Friday, July 18, 2008

Hummingbirds and Sewing Machines

I had a nice unexpected diversion late this afternoon. A rain storm! When there wasn't supposed to be one! As I was driving home the sky got darker and darker and darker. I got in the house and managed to let the dog out before the rains came. And BOY did it rain! And blow, and thunder. It's hard to take a photo of but you can kind of see it on the roof of the neighbor's house.


The whole time it was "storming" the hummingbirds kept coming to the feeder! They didn't seem to notice anything amiss! Now the rain has let up a bit the rest of the birds are back. First the Goldfinches, then came the Cardinals, then the House Finches. Right now there are a gaggle of really wet and straggly finches fighting at the window feeder in front of me. Too bad they all fly off when I get the camera out! It's a feeding frenzy out there.


What a motley crew! All half drowned looking. :-)




I tried to get a photo of the rain pounding in the birdbath but apparently I need to be a better photographer to capture that.


And then I spotted a hummingbird sitting in the red maple in front of my window.



I'm wondering how often he sits there and I haven't noticed! (With the binoculars I can see it's a male.) It's still raining even though the sun is out shining now and I've figured out what the hummer is doing. He's guarding "his" feeder! He keeps leaving his perch overseeing the feeder to chase the other hummers away! This has been going on for almost an hour. I wonder how long he can keep it up. It makes for some wild aerial acrobatics! :-)

On another subject.... sewing (what else) :-)

I've been browsing the net for Singer sewing machine cabinets. I have my Mom's Singer 201-2 and have been anxious to get it back into a proper cabinet. I bought two cabinets I saw on craigslist. One is quite plain and needs refinishing. The second one needs a bit of work too, but it's a cool art deco style #42. It still has the inkwell and everything. It was sold to us with the drawers packed full of sewing notions. Everything from old Wiss pinking shears (with the oringinal box and leather case) to Singer attachments, pins, needles, fabric, buttons, patterns from the '60s and all sorts of bits. ESD and I had a great time going through it.

But....what I really wanted was a Spinet cabinet. That's the one Mom had and the one I learned to sew on. Note I said "wanted"....because I found one! YAY! I bought it from McKenna Lynn. She has lots of interesting machines and cabinets on her site. It arrived from Florida last week, via FedEx with no problems. *happy dance*

So here it is! :-D


I polished it up a bit and put the 201 in it.


Wooohooo!


Christmas in July. :-D

7 comments:

Tami @ Lemon Tree Tales said...

That's a great find Katie! Mckenna's on a few of my sewing machine lists and she's always been so helpful to everyone on them. Glad to see that you now have a good home for your lovely sewing machine. :-)

Anonymous said...

I never realized until I saw a video of it that hummingbirds would continue to feed during a thunderstorm. It seems that their high metabolic rates and high energy needs take priority over escaping the thunderstoms. Who knew! Hummingbirds never cease to amaze me.

If you would like much more information about hummingbirds, please click the links below. The sites contain many articles about hummingbirds, video clips about hummingbirds, an informative tips booklet on hummingbirds, and much more.

Click Here To Visit About Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds For Mom

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Great pictures of the storm. You description was very good I could just imagine the wind and the rain belting down. You have some beautiful birds that visit you garden..but I know what you mean about trying to snap a picture..near impossible.

Glad you got the sewing cabinet you were after...it looks lovely.

Tine said...

I love hummingbirds! I they lived here in Denmark, I would have feeders up all over :-)
The table looks wonderful, and what a beautiful machine!!

meggie said...

Good find! Love the thought some people preserve those lovely old cabinets. The one on my Grandmother's old Singer Treadle is in need of restoration, but on the other hand all the patina is from our family, therefore I am reluctant to alter that. It has been ours since new in 1915!

Eileen said...

Oh! I love your bird photos! Thanks for signing my blog so I could find you. Your Singer is beautiful! I will be back to visit..

Juryizstillout said...

I still kick myself for giving my 201 away....what was I thinking??? Your new cabinet is perfect!

I still have the rest of them, though.

Love the bird pictures.