offered.
Is Jell-O too simple? Too common? Too.....pedestrian? (I luv this word!)

Never no mind. I still like Jell-O.

Mom had the most unique way of prepping Jell-O. She'd do the one cup of boiling water over the sugar crystals, followed by a cup of cold. She stirred the mixture, but not too much. Mom didn't do this on purpose, she just wasn't the most thorough of stirrers...

After the required chill time in our old Frigidaire, the top 3/4 of Jell-O in the bowl would be nice and firm, yielding as expected on the palate. The bottom 1/4 was almost always rubbery. In that layer were also visible grains of crunchy sugar that went undissolved.

My brothers and I would complain and tease Mom about her results, but she'd continue making it her way. Referring to Mom's chewy crunchy Jell-O became a running joke in our family. Then - wouldn't you know, I really got to liking that thicker layer, and looked forward to finding it at the bottom of the bowl. It was the unusual texture that won me over. The special chewiness that made for a bite of Jell-O which lasted well beyond the average melt-in-the-mouth spoonful. In later years, I purposely tried to recreate 'Mom-style Jell-O'. More often than not, I over-stirred.

My all-time fave Jell-O dessert innovation was Jell-O 1-2-3. It was the first gourmet dessert I ever whipped up in my parents' kitchen. After spooning the frothy mixture into little glass dishes and stemware, I'd sneak a peek into the fridge as the 1-2-3 set up. Eating it, I would savor each of the pretty layers. The top was bouncy and foamy. The center creamy and smooth. The translucent bottom layer closest to unadulterated Jell-O. It saddens me that Jell-O 1-2-3 is no longer available. There is, however, a petition...

More recently, I discovered a 'recipe' on the web for orange-flavored Jell-O in scooped out orange halves. Sliced into wedges, these are so cute!

At the Jell-O website, you can check out the history of Jell-O, add the Jell-O museum to your 'must see' travel list, view the Jell-O ad campaigns; even try out a few dishes made from Jell-O. The site also provides main dish recipes (sans Jell-O). Guess what else? Jell-O arts and crafts!

I don't indulge as much now as I did in my youth, but I still get cravings for a l'il bowl of the sweet jiggly stuff. Alongside the dried Asian foodstuffs, bottles of extra-virgin olive oil and whole grains / legumes in my kitchen larder - I still stock a few boxes of Jell-O. At this writing I've got Lime and Orange (sugar free).

Jell-O ~ There's always room for it:
  • use less water and Jell-O can be picked up and eaten with your fingers w/o any mess.
  • it can become a 'salad' (no celery or walnuts please)
  • as shots (no thanks).
  • you can make a tub full and wrestle in it (some folks are into this, but I personally find Jell-O wrestling messy and downright wasteful)
So, is there Jell-O in your cupboard?

Friday, October 27, 2006

GET FAHT! EAT TOOO MAAAAACH!!!

Where the eatin's good, the good go eatin'.

San Francisco, f'rinstance.
(No, not Frisco. F'rinstance)

I just spent two days in the City-by-the-Bay.
Perfect weather.
Hung out with good people.
Ate GREAT food.
Savory.
Sweet.
Sweet.
Did I mention
Sweet?

Lightened my wallet a bit and maxed out the stretch in my jeans a lot.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

shifty eye fun

As October draws to a close, I’m looking forward to receiving more mini-artworks from Our Own Little ATC Group. Each Artist Trading Card promises to be unique and wonderful!

In other artsy news: check out this gem of a painting by artist J. Richel. It's a bit bigger than an ATC. Wouldn't it be a kick to have Richel as a group member?
Wow.
Just imagine receiving one of Richel’s wonderful ‘Portrait’ paintings in the mail as an ATC.
Yeah, right...dream on....

There’s another, more realistic (and practical) way to obtain a Richel Portrait Painting. Get yourself over to the Curiosity Guild Shoppe and buy one for yourself (and another one or more to give away)!

I’ve actually ‘played’ with a ‘suspicious painting’ - the eyes really do 'shift' and it's abfab fun. There are also 'talking paintings' as well as 'combination paintings'.
Wheeeeeee!

Sunday, October 22, 2006

a little dusting. a little more dusting. a little...


more dusting - because our house gets so dang dusty. Dusting is so much easier with a Swiffer Duster (you really must check out the demos in the right-hand column!)

Vacumning. Using the vacumn cleaner attachment to get into those hard to reach corners of the carpet, baseboards and furniture. Cleaning the glass surfaces. Furniture polish on the wood surfaces. De-webbing (everything). Cleaning ceiling fan blades (before today: nevah hoppen!). Wiping down the leather furniture with leather cleaner. Getting rid of old food in the fridge. Going through bathroom drawers/ cabinets and dumping past-date pills, ointments and old make-up. Re-filling liquid soap dispensers. Weeding through the magazine basket to rid it of redundant catalogs and mags not worth another read. Watering indoor plants, refilling bird feeders, sweeping off the front porch...

The house needed a cursory clean-up, and today was designated 'give it a onceover' day. HD and I worked on the housecleaning together (OMG, it's so much nicer to clean in tandem). We quit after 4 hours and took a drive down the hill for a fast food reward: In-N-Out cheeseburgers (OK, fries, soda and a shake too).

There's still more to do: scrub sinks and tubs, clean toilets and wash floors.
But I won't think about that now, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Friday, October 20, 2006

To RENO we will go...



Once you've had access to large quantities of fresh sushi at very reasonable prices, it's tough to go back to restaurant entrees of '10 pieces of nigiri' sushi for $15 (and up). Case in point: last night's dining experience at a new-ish sushi restaurant in town. Miso soup for everyone; a small platter of sashimi + two (very large and tasty) rolls to share = not nearly enough to eat for three hungry diners, and pretty darned expensive, to boot. Left us with a hankering for more, but not at those prices!

I've eaten at many an all-you-can-eat buffet where mouth-watering fresh sushi is offered, but haven't yet experienced the 'bottomless pit-all-you-can-sushi-only' buffet.
It does sounds excessive, doesn't it? More so when you consider that sushi is art that should probably be eaten with a degree of dining delicacy and some etiquette-based restraint. Yet, quantity-wise, you must understand...when it comes to sushi...

I just heard that Reno is the place for all-you-can-eat-SUSHI round these parts.
Reno? As in the arid flatlands just 'over the summit' of the California-Nevada line?
'Biggest Little City in the World' Reno = great sushi?!?
Fo' reals?
I must to see (read: eat) for myself!

Destination: Reno, Nevada (less than two hours from here - a very scenic drive en route to Sushi Satiation).

Field trip!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

On (aging)(er...ah...) Maturing...






At what age does the mirror become our enemy? Reflected in the looking glass, what we see is often a harsh reminder of the reality that time, indeed - has passed - and that we have (been fortunate enough to have) moved on with it. Not often does the image we see in the mirror match up with the (more youthful) one we hold of ourselves in our mind's eye.

Photographs are even worse than mirrors. You can look away from reflections, but photos are a hard copy still-life of what it is what it is.

The refrain gets old as the image does:
Those bags under my eyes! I must have been extra tired that day...
My hair looks so thin! It must be time to change my conditioner to a 'more volumizing' one ...
Jowls? Who, me? Must be the camera angle...
Crow's feet and laugh lines? Need more moisturizer...
When did my lips change shape? Eyes lose their definition? Eyebrows thin so? OK, so a bit more lipstick, liner and pencil might help, but shan't let myself get too 'Baby Jane'.

All talk about 'counting one's blessings', 'inner beauty' and 'propensity for joy' aside, it's still a shocker growing older...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

the teapot is now quite cozy

with a new quilty jacket and matching tam o' shanter.
Onward...

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Your HTML cannot be accepted

FRUSTRATION CITY!

I've not been able to publish a post I recently wrote. This error message
keeps coming up:
Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not closed:

Trying to locate the offending open-ended tag/font/what-ever, I've been going over the post with a fine-toothed comb. I can't find anything suspicious.

