What other interests do you have?

[Biggles]

This has to be one of the most Social of forums.

So I thought that it would be nice to learn what other interests members have besides “rattling the keys”.

Me, I have quite a few other interests and being well retired I have the time to follow them:-

Family History, we have been researching ours for many years, it had to happen being an Anglo, Welsh, Canadian by birth.

Going to the Theatre, an exclectic mix of music concerts, plays, ballet, classical.

Photography, architectural, landscape and street. Image processing using Photoshop and Lightroom.

Movie making, part of a group who makes dramas, edit footage in Premier or Da Vinci Resolve.

Art, of many genres, with works by Mondrian, Magritte, Maddox Brown, Raphael, Durer, Turner, Lowry and Valette.

Walking in the country and on the fells, or rather hobbling until I get the hip replaced.

Reading, avid thriller/crime reader.

Computers, I always seem to be tweaking or fiddling here and there on my gear.

Cooking, I am the chef at home, in addition to the main meals, breads, cakes and pastries are a my favourites.

 

[ladyfingers]

I'm really new here but here's my list.

Besides currently playing the keyboard at my little tiny church and being a church pianist years ago (I played the piano and my mother played the organ), here are a few things I love.

I love photography (I'm a Nikon girl) - and shoot mostly nature. I tried my hand at portrait - babies, small kids, seniors - and realized that was not my cup of tea. I have been on a mission to find an owl in its natural setting and have yet to find one. You'd think in the big state of Texas, I'd find an owl, and I look all.the.time - but so far, none.

I love all things true crime (I think it makes my husband nervous) - podcasts, Netflix documentaries - all of it.

Traveling, with my favorite place being the Smoky Mountains of TN. Every year we say we're going to go somewhere else but seem to mostly end up there - I just feel at home in my soul there.

Love just getting in the car and finding a winding road to see where it takes us. Unfortunately we don't seem to have a lot of time for that with these jobs we have to go to every week day - but it's what pays the bills and allows me to buy camera gear and keyboards.

Another new hobby is jigsaw puzzles. We just started one New Year's Eve and it's of the State of Texas, and is huge and in the shape of the State of Texas - not rectangle like most - we haven't even got all the border done yet! It's a tough one but fun.

On New Year's Day 2017, I got up and decided I was going go do something I'd never done before, so I made apple butter and canned it (and God bless those who weren't scared to try it!) That morphed into a year long passion of canning - more apple butter, bread and butter pickles (lots and lots and lots of those), jalapeno jelly, strawberry jalapeno jelly, peach rum sauce and fig preserves, so I decided yesterday I was going to make it a tradition and got up and made more apple butter. Friends have suggested I sell it but I just enjoy giving it away, so that's what I do. My friends also call me the Instant Pot Queen because I have two and use them a lot - and LOVE them. I'd buy one for everyone I know if I had the money.

That's all I've got! Thanks to those of you who have helped answer my questions, and I look forward to getting to know more of you.

Brenda

 

[happyrat1]

I too am retired but not as ambitious as either of you.

Aside from music and watching TV in couch potato mode waiting to die I spend a lot of time with my computers and learning new recipes to try out as well as studying youtubes on how to maximize the control of my keyboards and musical devices.

I have also been known to pick up a soldering iron and do the odd repair or build a small audio project from scratch.

I'm really not the outdoorsy type. I don't skate, ski, swim and riding a bicycle in this city is instant fulfillment of a death wish

Summertime I'll catch the occasional live show in a city park or unlimber my little Canon Powershot and snap a few interesting pics.

Wintertime in Canada though? If you don't skate and you don't ski it's enough of a workout to slog your groceries through the snow and get them home in one piece.

Most of the time though I'll be found on my couch translating my manuals from Chinglish to Canuck.

I did most of my adventuring and travelling when I was in my teens and twenties and to be honest I didn't find all that much in the world worth seeing. Architecture changes, food changes, but pretty much everything else about human nature remains the same. By the time I was in my thirties I pretty much became disenchanted with all the rigamarole involved in travel.

I used to want to write a dystopian science fiction novel exposing the foibles and fallacies of human nature to make my mark on the literary world, but I have since come to the conclusion that everything that needs to be said has already been said by other wordsmiths more talented than I am.

So nowadays I am pretty much a homebody, keeping my carbon footprint small and working to perfect my musical talents as an alternative to educating a planet which neither needs nor wants my philosophical critiques and solutions to the mess they created for themselves.

Aside from this and occasionally socializing with friends and family my needs are simple and my ambitions are small.

Gary

 

[ladyfingers]

Aside from music and watching TV in couch potato mode waiting to die

- ok I might do a lot of this myself.

 

[happyrat1]

THIS, is the type of idiocy that my fellow countrymen consider a suitable winter activity....

It was –18 C yesterday in Winnipeg, colder if you factor in the wind chill. In those conditions, about 50 people showed up in nothing more than bathing suits, mitts and hats to take part in the annual Polar Bare Run. The turnout was better than in previous years. One runner says if it had been warmer, it wouldn’t have been as enticing. "If it was around zero or warm weather, it would kind of defeat the purpose." Elsewhere across the country, there were also the usual polar bear dips into frigid waters.

