Hobbies

Trying to get to know each other better, or outside the book! What are your hobbies, other than reading and buying books?

I like to do crossword puzzles. I keep a list (journal) of weird clues/words that I was unable to get; because they always show up again.

May-October I love to sit near my garden (flower and vegetable) and watch them "grow", the bees, dragonflies, butterflies, and birds. My husband won't allow a bird feeder close to the house, (other than hummingbird) so I sit in the garden and read and watch. (and often fall asleep) We had a birdfeeder close to the house and it was a disaster--bird doodoo everywhere, including in our pool and on our deck. However, when hubby is not around, I sometimes slice an orange and put it on the deck railing in an attempt to attract Baltimore orioles, but I'm rarely successful.

June-August--swim, we have a pool. I do water aerobics to 70's disco music or southern gospel! My best is just laying on a floatie with a diet coke and a book, though!

Until last year I played in a community band--tenor sax. We practiced weekly and had 2 performances a year--Easter and either 4th of July or Labor Day. I heard we weren't going to restart until 2022 due to Covid and blowing of the instruments blew spittle into the air--and sorry, I have to agree with that one.

Notice how many of my hobbies have a book included?

My biggest hobby nowadays is playing with my granddaughter. She’s two and a half. I moved last year to be closer to all 5, but have only sporadic contact with the others with Covid. But I’m in Theia’s pod. She comes over for the day at least 3 times a week and I function as her primary playmate. We have grand times!

My second hobby this year is finishing all the projects and minor repairs that have needed done for decades. I can concentrate now because I’m RETIRED. Yay me.

Beyond that, I now have a beautiful basement that I’m fitting out with storage and work stations. Paint, carpentry, assembly of shelving, pegboards. Sigh!

One corner is devoted to an older hobby - antique button collecting. I haven’t been active with it for a while, but haven’t decided to abandon it either. (Yes, there are clubs, shows and competitions.). But T and I regularly play with the Bakelite buttons.

Come spring, I will begin gardening at the new house. I’ll be digging up lots of favorites for transplanting. I also pretend I’m cultivating several acres of blackberries. That mostly consists of beating paths through the brambles so picking is possible in July. I make a cordial that has developed a faithful fan club.

Not many hobbies: still working, although not much at the moment and all from home. I am very lucky to be able to do that. One hobby is crocheting bears for the Mother Bear Project, which sends them to poor children in Africa. See http://motherbearproject.org. I can't remember to add a photo…

Other than that, well we have 5 cats, so they have become a hobby as they have aged and forgotten certain litter box details etc. I should make cleaning up the clutter in our house a hobby, but haven't been able to do that for some reason. Sigh…

ETA: I forgot! I also did a lot of writing postcards to voters last year and some this year. I will continue to do it in the future.

>4 krazy4katz: Glad I am not the only one running a feline geriatric home! My son's childhood cat is 20. The girls are both 13. Lost my best pal to feline lymphoma in October.

I knit, have bird feeders. A hawk swooped in for some brief excitement last week.

I used to be a journalist and taught English and journalism in college before I retired, so I am trying to finish writing projects, mostly my family history so I can put it all on a blog and make it available to family members. Then I can throw away re box of documents, papers, and notes.

I get a lot of satisfaction from throwing things out or passing them along. Maybe my hobby is downsizing!

I’ve been making scrapbooks/commonplace books for many years now. It is a hobby that costs me almost nothing as I glean pictures, quotes and scraps for embellishments from books, magazines and cards. These are not photo albums which the term scrapbooking has come to mean. I have books on the subjects of books and reading, the seasons, poetry, gardening, tea, memorabilia from travels and gifts, for instance, labels from soaps, just whatever comes to hand, which is quite a lot if you keep your eyes open. It is so satisfying and fun.

I also color, collect bookmarks, and crochet. I started crocheting rather late in life, self-taught. Thank goodness for uTube instructors! I mostly make throws and afghans for family and friends. I’m pretty slow and haven’t made a lot but it is very relaxing.

