Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Hobbies?


Dear Editor,

I’m wondering if you can post a community question asking about the hobbies enjoyed by those in the SWNE community?

Thank you! 

 

39 comments:

  1. Easy… restoring and maintaining and old house. Toss in reading, cooking, and and hunting down sime elusive great antique, and a recent hobby addition, kayaking.

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  2. Multiple outdoor pursuits - hiking, cycling, canoeing and kayaking. Jazz music. Pulp novels.

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  3. Gardening with a focus on native plants, cooking and baking, and golf when I can find someone who enjoys walking with their clubs over their shoulder or on a pull cart rather than on the back of a golf cart.

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  4. Going to school. I always wanted to be a life-long student so the day I graduated from college, I enrolled in another college. But in the last three decades, I've been attending life-long learning classes and, since retiring, I'm studying whatever strikes my fancy at OLLI at Emory University. It is my dream come true!

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  5. Tennis, squash, sailing, reading, cooking, and needlepoint!

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  6. I second going to school as a mature student. Because of the pandemic I couldn't attend classes in person but found a wonderful option at the Oxford Continuing Education site in the UK. Have taken two classes and on to my third this fall - some are done in a live format and I have met people from all over the world. Its been so interesting!

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  7. Cooking, knitting, reading

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  8. Trekking, traveling, knitting, sourdough baking, and swimming.

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  9. With two teenage daughters, three horses and a small horse property I have little time to myself, but I enjoy an occasional round of clays or chasing ruffed grouse and woodcock in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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  10. An old home, means a lifetime of " hobbies"! Throw in keeping a vintage MG, and Land Rover on the road, a bit of cooking and painting, so no shortage of things to keep one busy, and hapoy! Thank you!

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  11. Book repair,needlepoint,collecting antique silver and travel.
    Jane

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  12. I decided to brush up on my rusty French using Babbel. I've renewed for another year. I find it enjoyable and worthwhile. I am thinking of starting a second language.

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  13. Needlepoint, needlepoint and more needlepoint.

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  14. Tennis, bird hunting, fly fishing, hiking, canoeing, playing music, reading, and tinkering on things around the house GLH

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  15. In the athletic hobbies department, can't recommend running enough. It's thrifty (all you need is a pair of sneakers), convenient to do (no reservations, court/course, other people req'd), and can be done in nature. With or without music both have their perks. A run on a country road is a great way to quiet the mind and let it wander. Don't have to be a hero about it either - 1 mile, 26.2 miles, and everything in between acceptable distances!

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  16. Oh, gosh! Do you REALLY want to know? Painting and collecting large formations of 18th century 1/56th toy soldiers and learning new languages among others.

    Best Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

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  17. Reading, writing,and book collecting. Also bird hunting but just to look at and appreciate their beauty with binoculars and camera.

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  18. I walk, perhaps even hike. That covers my activities not otherwise required. Not really a hobby, though. For that, I make my own walking sticks or staffs (staves?).

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  19. I started collecting stamps as an 8-yo and, 60 years later, I'm still at it.

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  20. The wonderful courses from Context Conversations, a part of Context Travel. There are lectures from renowned professors in just about every academic discipline. They are offered as stand alone for 90 minutes, or multi episode seminars, each lecture at 90 minutes. I just finished Prof. Sabry Ammousi's 10 part course on European Art History. Sabry lectured live from Amsterdam, where he is a Prof. at U. of Amsterdam. All lectures are recorded, and can be viewed for 7 days.I am now taking a 4 part course on Shakepeare's tragedies from Prof. Luzzi at Bard College. These courses, plus courses from The Teaching Company kept me sane during covid, and continue to keep me sane today.

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  21. Somehow I rebel against the term "hobbies." Interests yes, manifold and changing; hobbies no.

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    1. Sartresky - I've never liked the word "hobby" either. Mostly because it doesn't seem serious enough. For example, I've put 2,000 plus hours into my family's genealogy. I've gone from being a beginner, to respected researcher in six years. Because of my "interest" in this subject, I'm now in the possession of pictures of great and great-great grandparents I thought I'd never see. Life would be very boring if we didn't have either hobbies or interests.

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    2. There are hobbies and there are interests. I have multiple interests and I'm even fairly active in a couple of forums dedicated to one of those interests. But it doesn't involve collecting or doing anything. I don't know if social activities constitute hobbies or not (probably not) but I used to be heavily involved in certain kinds of folk dance and also at church but no more.

      A curious thing is that even though I'm retired, I don't seem to have any more spare time than I used to have.


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  22. My hobby is cruising the internet for hours on end because it's endlessly fascinating. I am sacrificing physical fitness and productivity in more active endeavors. I am shameless.

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  23. Oh, they run the gamut from outdoorsy endeavors (walking/ hiking/ biking, photography, gardening) to drawing, watercolor painting, playing piano, baking, researching family genealogy, and reading.

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  24. Reading, travelling, visiting museums/historical/cultural sites and venues, baking, going for walks, activities with my DAR chapter (I live abroad so my DAR chapter is not just DAR stuff but also a dose of America/home.)

    --EM

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  25. Hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, skiing, and horses for the outdoor hobbies and reading, knitting, learning about different periods in history, and genealogy for the indoor hobbies. I love having the mix of active/risky and quiet/calm hobbies - it makes me feel like myself. - Liz

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  26. Completed master gardener online course back in April. Now, I am working on volunteering the 40 hours required for certification. As I get older, my goal is to give back to my community by providing horticultural instruction. I have also enjoyed participating in Great Dixter's virtual lectures by Fergus Garrett. A real treat!

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  27. Poking fun at Muffy.

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  28. Playing guitar, cross stitch, doll collecting, dealing with two Shetland Sheepdogs. I haven't decided if my hearing loss is from loud music or Sheltie barks...

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    1. They are such great little dogs. However, I wouldn't recommend them for just anyone. They are definitely herding dogs though, we get herded on a regular basis and the younger one periodically herds the older one!

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  29. I agree with Sartresky above about using the term "interests" as opposed to "hobbies", mainly because with my hectic job, I have not been consistent in my activities. That said, my interests are Jacobean embroidery, gardening, Swiss and German watches, and the paranormal.

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  30. As an owner of a boat model company in Maine I see how happy people feel building a model. I have a lot of 90 y.o. customers and I always say “no wonder they are in their 90’s”.With last yrs pandemic more people realized they needed to enjoy long term projects.

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  31. As usual, Sartresky offers good insight. The thing about interests is that they can, like books, pile up, not receiving the attention you would like to give them. You pick up more along the way, like adding to your reading list. Interests sometimes drift in and out of being hobbies. Not having time to return to painting, model building, and playing my instruments and learning new ones all gnaw at me. Being landlocked and not sailing much is hard. Not having three more oddballs who obsess over bridge is a pity. Trying to stay current on reading while also returning to the works I enjoyed both as an undergrad and a grad student majoring in literature is a tall order. (Some age more gracefully than others.) Then there is the whole world of internet sites that turn mundane things like stereo systems, cookware, even the morning shave into something interesting. Is looking for the best razor blade a hobby, an interest, or a pursuit? The enjoyment of wines and whiskies is a never ending pursuit.

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  32. I guess im the odd ball, i enjoy Gibson and Fender guitar collecting, All styles of music including 80s heavy metal. Also motorcycling , steak houses and researching life in american, circa the 60s and 70s americana.

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  33. Fly fishing, skiing, mountain biking, road biking, duck hunting, collecting antique decoys and sporting art to name a few. These are not "hobbies" but life long passions.

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