Book 10: "Really Rural" by Marie France Boyer
My non-fiction book has been "Really Rural" by Marie France Boyer. You can see it on Amazon.com by clicking here.
This post goes on a bit of a tangent before the review, enjoy if you have time:
I stumbled upon this book thanks to my deep dissatisfaction with American duvet covers. You see, we have a puffy duvet named "The German" because it was made in Germany and is filled with the feathers of dead German ducks. Last August I nearly earned a masters degree in Duck Down. I did way too much research on down beds, quality, origin of the birds. etc. I wanted to make sure that our dead bird blanket was made as ethically as possible and with good materials. Unfortunately, most US blankets have 25% polyester which will make you sweat like a pig in the cold night. Pure down isn't sold in the US at all (I searched). Thankfully the only people equally fastidious as my Virgo assendant are Germans. And thank goodness for google translate. It helped me email the company I finally bought our daunen fedderbetten from.
Anyway, the German has kept us warm this frigid winter on days when it was 4 degrees F and up to now when it is about 40 degrees at night. The wonderful thing about sleeping with the German is that the down senses the temperature and keeps your body's heat even like a duck. Our German, however, has a funny size, and is 22 inches wider than American duvet covers so I had to buy 2 duvet covers, slice them up in half and sew them together.
The story takes a turn: El Gordo.
El Gordo is a happy cat that seeks the most comfortable spot to nap for his 18 hours of napping a day. As the winter slipped away we were able to get away with staying warm at night with the German. However, El Gordo missed his napping spot on the heater, known to him as "Miami". He sat in Miami all winter. But as soon as the heater went off, he left Miami and came upstairs to our room. He took one look at the puffy German, it looked like a cloud bed from "The Princess and the Pea."
So he flung his fat little rolly-polly body up there, made a nest and snoozed away.
So I decided that we need to change our duvet cover much more frequently and try to chase El Gordo off as much as possible. Darn cat!
So the time came to get a new cover for our duvet. I searched high to Pottery Barn where the high prices scared me, I searched low low low to Target and Ikea. I searched in between for a duvet cover in Macy's and Pier 1 Imports.
And in all my searching one thing was clear: American duvet covers are made for boring people. The covers were 99% sad (who wants to see gloomy paisley day after day in the winter). and the other 1% was neurotically bright.
My search led me to: the library, of course. There I delved into one book that looked like it knew duvet's and duvet covers: "Really Rural". You see, in France and Germany they know feather blankets. When we lived in Germany I remember the mountain of fluffy blanket in one hotel in the Alps on the border with France. They didn't have heating, but they had this amazing fluffy giant pillow. It was amazing.
This post goes on a bit of a tangent before the review, enjoy if you have time:
I stumbled upon this book thanks to my deep dissatisfaction with American duvet covers. You see, we have a puffy duvet named "The German" because it was made in Germany and is filled with the feathers of dead German ducks. Last August I nearly earned a masters degree in Duck Down. I did way too much research on down beds, quality, origin of the birds. etc. I wanted to make sure that our dead bird blanket was made as ethically as possible and with good materials. Unfortunately, most US blankets have 25% polyester which will make you sweat like a pig in the cold night. Pure down isn't sold in the US at all (I searched). Thankfully the only people equally fastidious as my Virgo assendant are Germans. And thank goodness for google translate. It helped me email the company I finally bought our daunen fedderbetten from.
Anyway, the German has kept us warm this frigid winter on days when it was 4 degrees F and up to now when it is about 40 degrees at night. The wonderful thing about sleeping with the German is that the down senses the temperature and keeps your body's heat even like a duck. Our German, however, has a funny size, and is 22 inches wider than American duvet covers so I had to buy 2 duvet covers, slice them up in half and sew them together.
The story takes a turn: El Gordo.