I'm still working full time, but mostly remote. My 92yo father lives here, and is independent but loves me to go with him for a walk in WalMart (that's his exercise). I'm also married, with a college student son at home.

FUN hobbies in my non-existent spare time are bird watching (8 feeders), water gardening with two small ponds (100 gallons each), photography (mainly nature), one dog, two feral cats, one geriatric house cat (18), three aquariums, composting, and perennial & container gardening. I also like to make homemade soup.

Let me make it quite clear that I do not knit. My mother with a crowd of kids was always knitting. Us boys never even noticed.

Recently I was shocked to discover that after building houses and cars, I did not know what knitting actually was, or how it was done, except that in the end you ended up with a useful garment.

Mooched needles and wool from girlfriends and sat and worked at it. Not easy, is it? But fascinating.

Ok, so I only ended up knitting a scarf ! But all those loops, all joined together. Centuries ago someone had to sit and invent that. (could you do that?) No internet pages in those days, so then they had to teach someone else too.

I am so so so glad that I now know how it is done and I have profound respect for every genius who can follow one of those patterns and make something to wear.

>8 Novak: I took up knitting for about a year. I made a scarf, some mug cozies, ipod cozies, and enjoyed it. But I can't read when I knit, and I'm no good with audio books, so knitting went bye bye.

Of course, reading is my number one thing, always has been, always will be.

I love traveling, nature photography, hiking (and by that I mean moseying), birding and gardening. Retired and have many projects planned! I am hoping to do more photography (you can see some of my best shots in my gallery) and more gardening.

Two weeks after I get my second covid shot I will go back to my Silver Sneakers aerobics and yoga classes (with mask).

>10 perennialreader: Congratulations on getting that shot! Yay!

My mother taught me how to knit, but I sort of forget. I know knit and purl, but that is not enough. Youtube will have to reteach me. My mother said that my grandmother tried to teach her how to crochet, but since she was left-handed and my mother was right-handed, it didn't work out. I thought my grandmother taught me how to crochet, but now I can't remember...

Well, there's absolutely no doubt that my main hobby (passion?) is railways. Over the last 25 years or so I have had the opportunity to restore, maintain and operate real life full size steam locomotives in England, South Africa and Kenya. I'm now building my own Africa-themed model railway in a 40 foot shipping container at our home in rural Kenya, a project that will take many years and will probably never be "finished" as there is always something one can add, or a new idea which will involve modifying some of the existing layout.

A few years ago it belatedly dawned on me that I am surrounded by exotic, beautiful and, in some cases quite rare, birds so I took up birdwatching and I'm gradually getting more proficient at it. We are also surrounded by non-avian wildlife which we enjoy watching. We do what little we can to try to conserve it.

I used to do a lot of hiking in my younger days (or rambling as it was known then in England) and that has included pilgrimages such as the Camino to Santiago de Compostella in Spain and Portugal and St Cuthbert's Way on the English-Scottish border. In my younger days I used to enjoy hiking in various parts of the world, including the Lake District and the Cornish Coastal Path in England, Wales' Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains, Offa's Dyke on the border between those two countries, the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Northwest in the USA, South Africa's Table Mountain and Uganda's Ruwenzori Mountains. My wfe and I still ramble along the escarpment of Kenya's Great Rift Valley when we get the chance, although as our knees get older and creakier we try to avoid the steeper routes.

>10 perennialreader: after I get my second covid shot

I hear you. Here we dream about the day sometime in the future when the vaccine might become generally available in Africa after the Global North has had first dibs on it. Most of my age mates in UK have already had theirs, or at least have an appointment to receive it soon.

>11 krazy4katz: I learned how to knit with YouTube 😎

I like to sit outside and watch our animals interact with each other. I have a dog, two barn cats, three house cats, two horses, and a fluctuating number of chickens. Last spring and summer some got broody and hid their eggs and showed up with a passel of chicks. Most of them turned out to be roosters. Why is that? Anyway, spring and fall are delightful here. Summer, not so much as it is often in the triple digits. We had to evacuate twice last year because of wildfires, but were lucky and our place was untouched.