I even re-wrote the whole post in a new post window and did a 'fresh' re-link to all the links. Both the original and the re-write are currently 'in draft'.

Couldn't locate any fix-it advice about this in 'Blogger Help'.

Can anyone help?
(in techno-language lite ~ so I can understand)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Stop...Smell the flowers...See the...


avant-garde gardens.
['Blue Tree' by artist Claude Cormier. This tree is covered with 70,000 blue plastic balls. You can see it at Cornerstone Festival of Gardens. Keep reading...]

Last weekend, DollinkFriends told us about the 9 acres of fabulous artsy gardens at Cornerstone located in Sonoma County. I can hardly wait to visit the 'Not your grandma's rose gardens', and may schedule a visit before it closes up for winter and then again in spring when it re-opens.

Hwy. 121. We've driven on it hundreds of times, traveling from Petaluma (where we lived for 20 years) to the heart of wine country. Weekend day trips with the kids, family, friends, foreign exchange students. Fifteen minutes from home to local historical sites and boutique shop browsing; lunches of sourdough bread, local cheeses and seasonal fruit; a bit of wine-tasting for the adults (and feeding ducks for the kids). Opened in 2004, Cornerstone is located on the exact spot where 'World of Birds' (aka 'Birdland' to our DollinkDaughters) used to be.
We miss the exotic birds, but this looks pretty cool too.

Highways 121, 12 and 29 connect to Hwy. 80. En route from home to Sacramento, we were on those roads often. The scenery is picture perfect postcard: rolling hills, acres of wetland, farmland, vineyards. Grazing horses, ruminating bovines, hawks perched on fenceposts. You can get a bit jaded if it's along your commute route, so things can go unnoticed...

Like the di Rosa Preserve. Also located in the old stompin' grounds of Napa-Sonoma, we drove by this place dozens of times a year as well. Without fail, we'd point out 'the cool fake sheep on the hillside', unaware of what was housed beyond those metal artworks on the other side of the hill: a huge and outtasite art collection, the art collector's former home and his property - all 'visitable' (for a small fee, of course).

Last month, we went to di Rosa for the first time with DollinkFamily, who turned us on to the place. What a great day out! We celebrated son-in-law D's birthday by viewing art, basking in the pleasant early autumn sunshine, taking in the gorgeous scenery and eating the most delectable picnic lunch.

Yes, we even stopped to smell flowers in the gardens...

[An aside: sheep = carneros in Spanish = Carneros region is the area of Sonoma/Napa where these sites are located]

Monday, October 16, 2006

it's raining tonight



with a bit of thunder and lightning.
Later this week, the forecast is for sunshine and temps in the mid 70's.



I LOVE autumn!
It's wild!
It's wacky!

Saturday, October 14, 2006

My personal seal of approval


It's all about blogging for me anymore.
Currently, I peruse a dozen (or so) favourite blogs each time I'm online (at least once daily), and those connect me to new blogs every day. Click a link and the thoughts, words, ideas and (yes, even) emotional well-being or upset of a diverse cross-section of people appear before you on the monitor. It's like being at a party and every time you turn around, there's someone to talk to, someone who actually wants to communicate. New viewpoints to ponder and perspectives to consider. Blogging is really some kind of interstellar phenomenon!
Connections in the Cosmos.

Some blogs are educational, others are nonsensical, many are insightful. All are fascinating in their own right. Blogs prove to be mini lessons in social studies, and I'm a devout follower of studies into the social.

Moreover, blogs are the bottomless pit where one can discover new & cool things to make, places to go, things to do. I particularly enjoy this aspect of the blogosphere. It's quite possible to develop new hobbies by investigating websites made linkable by bloggers. This could be a good thing. One can never have enough extracurricular interests, y'know.

Yesterday, via one of my fave blogs, I linked to this website where you can design your own seal. No prior knowledge of any graphics programs is necessary! The site offers easy-to-use templates, so making a seal is a quickie project. I created the seal pictured in less than 5 minutes.

Seal-making probably won't become a new hobby for me...but it was a pleasant distraction...and the seal is rather cool-looking, isn't it?

Friday, October 13, 2006

addendum


You'll have to do a little copy and paste, but do take a moment to link to this!
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/teapot.htm

It is well worth the effort.
What a great backbeat!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Making the time to make teapot cozies


'Cozy' is such a cozy word. Very autumnal. Perfect for the season.
Teamed up with 'teapot', cozy is a downright snuggly cuddly warm n' fuzzy word.
Quite apropos- for a teapot cozy is, in essence, a blankie for your pot o' brew. It's used to keep tea hot in the pot - at least through the leisurely serving of the 3rd or 4th cup. Sure, you could have hot tea at the ready in a brewpot or thermal hotpot. A mug of tea can certainly be given a quick warm-up zap in the microwave. However, experiencing tea time with the whole teapot, teacups (and saucers!) and tasty snackie food offerings all set-up nicely at the table is...well....cuter.

There's no denying how cooler temps outside + tea-time inside go together.
I do enjoy going beyond unceremoniously dropping a Lipton tea bag into a mug of hot water. I adore all styles and variations of a nice tea presentation.
I've got British, Japanese and Chinese teapots, even a Bodum glass number with matching sugar and creamer.

I can hardly wait to get back to staging 'themed tea parties' (even if just for myself) and using all my little tea accoutrements...

It begins with a tea cozy. I just started sewing one: a pieced quilt design, insulated with poly batting, with an insulated bottom piece and fastened with a ribbon drawstring at the top. The overall shape is based on several cozies examined (rather closely) during visits to various tearooms. I chose pre-cut 'fat quarters' of fabric in coordinated colors (too lazy to pick n' choose anymore, so these bundles are a godsend!) and drafted a pattern to cut and seam these great fabrics into a mini quilt for the teapot. My inspiration came from Denyse Schmidt so the cozy promises to be colorful and a bit abstract in design.

Another one of those 'Just Google it' surprises:
There are so many styles of cozies!
Some cozies are of simple construction: two pieces: a front and a back. This is your basic half-moon pattern (with slight variations) that slips over top of the teapot. Quickly made, it's possible to stitch one up for every day of the week, in any fabric that strikes your fancy or to suit any occasion.
Some cozies look like sweaters - really!
Some cozies look like felted beehive hats (these are funny and rather alien-looking, and I may try making one. Hopefully, the felt won't defuzz all over my tea).
Animal-shaped cozies are quite popular....pictured above is the kitty tea cozy pattern I've admired since the 1970's, and it is the one I've been procrastinating for over 3 decades to make. Ai ya! It's unbelievable how 30 years zipped by and I still haven't gotten round to making the dang tea cozy.
It's time to make the time, isn't it?
After that, the felted one.
Then...

(Typically) getting too far ahead of myself here, so first things first. I'm going to trust that the end result of my first teapot-cozy-sewing attempt will look better than any of these.

It's Tea-Time.
Anyone for a cuppa?

Saturday, October 07, 2006

time for arts & crafts


I just looked back to the beginning of all this blogging (July 2006) business and realized that I've not published many arts n' crafts-related posts.
Why is that? I'm a fairly artsy-crafty gal, but haven't been artsying or craftying much.
Until recently.

The sudden urge to get creative again may have to do with the change of season: from too-dang-hot to mild-and-almost-cool. Autumn beckons us back in - to home/hearth and to keep cozy with cooking and crafty projects. However, we're still experiencing the last of 'Indian Summer' here. Off and on. The skies above grayed and a steady rain fell the other day, yet this weekend promises another dose of it's-warm-go-outside-and-sit-by-the-lake weather.

At any rate, t'is the season and I'm in THE MOOD. Granted, much of my art energy has been devoted to work-related projects. That's ongoing through the seasons. But with cooler temps and the holidays (aiiiieeeeee!!!) approaching, it's high time to be more productive here at home...

