World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Apart from reading,mine are movies and music.Also photography,and workouts in the gym.

I enjoy gardening, like to see things grow and flourish. Walking by the lake makes me feel good, as does considering new ideas, feeding my mind.

Reading, herb gardening, cooking, and potholders.

I like growing herbs, but not food gardening. At one point I had 14 different types of basil, 9 types of thyme, 3 different oreganos, 2 types of parsley, various mints, rosemary, sage, and more. I dry and freeze them and made up all kinds of combinations of herbs and olive oils for pesto. A friend gave me the components for a timed watering system; with it installed, I will be able to get back to herb gardening. I had to give it up 4 years ago as travel and my arm surgeries interfered with watering.

I like cooking, especially with fresh herbs, but cooking is limited unless I have a willing sous chef. Although more expensive, it helps that grocery stores now sell pre-cut fresh fruit and veggies.

To exercise my hands and fingers I went back to a hobby we had as kids - making potholders with the cotton loops on the loom. The good cotton loops are not cheap. I found a vendor online that sells many different colors instead of being stuck with a "mixed bag" so I can be creative in designs and match people's kitchens when gift giving. They also have a bigger size loom and loops so I can make larger ones that are more useful, not only for guys who have bigger hands generally, but are just right for using as a hot pad under oven dishes. During the holidays when friends and their families include me on the invite for holiday dinners, I will usually take a gift of the 2 smaller pot holders and one large one in holiday colors as a thank you/host/hostess gift (which averages $17 in materials).

If driving around in my Miata with the top down and the music up counts as a hobby ...

I used to like photography,before the advent of cell phone cameras.Now,it has lost its charm for me.

Besides reading, I like music, movies, making crafts, and planting flowers in flower boxes. I also like to collect seashells and coffee mugs. I too like photography. I do have a real camera though besides my phone. Not nothing fancy just a simple Kodak 35mm zoom camera that I bought a few years ago. It uses the chip card not the film. It takes amazing pictures and I can just hook it up to my laptop to transfer the pics. I never could part with it as it is the best camera I have ever owned. I still use my phone but I will use the camera too if need be.

Good thread, Wsm. Why would you give up photography because of cell phones? I have a pretty good camera that I still enjoy using and that takes much better photos than my cell phone, but I'd like one that has a better zoom, as I just can't get close enough to some subjects to take a good pic without it.

Cell phones have made photography too easy.Too much looking at the same photos,stored in the phone. It used to be more fun,actually composing a shot.And in the days of color film,eagerly awaiting for a limited number of photos to be developed.

Despite mobile phones I have recently gone back to cameras. Used to do a lot on film when I could afford film.

Interesting to see reaction when I show shots of camera compared to mobile phone. I'll use phone too but if I want a picture its a camera and big sensor with quality lens - yes I know some phones have good lenses and ok sensors. Try taking a picture of a bird half a mile away on your phone to test camera versus phone.

Right. I don't understand giving up on photography because of cell phones. Better opportunities for taking great photos with a real camera.

Scout wrote: "I enjoy gardening, like to see things grow and flourish."

Me too. I especially enjoy growing plants from seed and see them sprouting, and then all the work of transfering the seedlings. Last year I managed to grow eggplants all the way from seed and we had four harvests before the season was over.--The season is rather long in here. I started my new batch of seedlings for this season last week.

I love nature but growing plants is, I don't know, too much of a delayed gratification for me! Just walking outdoors is lovely.

I love to write because it is free and needs minimum materials, apart from the fact that I get so much joy from creating worlds and people.

Gardening, I keep fancy goldfish and I have taken up photography.

Wsm wrote: "Cell phones have made photography too easy.Too much looking at the same photos,stored in the phone. It used to be more fun,actually composing a shot.And in the days of color film,eagerly awaiting f..."

I think I understand. When I was in college, living in a frat house during the summers, we had a dark room and I learned to develop b&w photos. I also took several film classes in college. Composing a shot, waiting for the right light, the perfect colors - it's a very different process than using a digital phone or camera and then editing electronic pictures. A much different feeling of satisfaction.

I sing - I take lessons, and focus on classical technique along with classical music and musical theatre. I have also recently taken up cosplay type crafting. It all began as an extension of one of my other hobbies - our local theatrical society.

We were doing 'The Little Mermaid' musical, and King Triton needed some armour....so I learnt to make armour out of EVA foam. Now I'm making props for my next book launch. It's quite addictive. I've collected quite a lot of tools.

Singing. Love that you can do it. I can't. I sang to my son, and once he could talk, he said, "Mama, stop!" What torture he must have endured until that moment :-) A little more info on what it takes to make props from EVA foam, please.

Yes,I too would have loved to sing,and paint.

Scout wrote: "Singing. Love that you can do it. I can't. I sang to my son, and once he could talk, he said, "Mama, stop!" What torture he must have endured until that moment :-) A little more info on what it tak..."