Needless to say, I love to read. I have a couple of books going at all times and always keep one in the car.

I also like to quilt and knit and belong to a quilting group that hasn't been able to meet for a year, now.

After I get my second Covid shot, I hope to find a few used book shops open and go browse. I have really missed doing that.

>2 Tess_W: Our community band has also stopped meeting since March 2020, same reason with woodwinds. I play B-flat clarinet, and I also serve as secretary on the Board and share music librarianship duties with another clarinetist. We also rehearsed weekly and played 4 performances per year.

We lost our best first clarinetist to covid in November, sadly enough. He was an even better saxophone player and played professionally with two local groups. Our director moved away, so we are again seeking a new one. I hope we can get our group back together.

>4 krazy4katz: >5 nohrt4me2: I am glad to be part of the geriatric cat set! I have four neutered males, ranging in age from 15 yo to 7 yo, with one set of twins. They get along well with each other and are very affectionate to us and to each other.

In addition to cats and playing the clarinet, I (of course) love reading and have a huge library in our house. I teach (part time) college courses online to undergrads, write curriculum and also write book reviews for NetGalley. I like to color and work on puzzle books of different kinds. I especially like the ones for adults that contain a variety of different kinds of puzzles.

My husband and I traveled extensively and are glad we did, since we don't know when we will get to do that again, or how much trouble it will actually be to get on a plane or a ship. We have bird feeders on our deck and enjoy seeing the birds in all seasons of the year, which we have here in Indiana. When the weather is nice, we spend a lot of time sitting on our deck watching the birds and observing the nature sights near our lake and woods.

>15 LadyoftheLodge: Cheryl, my sister plays the clarinet and my mom the piano and we forever have played at church. I used to hate it when I was younger, but now those are some of the best memories I have. Just played 2 years ago "How Great Thou Art."

>15 LadyoftheLodge: I used to color but have gotten out of the habit. I should probably do this, but I usually color with friends. Now writing postcards to voters has become the alternative to crocheting bears when I want a break. There are still a few state house races that need help, so I get out my skinny sharpies and go to town. That is something that can be done in a zoom group too, so it is fun.

Our cats are a never ending source of discussion. The last 2 arrived while I was out of town. :-\ They are perfectly lovely, but I can never leave my husband home alone again.

>16 Tess_W: My friend Phyllis and I played a clarinet duet at church some years back during Advent, and we still talk about it. I think it is still on YouTube. She sits next to me in the community band and is my co-librarian for the band's music library. (When we sort music at her long dining room table, a glass of red wine for each of us makes it a fun time.) I played the clarinet in high school, then got away from it for many years until I was persuaded to join the community band.

>17 krazy4katz: The cats were already residents at my home when we got married five years ago (both of us were widowed). They gave my husband the kitty stamp of approval, so I knew he was a good choice. (They actually like men better than women.) Even though I am the one who feeds them and cleans their boxes, they adore my husband and would rather hang out with him than with me.

>19 LadyoftheLodge: typical fickle felines...

>19 LadyoftheLodge: Yes that sounds like us, although my husband does feed them. The nice thing is we each have a lap cat. I have one upstairs and one downstairs. He has two downstairs. :-)

>21 krazy4katz: Two of our cats like to sit with us but not on our laps. They enjoy snuggling up behind us, so we look as if we have tails! One of our cats also has developed the odd habit of waking us up in the night by jumping at our bedroom door and trying to open it using the lever-type door handle. We lock it from inside, but he is very annoying and persistent. Putting him in the kitty condo did not work, as he made a lot of noise trying to get out of it, showing his displeasure in a variety of kitty ways. He goes for months without trying to open the door, and then starts in again. We tried letting the cats sleep with us in our room, but they played all night long, walked on furniture, and wandered around, then slept all day. They are quite the handful.

