I’ve been sleeping in the spare room for the past week.
I don’t quite know the reason for the change from a lovely kind size bed onto the antique brass single bed in the corner of my office, but move I did and yesterday afternoon the room felt overly cozy what with me , Dorothy and Albert curled up in what was free at the time of settling .
I’m on night shift for most of the weekend.
The bed squeaks dreadfully when you turn and squeals alarmingly when you first sit down on it, but it’s comfortable and warm and reminds me of when I was a child.
Perhaps that’s why I’ve sought it out just after Christmas.
Alan Bennett always sleeps in a single bed, he wrote about it in his memoirs
It kind of suits him, I think.
Mind you he never shared his bed with a bulldog.
Yesterday I went to bed before nights at 2 pm.
I’m full of thoughts at the moment,
Things to do, things I want to do.
Things not done.
In my double bed sleep takes a while to catch me
In my single bed, I doze long before Dorothy has stopped licking any limb poking from under the duvet.
Peter Rabbit I remind myself and now at 2 am in the morning, I’ve wrapped the book up and addressed the padded envelope in readiness to post on Monday morning
I like giving books to Children and infants and you can’t go wrong with The Tales of Peter Rabbit. for a first gift. My great nephew Rew will receive it next week.
The start of his collection.
I’ve written on the cover
To my Great Nephew Rew Gray from your great Uncle John Gray
The inscription pleased me.
I’m feeling my mortality a bit this month.
Work gets you like that sometimes, and insidiously wrong foots you, so the inscription feels positive in a sort of I was ‘ere kind of way…like Kilroy used to say.
That's the same reason I make quilts.
ReplyDeleteMy great aunt made a crib size quilt for me as a gift to my parents upon my birth. It was appliqued with tiny Scotty dogs and hand quilted. When she died they found a bundle wrapped in brown paper and tied with butcher's twine. It had an envelope attached addressed to me. Inside the was a simple note that said "For you on your wedding day". The package contained a full size quilt with the identical Scotty dogs appliqued on it and beautifully quilted. I cherish them both.
DeleteThis is why I make quilts, too.
DeleteHugs!
What a lovely and thoughtful gift.
ReplyDeleteI used to have an old brass bed that was a bit bigger than single; probably from when mattresses were made to measure. It was very high off the ground, amazingly comfortable, and squeaked like hell. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteHere in Pennsylvania I inherited an antique rope bed, from when people strung rope around the frame to hold the mattress. I was told it was called a bed and a half, and I had a mattress made for it. I loved it and have now given it to my nephew. Also, John, I had a friend who slept in her bedroom every weekend, saying it felt a bit like a vacation.
DeleteNina
I once slept for a while in a small single bed with a straw mattress when we lived abroad and it seemed so cosy at the time. It "crunched" every time I moved.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've slept in a single bed for years. I do find I sleep better, though, when I've got one of my many self-crocheted blankets to anchor the duvet down. Mind you, I don't have a bulldog to do that! Peter Rabbit - a classic. xx
ReplyDeleteI have collected traditional genuine antique Victorian and Edwardian christening gowns for over 50 years. I gift them to my friends for their first born child and each child there after. I was 18 when I gifted the first gown and was that childs Godfather. Then 22 years later was godfather to that childs first born son who was wearing the gown, I have been the Godfather to many of their children. On New Years Day I was Godfather to the grandson of my first Godson and he was wearing the gown gifted to his grandparents over 50 years ago. It has gone that same way for many others families and their gowns. John, your gift to your grandnephew will be cherished as have my gowns to my God children. There are a few more gowns in the chest at the foot of my bed. I pondered a bit this week on my life and health. How many more...
ReplyDeleteMy later Marine cousin had the collection -Darling top dog passed 5 years ago - he slept tight to me or on my head Since I cannot sleep in bed but on a sofa wrapped in fleece and also a sleeping bag with my 4 next to the woodburner on low x 🐺
ReplyDeleteOh dear....
DeleteI know what you mean about the comfort and warmth of a small bed in a cozy room. But I've never had to share one with Dorothy. I love giving what I consider important books to kids.
ReplyDeleteOn a house move my six year old daughter had a choice of a small bedroom with a single bed and a bigger second bedroom with a 3/4 bed and she chose the small one. I think she felt it was cosier with her toys close by and not spread out . She never did move into the bigger room.