I joined a knitting group. Needles poised and at the ready....
Signed up for a couple of studio art classes this fall, which provide me with the impetus to head back to the drafting table/ drawing board/ easel.
One class is Hands-On American Art History. At this time, we're studying early folk art, and will go on through to Pollock drip paintings and Calder mobiles/ stabiles. I'm doing my own thing with the required projects: new twists on old art forms...
The other class is actually more like a painting studio workshop. The 'instructor' gives handy painting tips, but otherwise it's not terribly inspiring to be there. However, it has gotten me back to my paints and canvases, so no major complaints...

Thus far, I've been working on:
Painting ~ A smallish canvas in oils.
Theorem stenciling ~ A couple of very easy mini projects (Who knew? It's actually fun to stencil!).
Scherenschnitte ~ (Gesundheit!) I'm only designing the simplest images. At the beginning, the cutting felt awkward. After getting used to the teeny scissors (and alternating with an X-Acto knife for the smaller cut-outs), I found the paper cutting fairly enjoyable.
Sewing ~ Think I'd like to do a bit of hand-sewing (!). Again, mini projects.
Knitting ~ Beginning with some easy projects before getting back to the pullover sweater I began a year or so ago. I will finish...I will finish...I will finish?
Teensy weensy baby steps back into the creative realm.
But I'm happy to be getting a groove on.

Ooooh - mustn't forget about Artist Trading Cards. ATCs are the ticket back into creative mode for me. Talk about mini! Besides ATCs being a cute size (2.5" x 3.5") to work with, just about anything goes as far as medium, style, approach. One can get very experimental with ATC art. Trading with other ATC artists will be so inspiring! I can't wait to start receiving their art in my mailbox.

I found the image of the palette + treble clef online. It suits me well. I've gotta have music when in the throes of creativity!
So often it's the tunes that help make the art happen. Everyone knows how productive you can be if you whistle while you work.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Thursday, October 05, 2006

addendum

Royal Wedding




See Fred. See Fred dance.

Another reason to luv the internet.
You can watch whole movies (for free).

I suspect most of you don’t have the time to sit at the computer to watch the hour and a half film. However, knowing you can if you wanted to is so very cool though, don't you think?

Not enough time today? How about a few Fred Astaire dance highlights, then?

Fast-forward the slider to 16:20 to view Fred and his inanimate dance partner.
Then slide over to 1:06:00 to watch Fred’s gravity defying dance.

Lite musicals like this are great fun to have as background sound whilst you’re doing other computer-related work (in a ‘new window’); or if you happen to be tidying the room your computer is in...(What me tidy?).

‘The Royal Wedding’ - starring Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford. Directed by Stanley Donen, story and screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner, 1951.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Us against them against us



DollinkdaughterJrS attended a baseball game in SF last weekend. Giants-Dodgers. Suffice it to say the homeboys didn't win and that the fans garbed in boohissblue were out in force - root root rooting for their guys and taunting teasing our guys and their faithful.

Dodgie fans really poured it on after the win...I am so glad not to have witnessed their glee.

JrS enjoyed a day out at the ballpark, but this was her first time experiencing the age-old rivalry between the two California teams. She found it all a bit unnerving.

I got to thinking about that rivalry and looked into it. There are quite a few things that factor into the feud. Regionalism, politics, money (let's not forget a healthy dose of testosterone!) did much to morph the happy sandlot game of stickball into an Us Against Them Against Us pro sports rivalry of major proportions.
Fascinating stuff.

I can get pretty caught up in the sport if making any effort at all to follow the Giants through a season. Not so much for plays and stats. My vested interest is an emotional tie to the team I've held since childhood.
SF Giants baseball can get my heart to racin' and my blood to boilin'.
It can also bring a tear to my eye.
Perhaps that's why I didn't attend any games this season.
More than I can handle this year, folks.