>22 LadyoftheLodge: Hilarious!
We finally started closing our bedroom door too. I don't, but my husband, who goes to bed later than I do, closes the door because he is the magnet for hungry cats. They love to sit on him and meow in the middle of the night.

>22 LadyoftheLodge: after my kitties had a fight on top of me in the middle of the night and scratched my legs, I became a mean mommy and shut the bedroom door upon retiring. I also used to squirt with water any cat who cried outside the door (usually around 3am).

I just have the one house kitty now, and he usually remembers my rule about NOT disturbing Mommy's sleep...

It's been great reading all these replies! So many fellow cat-people here warms my heart. Y'all have the right cattitude.

I like film photography, and develop my own film. I have darkroom equipment, to make actual prints, that is set up in the basement, but not used in the 6 years I've been in this house. This basement can only be accessed by an outside door and is unfinished - no running water and only a bare suggestion of heat and air. No room for it up in the main house. (We moved here from Texas and convinced ourselves this wouldn't be a problem. It's a problem.)

I also paint with oil pastels, though I'm not very good. But it's relaxing. I like to cook, and in the summer months keep a lot of herbs right outside the door, as well as potted annuals. Bird-watching, and keeping after numerous feeders is a must, year-round.

We used to do a lot of camping, but have turned into day-hikers these days. Traveling anywhere to hike around, people- and animal-watch, take pictures and have fine meals is a wonderful thing.

>25 terriks: I have a different type of "kitty" tale. I'm deathly allergic! Even sat by a woman at a theatre who must have had cat dander on her clothing, fainted, they had to call the paramedics while I was turning blue, and had to have a trach! Carry and epi pen today--it gives me 20 minutes. I can "sniff" out a cat person many feet away! I can walk into a used bookstore and within 2 minutes know if they harbor a cat--and why do most of them? I have even brought a used book home that must have "lived" with a cat...within 20 minutes of reading it I was broken out in hives and I could feel my throat swelling shut. I no longer buy used books for this very reason. There are people's homes I can not go into because they have cats. Cats are not my friends.

>26 Tess_W: I used to work for the state library association, and we discouraged member libraries from having resident cats for the reasons you outlined above.

I have a chronic disease, the medication for which makes me very sensitive to fragrances. They will bring on a blinding migraine headache that lasts all day and makes me fuzzy mentally the next day. Dryer sheets are the bane of my existence on humid summer days when people vent them outdoors. I have had to walk out of theaters if seated next to people wearing perfume. If another seat was not available, I would have to leave and eat the price of the ticket.

However, I don't think the perfume industry is going to shut down any time soon because of my personal problem, so I've had to find work-arounds. I have a few friends who are addicted to Yankee Candle products or who have those aroma therapy steamers in their homes. I enjoy socializing with them in other locations.

I also have friends who cannot visit me in my house because of the cats, so I invite them for outdoor things or take them out for dinner.

>27 nohrt4me2: My new neighbor offered to buy laundry detergent for the previous owner, because the scent of it from the dryer vent bothers her so much. I assured her I use frangrance free products and no dryer sheets - what a stupid product, anyway!
I don’t have a medical issue with scents, but I’ve been averse to packaged scents since my first pregnancy. I read it as my body cautioning me.

>27 nohrt4me2: Wow, I am among friends! I also have strong fragrance aversions, especially strong perfumes or aftershaves, and have had to move seats in church or theatre because of it. The result for me is also a sickening headache. I use fragrance free laundry and dryer products too. Good know it's not just me!

>27 nohrt4me2: My friends and I also do the same things to work around cats!

>28 2wonderY:
>29 LadyoftheLodge:

I don't like the smell of STRONG perfume or aftershave, but a spritz of Chanel or Liz Taylor for women or Royal Lime or Taylor of Bond Street for men and mmmm! The key to "good" perfume application is to spray it once in the air, and walk though it. But I'm sure to people with allergies it is akin to my reaction to cat dander.