El Gordo is a happy cat that seeks the most comfortable spot to nap for his 18 hours of napping a day. As the winter slipped away we were able to get away with staying warm at night with the German. However, El Gordo missed his napping spot on the heater, known to him as "Miami". He sat in Miami all winter. But as soon as the heater went off, he left Miami and came upstairs to our room. He took one look at the puffy German, it looked like a cloud bed from "The Princess and the Pea."
So he flung his fat little rolly-polly body up there, made a nest and snoozed away.
So I decided that we need to change our duvet cover much more frequently and try to chase El Gordo off as much as possible. Darn cat!
So the time came to get a new cover for our duvet. I searched high to Pottery Barn where the high prices scared me, I searched low low low to Target and Ikea. I searched in between for a duvet cover in Macy's and Pier 1 Imports.
And in all my searching one thing was clear: American duvet covers are made for boring people. The covers were 99% sad (who wants to see gloomy paisley day after day in the winter). and the other 1% was neurotically bright.
My search led me to: the library, of course. There I delved into one book that looked like it knew duvet's and duvet covers: "Really Rural". You see, in France and Germany they know feather blankets. When we lived in Germany I remember the mountain of fluffy blanket in one hotel in the Alps on the border with France. They didn't have heating, but they had this amazing fluffy giant pillow. It was amazing.
Finally, my book report: Really Rural
This book, surprisingly, doesn't glamorize the chicness of rural life in various regions in France. Instead of being in the Interior Design section, it should have been in the History section of the library. Anyway, it documents the lives of several individuals who have lived in extremely remote areas of France, their way of life, the tools they use and how they decorate their home. The word decorate, in American sense, means to run out and buy what inspires you. In the really rural sense, it means "make it if you can."
What I like about this book is how it shows individuals and doesn't try to summarize all French people. For example, it shows three brothers who live together. They are all in their 70's and are farmers, have 3 apartments that are connected with one living room with a fireplace. They were all born in that farm house, as was their father, and their grandfather and great grandfather. They use the same fireplace all the men who bore them used. They use the same, wait for it....down blanket...grandpa used. (see how useful it is?) They live simple lives tending to some pigs and potatoes. They need few things and are content with their life.
Then there is a lady, my favorite, who is tiny and has her hair in braids. She reminds me of my grandma, who never wore her hair in braids, but in miniature and adorable. This lady lives high in the mountains in a splendidly old house. It is perfectly clean and organized. All of her lace are pieces from her family passed down to her.
The book shows how many of these people living rurally make useful things beautiful. Such as box beds under the stairs. What are box beds? Oh, the most wonderful beds that even high and mighty Pottery Barn couldn't replicate! Box beds are built under a stair case (for space) and have little doors with little windows that latch shut to keep the air out. They are topped with a fluffy down blanket.
The most inspirational part of the book is how it shows the bright colors on the beds. Ok, that and the heart shaped cheese strainer. But I specifically enjoyed the bed covers. The author specified how each color also reinforced the religion that many of the rural people used to believe in (though now, it is't practiced as it once was). Red was for the blood of Christ, blue for the purity of the Virgin Mary, green for God's kingdom on earth. And it made me think also to the famous Amish who make these insanely complicated and beautiful quilts also with solid colors that reflect on the Bible.
The other thing that impressed me was how long most of these rural families kept things for: forever. No Goodwill to tote unwanted garments to! No big walk-in closets or shopping malls, or options to purchase things or money to purchase things. Most of these people had humble means and purchased what they could, the most colorful they could, and what they thought would survive generations to hand down to their family.
This book gave me the answer: make your own darn duvet cover. Dust that sewing machine off and make it right. So off I went in the direction my gut told me to go: the discount upholstery store. They had hundreds of the nicest, fanciest fabrics, probably left overs from NYC big interior design stores. One advantage to living in north Jersey is that you can find everything from NYC on discount!
And I am happy to say that I found the perfect fabric in the happiest of shades and I hope it will make cold cold New Jersey winters a little more bright.
If you are interested in Down Blanket info see here.
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