Mindehrs in the New World

What is a mindehr?   (mind rhymes with wind; ehr rhymes with air as in wind!) Have you heard of the kitchen couch?  The kitchen couch was a major piece of "furniture" in many homes in the United States in the first half of the 20th century . . . (Was it only in Armenian homes?)  The kitchen couch was typically a roughly put together bench along the outside wall of the kitchen where family members would gather to keep company with the cook (usually the dandigin) who was preparing the meal, (undoubtedly the warmest place in the house, both in winter and summer).  The kitchen couch that Marash Girl remembers was made up of wooden orange crates positioned end to end, with the bottoms of the crates -- the unopened side -- at the top; covered with a pretty piece of cloth (or, more likely in Armenian homes, an old oriental carpet), families would place a mindehr across the length of the bench over the carpet covering (and pillows across the back against the wall).  The mindehr was usually a long narrow cushion made from lamb's wool in a fashion similar to the way angoghins (yorghans, quilts) were made by the old Armenian ladies.  [See http://marashgirl.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-make-quilt-armenian-style.html] The mindehr (perhaps made from a worn out yorgan or quilt) was placed across the top of the crates  in the kitchen for kids and adults to sit comfortably, keep warm, and socialize with each other. Marash Girl still remembers sitting on the mindehr in her Grandmother Yester Bosnian Vartanian's kitchen on the third floor of the three floor walk-up apartment at 47 Vassal Lane in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Do any readers of this post have such memories?