>29 LadyoftheLodge: I have had to move to fragrance-free everything. I was happy to find a hair paste and shampoo that were both hypoallergenic and fragrance free.

>30 Tess_W: Some naturally occurring scents are OK. I still love the smell of oranges, my herb garden herbs, and tomato plants. I cannot attend Mass at Easter if the Church Ladies use real lilies, though. Those things are pungent! Used to love them as a kid.

>26 Tess_W: Oh, Tess - that sounds like a wicked allergy! I'm so sorry. My niece also struggles with cat allergies, but tries to struggle through it. She visited us for a weekend last year and, despite my best efforts to wash all linens, etc., she was scratching her neck and had red blotches everywhere by Sunday. We loved having her, but that was hard to watch. We had good weather, and sat out on the porch and walked around the town a lot, but she was doomed. :(

>27 nohrt4me2: I'm also sensitive to heavy scents, to the point of getting nauseated if I can't escape. It must be very trying to know there's nothing you can do since it's a byproduct of your medication.

Now, natural smells as mentioned above - light citrus, herbs, flowering trees - don't get at me. I also like coffee and baking bread, and other cooking smells like garlic or vanilla extract. But those same floral or herbal smells in a heavy perfume will gag me every time!

>29 LadyoftheLodge: I guess I really am in good company here. I too have issues with fragrances. I believe it is an allergy to the carriers in many perfumes and colognes. I too get a severe sick headache, and it feels as if my blood is fizzing in my veins. I had to leave work more than a few times over the years when people would wear fragrances. I have issues with other common cleaners and so on. Less of an issue since I retired.

As for hobbies, reading of course, and I have four kitties and a dog. It seems that whenever our kitty population is reduced more just turn up. Up until now, we had special needs and rescue dogs, but the arrival of my granddaughter caused us to get a puppy last time. That was just crazy. My daughter was uncomfortable with me having a rescue because they live in another state. When I go to visit, the dog has to come too. I have been fortunate to spend a good amount of time with my granddaughter despite the distance. In fact, I spent nearly three months with them in 2020 when a weeklong visit in march turned into lockdown.

I do less gardening than I used to. In fact, I think that if I woke one day and found all plantings had turned into grass... I would celebrate. Are there more weeds than there used to be or is it my imaginiation?

>33 mckait: My solution to the gardening issue is to plant my flowers in containers. The other tactic is planting perennials (when I plant in the raised beds), so I do not replant, and they grow very close together to provide ground cover so the weeds cannot easily get started. The vining and twining weeds are the ones I have to deal with the most, and they climb up the plant stems.

>35 LadyoftheLodge: Yes! Container gardening is great! I have found that a big bag of topsoil every year on the raised bed smothers the weeds. There are enough perennial herbs in there to crowd out the weeds now.

>35 LadyoftheLodge: It's a good solution. I had perennials and planted more, including bulbs. My husband dug up peonies that predated us in thins home, and we have been here 20 years. He left spaces between and planted pampas grass. And left spaces. Which means weeds. I planted about 100 bulbs one year, and that fall he decided to paint the coal door that was half buried at that end of the house. He dug up many, most of my bulbs to paint the door and then cover it back up with soil.

...

I suspect that can be a conversation stopper, but I hope it isn't. It's just my life and I get through.

so

Yeah. I was lucky today to have a nice enough day that my dog and I could sit out on the porch and read. Well, I read, she didn't...That is absolutely one of my favorite things to do.

>36 nohrt4me2: I tried that with some veggies. I have some very ambitious groundhogs. Even though I had placed the containers on a sunny, open but small side porch, they found them. It was fine. I just went to the farmers market, but with the groundhogs and deer, and my current lack of interest, I just continue with the farmers market. Works for me.

Running trains of course....

>39 alco261:

Oh my, that is nice. Lionel? I must try to post a couple of pictures of mine at some point.

>39 alco261: Oh my, very nice!

