Rain and the Supremes

All right everybody, join me and Diana Ross
(I'm the one not in the slinky jumpsuit) as we warble . . . 

Oooo-oo, Ooo-ooo . . . (beat)

 My Baby Lock . . .

I need you, oh how I need you . . .

And that other great hit of the Supremes:

You've given me a true love
and every day I thank you love
For a feeling that's so new
So inviting, so exciting

Baby,

Whenever you're near
I hear a

 Okay, enough silliness.  (Is there ever enough silliness?)

Let me introduce you to the newest member of the That Old House family:

My new sewing machine!  Ta-da!

 It's a Baby Lock Symphony, and we bought it Saturday in Pennsylvania at a most amazing

shop that has more sewing machines and sergers to ogle and test drive than I've ever seen in captivity.

My Baby's got touchscreens.  My first electronic sewing machine.

 Confession:  I used to make fun of electronic sewing machines and their gadgets and gizmos.

"What? You can't turn a knob by yourself?" I'd scoff.

Oh, silly silly me.

An intimate portrait of the Symphony, thread fuzz and all.

Look Ma, no feet . . . you can start and stop it without using the foot control.

 After spending 2 hours playing with this machine -- and others -- at the shop on Saturday,

this is the one we came home with.  Thank you, Howard.  I never would have bought it on my own.

 

I do mostly home dec sewing, and some clothing construction, but I've been putting off projects

for several years because my old Kenmore, which has many thousands of miles on its odometer,

needs a whole lot of babying and tinkering now, and I want a machine that will just go.

This one goes.  Like gangbusters.

The straight stitching, zig-zag and utility stitches seem wonderful -- accurate and even.

But yesterday I played with the decorative stitches, because they are just so much fun.

 

My daughters are lucky I didn't have this machine when they were little, back when I sewed all their clothes.

I'd have put embroidery on their underpants.

"But Mommy, it scratches!"

"Shut up; it looks great."

*******************************************************************

What doesn't look great is the rain outside.  Every day.  All week.

Blech.

I took my Outdoor Wednesday pictures thru the sunroom windows today.

Pardon the reflections; think of them as special photographic effects, or the

ectoplasmic manifestations of ... well, something that might manifest itself ectoplasmically.

Below, the stone steps behind the house, up to the driveway.

To the left, white Bleeding Heart.  It had loads of lovely flowers till the rain got to it.

 To the left of the white Bleeding Heart, a pink variety of the same,

some tulips out of bloom, and Iris just in bud.  And a rude plaster goose.

And myrtle making a break for it, up over the wall.

 On the other side of the stone steps, poppies in bud (left).  Ivy and spearmint running amuck.

Time for ruthless cutting back.  Rain, rain, go away!

And that's it for this Wednesday!

I need to visit New Jersey's estimable Motor Vehicle Commission today;

license renewal.  That's always a rollicking good time.

And tonight, late, daughter Alida arrives from Los Angeles.  She's here till her wedding

at the end of June.  I guess we'll have to feed her if she's going to be here that long . . . . -- Cass

Visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday!  Click here.