Vera,

My main hobby is gardening (my favorites are daylilies, irises, peonies, and lilacs, but I grow scads of other things too). But I also enjoy studying history (especially medieval history, and the history of gardening), painting (landscapes in acrylics, and Christmas ornaments), and playing Scrabble. This winter I'm going to take a continuing ed course at a local college, probably for pottery or painting.

I also have invested a lot of time in genealogy (drawn into it by my mother's research, which has snowballed into a full-scale book project for my family), but I wouldn't call it a hobby or an addiction - I just enjoy doing it to learn about my family and help my mother and sisters out with this project.

Laurel

I really like to mosaic. I started a few years ago by collecting dishes and tiles of nice colours and then realizing I had no use for them and needed one. And then I found something personally satisfying about breaking a plate with 14 karat gold on it and gluing it to something... :) My brother saw me using a hammer on china one day and the next week he showed up with his ex-wife's dishes which she had given to him. Ah, the joy!!

Seriously, though, it's a great hobby which I may turn into a money maker someday.

Yoga, boggle, sudoku, sewing, taking nice long walks, making crafts & yummies for/with my boys, swimming. And sometimes silly things like water gun fights, running in the sprinklers and dodge ball with the kids.

I have been a long time reader, when nothing is on TV I can read several books a week. But now I 'm hooked on too many new fall shows. I also scrapbook when I can get organized. And do all kinds of crafty things with my 5 yo daughter. Love to cook and try new recipes...hate to clean. That's me in a nut shell. ")
Monica/monipsych

I, too, love scrapbooking! Other hobbies are cross stitch, making jewelry (I've recently gotten some of my jewelry into local boutiques!), cooking (especially baking), and (don't laugh)-- organizing! I'm weird, I guess...

Amanda 'romando'

Who really has time for anything else when their main hobbies are gardening and surfing (GW and THS).

So much to do, so little time.....

Sue

Good thread :D

But is there anything you are manic about...I mean REALLY addicted to? I see it like this: Some people dabble with genealogy and other's get totally manic about it. I can't have a conversation with someone new without asking something like "So, did you say your last name was (whatever)? Where did they come from? LOL!! Just like some folks plant flowers and see them now and again and other's can't let a day go by without stolling through the yard and getting their fingers in the dirt....you know what I mean :D

Vera

Vera,
I understand what you mean. Mine is thread crochet. Victorian Xmas ornaments, holiday designs and doilies. Finally turned it into a business and now do lots of craft shows from Oct-Dec.
My ornaments are just about all original designs. From pattern books I have of different ornaments, I either redesign them, or take parts of several and turn them into something totally different. Each piece I make is individually hand crocheted, hand stiffened with a 1600watt hairdryer and then decorated.
It takes a lot of time and work but is something I just really love to do and enjoy selling to the public.

Of course, my gardens in the spring summer and fall are my pride and joy as well, and inbetween crocheting, stiffening, doing shows and designing, I'm WS, trading for seeds and working the gardens.

Fran

Mine is reading. I rarely watch tv, usually only the news and an occasional football game. But I love to read and go through several books per week. If I'm not gardening or surfing the web, my nose is in a book.

Karen

Mine is travelling. Now I pay a lot more attention to vegetation than ever before. It adds another dimension to the trip.

These are all wild plants I saw on a trip this summer; I am wishing for a camera that will take better close up pictures. The little white flowers in the first pic is 3 - 4" tall. It smells heavenly but you have to go on your hands and knees and stick your nose to the ground to get a whiff of it:

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Beautiful photos. To afford to travel! Love it, and also love gardens/flowers. One of my favorites is the the Hula Lodge on Maui. Beautiful Gardens!
Monica

Crocheting anything I can find, rubber stamping my own greeting cards and cross stitch. Volunteering at the pregnancy center has to be my real passion in addition to gardening. Helping someone who feels life is about to end and watching them see the light is fascinating.
Charlotte

So ya wanna know what I'm manic about...well, truth is my manic obsessions come in waves, meaning that I will get totally obsessed with one thing for months....that will eventually trail off and I will get totally obsessed with the next thing. Right now I am on the tail end of my newfound seed obsession...and I can feel myself itching to get into something else...just don't know what it will be quite yet...and in between obsessions I read like there is no tomorrow. In the past there has been thread crochet, cross stitch, quilting, jewelry, faberge eggs, genealogy, Christmas crafts, interior design, floral arrangement, and a whole slew of other things....

By the way Vera...I have some dead ends in my family line and can't afford any of those subscriptions...maybe you could help?

Netta

I have no other life.
This place saved me from a wretched life of incessant boredom.

I have a many other hobbies that keep me busy. I like reading, wood working (I own all the power tools at my house), sewing, soap making, and lately I'm into making jewelry among the other crafty projects. But the one that takes up a lot of my weekends is beer brewing. I'm very good at it but I don't actually like to drink beer.

I am married to a beer snob (BTW, beer snobs are worse than wine snobs) who considers it a travesty to call brands like Bud and Miller lite beer. There are a few micro brands he likes but enjoys our home-brewed beer much better.

I also enjoy making cordials, liqueurs, and mead. Again, it's kind of strange because I hardly drink but it doesn't stop me from making it.

Hiya Vera I am also very deeply into Genealogy. I've been doing genealogy since 1993. I love it and will research anyones family history. I've also helped two people who were searching for their birth mothers. In one instance the mother and daughter were reunited and in the second instance the birth mother was deceased but the daughter did get to find her Uncle. It sure is a WONDERFUL and fulfilling hobby. I love it. I also love reading and History and Civil War History. I used to dress up and portray a Civil War nurse for my Nursing students. It was such fun.
Joann

I had no life till I started trading seeds, then I grew flowers and butterflies visited my garden, so now I raise butterflies! I spend a lot of time tending to my granddaughter who's 3, and I have 2 dogs that have totally spoiled me:) I'm thinking of taking the Master Gardeners classes that start in Feb.

This will be my first time ws so I don't know if I'll get addicted to that or not, but if my obsessive compulsive disorder is in order (lol), I probably will!

Your flower bud, Sharon

sharon, you'll enjoy the master gardener classes. I took mine last year. I learned a lot and have met a lot of great people! I can't wait for the new classes to start in jan/feb so I can volunteer and relearn what I forgot from mine!

Barbi

Nice pitimpinai!!
I know I just drive my DH insane as I always spot something near the side of the road or in a field and make him stop!LOL!!
Kizzyseeds,
now that sounds like something I could get addicted to!! Hmmmmmmmm?
Joann,
Don't ya just love hunting for them ancestors that dropped out of the sky LOL!! You definatley have to become a Nancy Drew. I've also been working on putting together a genealogical history of all the men in my Casper/Cosper (maternal) line that had father/sons in the Revolutionary war thru WWII :D
Do you visit the Genforum boards; Myrootsplace.com,ect.?

Am currently in the process of moving my family info from one website to another my new one and am laying out differently, ect. The first one was basically names and dates in a descendancy fashion and this time I'm trying to include the history and make them come 'alive' so to speak LOL

Vera

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my family site