>40 John5918: Yes, mostly Lionel in that picture - prewar, postwar, and MPC. Most of my trains are actually 3 rail O gauge from other manufacturers but I was running primarily Lionel when I put up this particular display.
Thanks >41 Tess_W: I'm glad you like it. When I set up one of these carpet central displays (those of us who only put trains up on the floor consider ourselves members in good standing of the Broadloom Conspiracy :-) )I make it a point to invite the neighbors and their kids over for a "show". It's lots of fun to see the reactions of both the kids and the parents. Most people have never seen a setup of this size (the one in this picture took up the entire living room) and the reactions go from mild to wild.

>39 alco261: Trains and books seem like a good pairing

>42 alco261: It's lots of fun to see the reactions of both the kids and the parents. Most people have never seen a setup of this size (the one in this picture took up the entire living room) and the reactions go from mild to wild.

I can identify with that. Mine, although still at an early stage of development, is a permanent display, not one that I put down and take up, and fills a forty foot shipping container. The reaction of people who come in to see it is amazing.

>43 mckait: Trains and books seem like a good pairing

Definitely. About 1/3 of my non-fiction bookshelf is railway related.

>39 alco261: oh my oh my oh my!!!!

Love them. We've got some N-scales packed away for when we have room for a layout.

>39 alco261: Brings back childhood memories! My dad had a Lionel train set that he set up on the table in the basement. It had little buildings, people, trees. I recall that hot metal smell when he turned on the control box and the little delay before the train started to move. My sisters and I were not allowed to operate it without him being there though.

My hobby of course is being a helper on Librarything. I must spend 3 or 4 hours a day acting as a helper. Have over 75000 CK entries

I like growing roses, cooking, and making soap. And I'm a guy. OK, a gay guy.

>48 malarkeyus: What kind of soap do you make? I never thought about that as a hobby, but it might be interesting.

>47 bergs47:

That's an impressive amount of CK. I mostly just do a lot of tag voting.

>47 bergs47: What is CK?

Good topic.
I have a number of hobbies. Being a frustrated no talent writer my most recent passion is journaling. I doubt any of this will ever be read, but I enjoy writing about my experiences. The latest is about growing up in rooming houses. Of course, I then have to read about others with the same experience- Maya Angelou, Mary Higgins Clark, Thomas Wolfe, etc.

>51 Tess_W: Common Knowledge.

Click on Zeitgeist, then if you on a computer. on the left "helpers" and then you can see all the categories where you can help.

Eg Work Combiners: bergs47 (20,048),
Common Knowledge Contributors: cowpeace (86,157), Agrammatos (84,971), bergs47 (75,734)

My total in all categories is well over 100 000

Motorcycling, local, touring and rallies. Currently rebuilding my second antique (over 40 years old) Italian motorcycle.
I joined LT to catalogue my motorcycle library.
The majority of my reading revolves around the above.. Reading books on motorcycle safety. Also my special interest in journals and bios of motorcycle travelers in the Western hemisphere and around the world, especially travelers in the very early 20th century.

>52 rathad: Don't give up. Remember John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.

>54 LarryPepper: Ha! Had to check your library; and yes you do list How to be sexy with bugs in your teeth.

>54 LarryPepper:

I also had to check, and I see you have Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries.

>56 2wonderY: Oh yeah I got "How to be..." many years ago. Before it became pricey. In fact I had someone approach me through LT trying to get it from me. Borrow it, or buy it cheap for his wife's B'day. I saw this person just joined LT the day before asking me and he had ZERO books catalogued. I believe he was a Nigerian Prince trying to scam me. Later I checked the price for that book and it was $1400.00, recently on another used book site it was $977.00.

>57 John5918: Yup, to be read.

>58 LarryPepper:. It’s on my daughter’s wishlist and I hope to someday find a cheap copy someplace for her. She and her husband's family are bikers. My husband rode an old BSA Thunderbolt.

>48 malarkeyus: Roses bite, do you use them iin your soap?