It truly makes me wonder sometimes what people are trying to prove to themselves and the world.

Gary

 

[ladyfingers]

THIS, is the type of idiocy that my fellow countrymen consider a suitable winter activity....

Yeah that's just nutty, but I also live in Texas where if there's even the remote possibility of a snow flake, we lose our minds and run to the grocery store and buy all the bread and milk they have. Why I do not know because even if the roads are bad for a day, it'll be melted and gone by the following day. People in other states make fun of us.

 

[happyrat1]

When I was in my early twenties I drove from Montreal to Florida one miserable January and when we hit Washington DC there were a few flurries coming down. There was like 4 inches of snow on the road. Vehicles were spinning out on the interstate everywhere and at one point we all laughed our nuts off. We saw a 5 ton snowplow in the ditch.

Traffic around us was in a panic travelling at about 20 mph while three crazy Canucks in a Ford Cougar with snow tires were bombing along at a comfortable 55 mph.

Believe me. You don't have to tell me how mental southerners get when there's an inch of snow on the road.

I swear, I'll take that image with me to the grave, chuckling all the way

Gary

 

[Rayblewit]

I love creating music and adding lyrics. I write short tales, songs and poems and gutter rhymes . Some are serious and some are silly. My ambition one day is to collate it all and catalogue it for publication. (Dreaming!) It has a title already "Tales of Mass Dysfunction" lol.

I am currently writing an engineering manual for drive and conveyor chain. "ChainMaster". Been 10 years in the making and already 500 pages. I will never finish it. But I refer to it often to guide myself in my job.

Still working at 67 which consumes too much time and doesn't allow me enough play time. I want to retire and join some clubs. Table Tennis for one. Also woodworking and music clubs.

I grow vegies . . Potatoes, Tomatoes, Capsicum, Onions, Zuccini, Eggplant, Squash and Snow Peas.

I do not watch much TV or movies. BUT I watch the football throughout winter. Love my Footy!

Wife and I walk a lot. We also love to travel when we get the time. Cruising is now our favourite travel mode and also driving north to the Murray River. So warm and relaxing!

I collect old things and restore, rejuvenate, clean up! I sell these on ebay for a small reward for my effort. Just small things. I collect sheetmusic, music DVD's and Vinyl records too.

Back to work now.

Great thread Col. Nice reading everyones stories.

cheers
Ray

 

[goranmagdic]

I'm also a newbie here. I watch a lot of football, including supporting my local team, Scottish League One's East Fife, and play indoor football twice a week.
I also like wine and beer (in moderation of course!) trying different varieties, attending festivals etc.

 

[Becky]

What a diverse bunch we are! Great idea for a topic @Biggles

I taught myself how to paint recently, and it seems to be going well so far. I'm also a bit of a space nut so I'm starting to specialise in space-themed artwork. I mainly use acrylics, and I belong to a local art society. It's a great hobby, although it can be difficult to make the time for it. I got a graphics tablet for Christmas so I'm hoping to start playing around with digital artwork too.

Other than that, I go for a walk everyday to help ease my back pain, and I've got in the habit of listening to audiobooks. I'm currently listening to the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, it's really good.

I used to want to write a dystopian science fiction novel exposing the foibles and fallacies of human nature

You should read The Expanse, it's a book series by James S. A. Corey. Don't bother with the TV series, it's naff. The books give a really interesting take on what things could be like in the future, and it feels depressingly realistic.

 

[happyrat1]

The books give a really interesting take on what things could be like in the future, and it feels depressingly realistic.

You wanna get depressed?? Look at the numbers...

World population will hit 8 billion in two more years.

The 1% are having us build robots so they won't need us anymore...

The best way to reduce our carbon footprint is by getting rid of 75% of us.

Robocop or Terminator drone edition is coming for us and it won't be AI that controls them. It will be natural stupidity

It's a book I cannot bring myself to write.

Gary

 

[Rayblewit]

I write short tales, songs and poems and gutter rhymes . Some are serious and some are silly.

Quoting myself . . The following is one of the silly ones LOL!
I just wrote this crazy rhyme today . . I must be nuts or totally bored!

MAJOR C (In the Middle)

As I lift the cover, keys shining brightly, white and black.
Look at you guys all lined up, Minors up the back.
All the Majors in the front perfectly aligned,
Ready to play your specific notes formally refined.

Good Morning Major C. How are the troops today?
Are they perfectly tuned and ready to play?
Yes I have octaves to the left of me and octaves to the right.
Keen and ready, we all rested through the night.

Very Good Major C, let’s start with a simple tune,
In the key of C, on the count of 4, “Fly me to the Moon".
Bossa Nova, common time - take me to the stars.
Play those notes with passion like on Jupiter or Mars.

A couple more verses now and a few more bars,
Hey! That even rhymes with the stars and Mars!
Now, one more tune, then we call it quits.
How about some swing, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”.

Let’s take a break now and to all you C’s
Tell your troops to stand at ease!
We close the lid now for another day.
God Rest your ears ‘til next time we play.

Ray

 

[Becky]

@Rayblewit that's fantastic!