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May 21, 2022·edited May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

One of my hobbies has lasted for me for almost 60 years now, and that is Amateur (Ham) Radio. I have travelled all over the world right from my home via this wonderful hobby. It is the only hobby which you must pass a test and obtain a Federal FCC license to practice. When I get a fit of boredom, I just turn on my transceiver (a combination transmitter and receiver) and chat with someone else who has a ham license. Perhaps in the U.S., or South America, some exotic isle, someone who is in the Middle East, or Europe. You never know who you'll catch on the air. You may talk to commoners and Kings from the comfort of your home. I have made contacts with King Hussein of Jordan, a television personality, an astronaut, and a pilot flying 30,000 feet on his way to England, as well as ham friends just in the next town. There is a whole world out there and ham radio brings it to you daily whether via voice or Morse Code, and it's always interesting and exciting.

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Living in the DC area, I've become a Docent at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, doing the Fossil Hall and Human Origins. From my starting place as an Orthopaedic Surgeon, I'm now just dealing with older bones! The interplay of extinction and genetics and evolution is fascinating! Lots of good books out there to learn from! Shubin, Brusatte, Brannon, Ward, DeSilva etc etc etc! I'll give you a Zoom tour!

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I spin yarn from wool with a spinning wheel, I knit Socks and sweaters, I sew quilts and clothing too. I go into the woods and listen to the birds and leaves rustling. I like kayaking too. Sunset and sunrise watching. Moonrise and moon sets too. There’s way too many hobbies. Sometimes my curiosity keeps me up at night wondering about all of the things I could learn when the sun comes up.

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May 21, 2022·edited May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Genealogy

Prepare for it to eat you alive.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

After retiring, I decided to study the violin. After teaching myself to read music(I never played an instrument in my life till now), I bought a cello which I am teaching myself on. Decided that wasn’t enough so self teaching myself French and Italian. I do love all these hobbies and they are all doing well.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

My husband took up 3D printing when he retired. He loves it immensely and has made many beautiful and useful objects!

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In addition to swimming several times a week I volunteer a couple of times a month at the Heard Museum Indian in Art. In the shop I’m surrounded by experts in basketry weaving jewelry pottery and more. I enjoy conversations with visitors to the shop & learning from the highly educated expert full-time staff and the general atmosphere in a place dedicated to something bigger and spectacular-steeped in southwestern history art and tradition. Also, it’s pretty far from where I live so in a sense it gives me some separation from daily responsibilities. I’m volunteering my time but I’m getting back much much more!

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Stamp collecting is my hobby. The art work on most stamps, especially foreign stamps, is so intricate, and if you look at them in some catalogs you can actually determine their origins and what they represent, so when collecting any stamps you learn about the country and its people. I primarily collect US stamps which has, over the years, become quite valuable, although dealers in the stamp world may be a bit shady. It is fun to watch stamp auctions and get real bargains against what you know is the retail value. If I can find a stamp worth $500 retail for $20 - makes my day. You must always realize that although you have a collection worth $20,000 retail, you may not get more than $5,000 for it if you sold it as a collection - but that's not why you collect. I can begin working on my stamps and lose myself for hours. Now that's a get away.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Several years before I retired in 2016 I fell in love with everything to do with fibre -- quilting, spinning wool, and knitting are my favourites. When I did retire, I was all set with everything I would ever need: a studio full of fabric, yarn, sheep fleeces, spinning wheels, sewing machines, and of course, an abundant supply of light and air. I knew I would be living on a relatively fixed income, so I used my discretionary spending to lay in a good supply of it all. Now when I go to design and make a quilt, I can audition fabrics from a rainbow of colours -- like having all 128 Crayola crayons in my box! I can take a fleece from right off the sheep all the way to a shawl or sweater. It gives me great pleasure now to work with my hands after decades of working with my mind (I was a psychotherapist and professor). That, and sitting quietly watching the light change on the lake. Sigh.

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I take a walk around my neighborhood almost every morning. That's fun and relaxing and good exercise. The hobby part is stopping to take photos of almost every flower or interesting tree that I see. And when there is an especially good sunrise, I always capture that. Even a foggy morning sometimes makes for interesting pictures. Indoors I knit. Mostly blankets for patients getting treatment my local hospital. Or scarves for needy children and adults. Occasionally something for myself. And I'm also making a hook rug of a sunset. Is it too much to have 6 projects going at once? No. I'm good with that. 😀🧶📸🌺🌼🌳🌅

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Watercolor mostly. When not painting, I spend time reading; taking my first grade grandchild to and from school (as her parents work).

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

woodworking!

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Like you, perhaps, I find that my issue isn't that I don't have hobbies - it's that I don't set aside time for them often enough or let myself get absorbed in them deeply enough to become therapeutic. I have many surface-level things I enjoy at times - but even my deepest lifelong "hobby" of playing and performing music is something that I don't often give a daily priority to.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Martial arts and, right now, because we're gearing up for retirement and selling our house, yardening since we've neglected the grounds of the house for the last couple of decades.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Photography! ....

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I play guitar in a cover band and am always working on music in some form or another.

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Do what makes you happy. I don't think you can invent a hobby to please someone else. I'm a writer without a huge following, but I don't claim it as a 'hobby'. It's what I do. I don't claim anything as a hobby, now that I think of it. I take photographs, some of them breathtaking, though I have no idea how it happens when it happens, but since I often incorporate my photos into my writing, it probably doesn't count.