P.S. Say hey!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Propensity for Joy




"A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty”

David Hume






About 18 months ago, I shared an adventure with 4 strangers-waiting-for-a-shuttle-bus-to-catch-a-train.
Elements of the adventure:
  • A cold rainy morning.
  • Waiting an hour past the scheduled time that a shuttle bus was due to pick us up at the train station, No bus, no possibility of catching that train further down the road. We learned much later that the bus was stuck at the snowy mountain pass.
  • A hitch-hiked ride in the truck of the aunt of one of the strangers.
  • 5 adults with baggage, day packs, an oversized back pack, 2 sleeping bags, umbrellas and 'truck stuff' - sqoooozed into the cab of the truck.
  • Barely making it to the train station 45 minutes down the road.
  • Finally catching our intended train.
During our misadventure, we exchanged niceties. Got acquainted. Got soaked in the rain, felt anxious, hopeful, discouraged, disgusted, thankful. Shared some of the frustration of taking public transportation. Called Amtrak, got no help from Amtrak, cursed Amtrak. We bonded. So when finally boarding the correct Amtrak train, we decided to sit together for the ride into The Bay Area.

I'll spare you further detailed descriptions of the strangers-turned-comrades-for-a-day. I'll hold back on the many fascinating stories, cute or poignant anecdotes shared and haha funny jokes told during those 4 hours we hung out together.
What I will tell you is something one of them said to me a moment before she disembarked the train at her destination.
She gently touched my hand and said 'You possess the propensity for joy - it's an admirable and enviable quality'.

Glass half empty thinking has me imagining that she found me immature (which I am sometimes, but that is another story for another day...).
Glass half full has me thinking her compliment was genuinely sincere.
Hmmmmm....think I'll spare torturing myself and believe the latter.

All the above leads me to address, finally - this personal dilemma:
Waking up with a Propensity for Joy each day can be somewhat impaired by not getting a sufficient amount of restorative sleep the night before.
To be sure, waking up blurry-eyed grumpy can really put a damper on the day's joyful perspective.

Let's talk pillows.

In all my adult years, I have failed to outfit my boudoir with great bedpillows. How does one choose (wisely)? On my current pillows, I just can't seem to get comfy. Sleep is fitful at best, and my neck and shoulders ache something awful each morn.
I need HELP!
Polyester-filled pillows look so promising in the store. They are fluff fluff fluffy, but within a few weeks use - flatten to pancake depth. Solid foam pillows remain too springy and 'formed'. Poly-wrapped foam gets misshapen too - possibly due to shifting of the polyfill layer. Shredded foam - no thanks! I have purchased down pillows, but never the ones made from the choicest downy feathers because I'm too cheap to fork over the big buck$ for a high quality down (check out the price in the link below!). I fear it too will go the way of all-pillows-past and fail to be the pillow 'of and for my sweetest dreams.'

The beddings in nicer hotels almost always guarantee me a great night's sleep. High thread count sheets, poofy down duvets, a plethora of pillows - with 3 pillow types (firm, medium and soft) to arrange and rearrange to great satisfaction under one's head. Toss in a neck roll and it's Sleepland Heaven. My mattress at home is sufficient. I've got many threads to the inch sheets, a decent down comforter with a soft duvet cover. But it's ultimately all about the pillow, isn't it? My preferred pillow type is the European square - stuffed with the downiest down that isn't crunchy but soft, and provides gentle support through the night. It cradles my head lovingly as I drift off to sleep, and the feathers within (the pillow, not my head!) don't squish down to nothingness by morning. Sleep-inducing. Ahhhhhh....

Those babies are hard to find in retail stores. I'd like to feeeeeeeel one before buying, as well as hear /read testimonials from consumers who have experienced delightful rest on these pricey pillows. With this criteria, forking out the big buck$$$ to purchase one from an online shop is not an option.
[the new link for pillows/prices seems more reasonable, does it not? should I or shouldn't I?]

Does anyone out there know of a great beddings store to recommend, or is acquainted with someone employed as a 'hotel fancy linens buyer'?
Anyone out there with a tried and true 'how-to-get-a-great-pillow' suggestion?
[short of theft, that is]

I need some good Zzzzzzzzzz's to maintain my PFJ.