Ha! My husband has the same problem as you, Scout. The kids and I are quite musical, so every time he started to sing, we'd all yell: "Nooooooo....." And the funny thing is, until only about five years ago, he thought we were all joking. A guy at work heard him singing in the change room, and told him "I thought I was bad, and then I heard you!"

He has recently taken up drumming. And he's turning out to be quite good.

EVA foam is basically sheets of high density foam. With the right tools and the right inspiration, you can turn it into all kinds of things. Here's a pic of Triton (I made the armour pieces.) https://www.facebook.com/matsinc/phot...

And I've been making props for my next book launch. This is 'The Writings.' https://www.facebook.com/leonierogers...

Once you've made the shape, then you have all kinds of priming, painting and finishing to do. I learnt via Kamui Cosplay https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC79q...

Hi, folks. I'm new to this group. I've always been interested in art: drawing and painting, old-school style, and mostly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but now I've been making some headway into digital art as well: logos, t-shirts. And in recent years, I've added writing to my mix of hobbies.

Scout wrote: "Singing. Love that you can do it. I can't. I sang to my son, and once he could talk, he said, "Mama, stop!" What torture he must have endured until that moment :-) A little more info on what it tak..."

I had to laugh. My daughter at age 3 ordered me not to sing anymore. She did allow me a brief reprieve when her brother was born and she was 5, but only if she was outside playing.

G.R. wrote: "Hi, folks. I'm new to this group. I've always been interested in art: drawing and painting, old-school style, and mostly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but now I've been making some headway into digi..."

Hi G.R. & welcome!

Hope you'll add haunting the group as yet another hobby and otherwise enjoy & contribute :)

I guess being on GR so much, counts as a hobby too.

Leonie wrote: "Scout wrote: "Singing. Love that you can do it. I can't. I sang to my son, and once he could talk, he said, "Mama, stop!" What torture he must have endured until that moment :-) A little more info ..."

Thanks for the info. It's cool that you can do that. And so many more things. I'm happy you're here to teach me stuff. I see you have a trusty helper in your cat. I need to know, though, if there's something you're bad at, just to make me feel better :-)

< I need to know, though, if there's something you're bad at, just to make me feel better :-) >

Sooooo many things, Scout! Here's a few to get you started 🤣🤣🤣I cannot sew to save myself, cannot dance (two left feet), and although I'm pretty good at singing in tune, my timing is execrable! I have to work really hard on it.

I'm also well known for dropping things, and knocking glasses full of drink over, usually just at the wrong time Then there was the moment with the crab claws and the cracker....which happened to the people three tables over from us. My husband jokes that we go back for the second time to apologise...🤣🤣🤣🤣

You not only made me feel better, you made my day! :-) Thanks. Have a good one!

Leonie wrote: "I'm also well known for dropping things, and knocking glasses full of drink over, usually just at the wrong time..."

In my 20s and 30s, spilling things, was termed my our friends and families as, "you did a Liz". Now I have the excuse of the neuropathy, but then, I was ]ust a klutz.

Wsm wrote: "I guess being on GR so much, counts as a hobby too."

I would agree with that statement.

Lizzie wrote: "Leonie wrote: "I'm also well known for dropping things, and knocking glasses full of drink over, usually just at the wrong time..."

In my 20s and 30s, spilling things, was termed my our friends an..."

It appears I am in good company!

Lizzie wrote: "Wsm wrote: "I guess being on GR so much, counts as a hobby too."

I would agree with that statement."

Me, too.

Languages, piano playing, ballet

Sewing, crocheting, knitting, cross stitch, quilting. Of course, these things have to be moved on some way or another.

Reading - playing the guitar and electric bass - travel & road trips (visited 45 of the States and 5 foreign countries to-date) - visiting museums and historical sites.

Charissa, crocheting and jigsaw puzzles take me away from my problems. Also gardening, watching things grow

I liked growing herbs. I stopped for several years because I couldn't be home to water and the person who was doing it in 2015 didn't water often enough so I lost my perennials herbs.

Last spring I tried to put in drip hoses and a timer on the hose bib. Within a month the timer was ruined. I gave up again.

This year I put things in pots. I had some seeds that the packages expiration date was 5 to 7 years ago for lime basil, lemon basil, and purple basil - none of which I could find new seeds for in the local store. They all sprouted. I think my staring at them every morning and evening forced it - or maybe it was the hand sprinkiling of water on the tops of the pots 3x a day.

Some other old seeds haven't come up, but I have cilantro, Italian parsley, 3 types of oregano, 2 types of thyme, rosemary, chives, orange mint, 6 types of basil, and a lavender plant. I will lose it all when I go north for 6 weeks in August, but I figured the hobby was worth the expense and loss. Hoping, I can dry and freeze a bunch of herbs the week before I leave.