Sleepless in Seattle

A French box bed

The marine layer is back at night, a big relief in a city where few people have air conditioning.  The moist, cool air pushes in from the Pacific, the curtains suddenly stir in the open window and it feels like someone turned on the air conditioning. They did. Except the air is heavenly fresh and clean. What a relief after a long stretch of hot days.

I ran across this interesting photograph of an antique French box bed. In houses with just one room, the  box-bed gave some privacy and helped keep people warm during winter. Looks pretty stuffy, huh?

Closed-beds were only about 5 feet long. People were smaller then, but they also slept in an almost sitting position leaning back on stacks of pillows. In the Middle Ages, people were superstitious about sleeping lying down flat (the position of the dead and of effigies.)

Well, I finally had some good "lying down flat" sleep last night.