the passionate ailurophile

I’ve brought out the down comforter, washed the cover and all. We still haven’t turned the heat on yet, though. Every year, I play a game to see how long we can go before we have to do that.

I’d like to tell you more about our down comforter. We bought it at L.L. Bean a few years ago. No, we don’t do mail order with them, we drive up to the store in Freeport, Maine. It’s just over two hours away from us, and we hang out up in Maine enough as it is, anyway.

It was spendy, over $200, but it has turned out to be an excellent investment. We’ve been able to save more than that on heating bills, by sleeping under this comforter. L.L. Bean products are also of excellent quality, so you know that it will LAST.

Since the comforter must either be dry-cleaned, or washed in one of those industrial-sized washers at a laundromat, we opted to buy a cover for it. Once again, the flannel ones that L.L. Bean sells are spendy, but they last longer than those from cheaper stores. We swear by Bean’s flannel sheets, as well. Anyway, so many times a cat will gack on the comforter, and we don’t have to wash the whole thing…just the cover. When we are next up in the area, next weekend for the Maine Brewers’ Festival, we might hit L.L. Bean and get a second cover. I get tired of lookiing at the same one all the time, anyway.

So that’s part of how we keep warm. Another way to keep warm, once I’d like to try someday, is to look for a nice Hawaii bed and breakfast, and escape to it. You know that I prefer B&Bs and small hotels over the big chains.

I’m sure that Hawaii starts to get VERY busy this time of year, what with many people trying ti escape the cold. We won’t be going this year, but maybe sometime after Mike is retired.

Meanwhile, I’m just glad to have that down comforter!