I'm old and have tried everything some time or another--painting, watercolors, singing, dance, pottery, macrame, crochet, sewing, speechifying...all hobbies I enjoyed thoroughly while I was doing them, but writing is my main thing and I enjoy it so much I might as well call it a hobby.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I'm not sure so much as a hobby but, I inherited my dad's green thumb. I have a raised bed garden which is purely organic. I grow everything from veggies to flowers. And, I love it! All vegetables are then canned or frozen as the season progresses. Then I plant a winter crop like kale to add amendments to the soil for spring.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I have started gardening. I didn’t count on all the weeding, so a big time sink there. But I can create my own little piece of beauty and tranquility.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Fly fishing but it’s dependent on the whims of nature. I’m writing screenplays but that’s work. Walk a few kilometers a day. Got a vintage Triumph motorcycle to tinker with. That’s the latest investment in Hobbyland. Have a sit on top fishing kayak so I can get on the water up here. That’s about it. Drinking was a bad hobby! No more of that.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I play correspondence chess through ICCF. You meet people from other countries through the games and it stimulates your mind.

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May 21, 2022·edited May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

There is a piano belongs to my daughter, waiting for me to retire , so it can be my hobby.

Genealogy; Obsessed with black&white movies; catching the shimmer on the ocean with my phone while walking by the shore every St-Sun 3ml each day ; having lunch with friends every other month, I never want to miss this one.

If it is considered a hobby, watching the news is the most satisfying one.

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You have an older gentleman fly-fishing on the picture which was enough of prompt for me to comment. As you may have guessed, fly-fishing is my hobby. I've been doing it for 60 years and do some guiding is a side-hustle. For those who may be intrigued by this particular it over a multitude of pathways to enjoyment. Beside the never ending learning on the skill side, there is a rich history of literature that allows you enjoy the hobby vicariously through the eyes and experiences of others. In my case it has spawned some writing of my own which has recently made its presence known on Substack in the form of Tales of Trout Wrangler (https://troutwrangler.substack.com/)

This time of year it is a wonderful bit of diversion when hiking. I suspect Hazel would enjoy a swim to cool off during those hikes. Thanks for the prompt it was a delightful diversion in and of itself.

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May 22, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Genealogy is endlessly fascinating. Interview any relative older than you. Ask cousins for copies of photos and family memorabilia. Ancestry.com makes searching your line easy and fun. I became interested in family history when I realized that I did not know the names of all 8 of my great grandparents. Now I have all of my greats back at least 5 generations, and much further on some lines.

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May 21, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Nothing beats a nice peaceful day up on beautiful Georgian Bay on the water fishing and chatting with my friend Kent. Great conversation, on a host of issues, snacks, lunch & dinner on the way home. And the fishing just fantastic, the company super, and the local just serene.

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May 21, 2022·edited May 21, 2022

Since I’ve retired my main hobby is crosswords and Pangram. I have an electric train set that gathers dust. I was an avid hiker and bicycle rider and skier in a past life. I like to watch European Bicycle Racing. I collect 1960s rock posters and other ephemera. In the immortal words of David Byrne, My God! What have I done!

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I started my hobby during the pandemic - taking photographs of gravestones and uploading them to www.findagrave.com. So far I've done about 16,000 individuals. I get a lot of appreciative messages from genealogists, and I've met other people who are doing this work locally. We tend to be loners. It's a good way to get outdoors while avoiding people.

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Promoting outdoor recreation and conservation, both for organizations like the Appalachian Mountain Club.

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Dog activities. I have sighthounds - they run and lure course. Now those sports have opened up and welcome all dogs, no matter the breed or mixed breed. Just about all dogs go crazy for those running activities. Watching your own dog and all the other dogs compete and have so much fun is a delight. The events are social and friendly. People are supportive and helpful. No one talk politics. They talk dogs.

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May 21, 2022·edited May 21, 2022

My husband and I are raptor enthusiasts. Bird watching in general but raptors in particular. So fall finds us banding red tailed hawks, counting Broad winged hawks etc during their migration south. In the spring we’re banding American Kestrels out of the nest boxes we mount in fields. In summer we’re thrilled to see barred owls nesting and having young in nest boxes we mounted in our woods.

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I have several hobbies, reading, baking, crochet, photography, travel, but the most important one to me is gardening. It’s so low tech and soothing, and you end up with flowers! It definitely soothed my spirit during Covid.

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I'm an avid birdwatcher. This is the time of year to watch them--spring migration! It's a good excuse to get outside and walk around. I am trying to be a bird photographer, but it's hard! But I have become obsessed. And it's an interesting way to stay in touch with nature. Birds are the last descendants of the dinosaur age, and with climate change, I am frightened that their numbers are starting to drop too...breaks my heart.

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I retired in 2017 after spending 35 years as an RN a profession I loved, in fact I identified so much with it that I thought I would miss it.

Guess what? Just a tiny bit!!! I missed parts but I found i could be easily contented with creating things! I have seen 2 giant landscape quilts which was a new venture. I bought a kiln and stood next to it wringing my hands around the fire extinguisher the first time I turned it on! I now make fused glass art in many forms and enjoy the steep (for me) learning curve and what seems to be endless possibilities.

I guess what I'm saying is the time I used to spend caring for, educating, and supporting others has now been turned towards me!

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