ReplyDeleteA sensible gift for your Great Nephew with a simple message. I'm sure he'll treasure that when he's older and any others you send him. A classic that can be passed down to his children.
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ReplyDeleteNot long after my husband and I were married we went to visit his grandparents who lived on a farm in rural Illinois along the Little Wabash River where paw paw trees grew, and great horned owls hooted in the late afternoon in the deep woods. I had never heard owls hoot before it was even dark.
ReplyDeleteHis Grandparents were so good and good to us. At bedtime we were to sleep in the spare bedroom where there was a wonderful, cozy antique iron bed. Puffed up with a lovely handsewn quilt. Neither me nor my husband were ever what anyone would call petite, so every perfectly innocent move we made would make that bed moan or squeak. It was so embarrassing to us, and then to make things even worse we both finally fell asleep after laying there like we were entombed and didn't wake up until 10:30 am. They were farmers and for us to have slept that late was even more embarrassing than the squeaking moaning bed. I was young and silly then, now I am old-ish and silly.
May that be the first of thousands of books read in a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteSince my divorce, I still sleep in the queen-sized bed we used to share years ago. I have never slept on "his side" of the bed, though! I only always stick to my half of the bed. :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes we need space. Sometimes we need coziness.
ReplyDeleteYour single brass bed sounds very cozy. Cozy on these winter nights is important to sleeping well. Your king or single are two good options. "Peter Rabbit" is a great classic book to start a collection. Love the inscription!
ReplyDeleteThe last time I slept in a single bed was at my Mum's a few years ago, I kept feeling for the edge so I wouldn't roll out by mistake. I hated having a king sized bed, so now I sleep in a four foot bed and it is just the right size. There ... I'm starting to sound like Goldilocks!!
ReplyDeleteMy 'go to' book for children, related or not, has been 'Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel' by Virginia Lee Burton, 1939. All my kids had the Peter Rabbit series also.
ReplyDeletePerfect book. He'll have that long after he'd of out grown any clothing.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have re-read 'Peter Rabbit" before inscribing to for Rew.. Love your inscrription, too.
ReplyDeleteI think the last time I slept in a twin bed was with one of our shons when he was sick.
Hugs!
I still have some of my most beloved Beatrix Potter books, Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggywinkle, Mrs Tittlemouse. So loved, read, worn. You have gifted something special.
ReplyDeleteIs the bedroom / office warmer than your bedroom? I do find that if the bedroom here is extremely cold I cannot sleep, tho I like a cool bedroom. Or, sadly, maybe a way of avoiding newly unscabbed memories. Hugs!
PS Will you see clients in your home once you are doing counseling? Will this be your professional office then? Just curious.
There is a house in the vicinity whose kitchen window is decorated with a small stained glass of--I kid you not--Kilroy (wuz here). It's pretty frickin funny to see.
ReplyDeleteI was seeing (ha!) an ophthalmologist the other day and as he was scheduling future visits I told him I was nearly 83 and I wasn't going to live forever so maybe those future visits wouldn't be necessary. His quick reply "Let's not get dark now" made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that book smells the same as they did when I was a kid. It was uniquely Beatrix Potter.
ReplyDeleteHospice nursing and nightshift. Not a good combination for the spirits.
A kind and thoughtful gift. I wonder if Beatrix Potter wrote about a cuddly old teddy bear: "The Tale of Johnny Gray"? "Once upon a time in a village called Trelawnyd..."
ReplyDeleteNow wouldn't that tell a tale or two!
DeleteJo in Auckland
My son was gifted a set of Beatrix Potter books when he was a baby from his Grandparents. I read them over and over to him when he was a small child; but as he grew older he wouldn't read. It was a terrible struggle when he was a school kid to get him to do his "reading" every night after school. Now he is 34 and I don't believe he even owns a book in printed form... but as he is a computer geek... IT tech everything he ever reads is computer form. Personally give me an actual book every time.. Hint Hint Mr Gray!
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland
I meant to add that the gift to your Great Nephew Rew will mean the world to him as he grows; especially from Great Uncle John Gray....you can't beat a classic for a child.
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland