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Post by balc2 on Jan 18, 2023 21:59:44 GMT
As I'm the author of this new thread I suppose I ought to fire the first salvo as it were!
Well aside from gardening I've always liked practically anything to do with space! (I think I'm a rare person, I like to have my hands in the soil while my head is up in the air (as my dad always used to say! Though perhaps it would be more correct to say I have my head in outer space! ).
Since early on in primary school I've been fascinated by space & everything in it! My love of space related things began years before gardening came along (I was probably about 10 when I became interested in growing things!) I remember seeing the landing of the first guys to step on the Moon! I remember how excited/frightened I was as the Eagle came into land & nearly crashed into a field of boulders! I also remember the first satellites going up into space as well as Gagarin, the first man up into space!
With the advent of computers & the Internet I've shown my grandkids the take off of the Space Shuttles. I even saw - live - the break up of one as it was returning to earth! Now I like to follow the progress of SpaceX As well as NASA launches!
About that time the librarian at my secondary school, I think it was, introduced me to Sci-fi stories! Up till then I'd mostly liked adventure stories but I was soon hooked & have been ever since! My children bought me Sci-fi books for my birthday or at Christmas - especially Isaac Asimov's, who used to be my favourite author of all time. I clearly remember the day he died & my promising to read his books every year after that - & I did for quite a number of years as well!
So what are the things you like to do? How did you start to do them?
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Post by seaburn on Jan 18, 2023 22:53:26 GMT
I like nature/science so moon, constellations etc and the way the moon affects the tides has always been of interest. As I grew up 500 yds from the beach, tides were an aspect that had to be taken into account. I quickly learnt the names of the general animals/plants found on the shore & in rock pools etc. Something I have passed on to my girls. From about the age of 8 I have loved history, especially prehistory. Sewing from the age of five has been maintained and I know get quilt patterns published.
I also enjoy reading and read many Asimov's in the late 60's early 70's. Philip E Dick were also a favourite. I am currently reading a series of tudor who dunnits by Michael Clynes.
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Post by grindle on Jan 19, 2023 5:04:05 GMT
I used to love walking but that's not so easy now, I spend most of my time in the winter catching up with decorating in the house, love knitting and reading At the moment I'm using all my spare balls of wool to knit baby and small people sweaters and hoodies to give away, seems a shame to have boxes of odd wool sitting on top of the wardrobe. I have to admit I need to find other winter hobbies, I find myself climbing walls when I can't be outside.
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Post by Eli on Jan 19, 2023 7:34:49 GMT
My dad was interested in anything to do with space balc2 . He used to take me down the garden at night when I was little and show me the different constellations, stars and planets. I also remember him showing them to me from the bedroom window before going to bed. They were very clear in those days, when there were no street lights. He once took my brother and me up one of the near-by mountains at 3 o'clock in the morning, to see some comet or other, (I can't remember its name). He said it would not be visible again for over 100 years.
As for myself, I enjoy drawing and painting, and I also like local history and family history. I visit various archives gathering information about my ancestors and where/how they lived, their work etc. and how places have changed over the years. Social history is very interesting. I am related to one quite famous Welsh person, and also to a murderer ! He actually murdered two people I think I got interested in it when I was little, standing on the shore at the Mumbles, and someone pointing over the sea at the hills of Devon and Somerset, and telling me that my Grampa's family had come from there. I used to imagine them coming across on a ship. I have an old chair they brought with them but it needs a bit of TLC at the moment.
My art has taken me on to the world of crafts and I make things like those coasters I showed on another thread before Christmas, and I make other things too.
I have also been interested in ceramics. After my dad got a car (when I was 10 yrs old) he took us to Eweny Pottery in the Vale of Glamorgan, and ever since that day I have been fascinated by it. After I finished work, I bought myself a kiln and potter's wheel. I haven't done any thing in that line for several years however, but hope this summer to get back into it (if I can get the old garage-come-pottery workshop sorted out).
Recently I found, in the attic, a boxful of old cine films, taken in from 1961 to 1973. There's a lot of local history interest on them e.g. when they blew down three tall chimney stacks from the old tin works in our village, and the first Severn Bridge when it was half built etc. I was hoping to put them on discs this winter but it doesn't look as if I'll get around to it for a while.
Oh dear, that's a lot of writing. I hope I haven't bored you all, I am not usually very talkative
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Post by SueA on Jan 19, 2023 9:54:55 GMT
I love watching the Space station going over here balc2, we sometimes stand out in the garden & watch it at night & at the moment we get to see the constellation Orion right out the back door as well. I have lots of different interests & hobbies but tend to dip in & out of things rather than do anything in depth. I've always been interested in nature, animals, plants, birds etc., taking photographs & drawing & painting it. I've had photographs printed in magazines & books in the past & quite a few used as the weather photo on local news channels over the years. I dabble in sewing, knitting & crochet but don't use any machines so am quite slow at producing anything! Reading also but not any particular authors, I tend to like modern ones though with new styles of writing & challenging ideas - I hate romances & traditional detective type stories. I've always liked walking & have climbed Snowdon & Helvellyn in the past but nowadays prefer flat terrain! 😁 I've taken up running as well in the past year with my O.H. & can now manage 5k (in stages of running/fast walking) without collapsing! 😊 I've also always enjoyed writing, poems, short stories etc. but haven't written much for years, may try & get back into that when my knees finally give in & I can't run/hike anymore! 😁 Edit :- I forgot to mention that I'm obsessed with sport as well, watching rather than taking part (apart from the running), I love all sorts - F1, cricket (more T20 than Test & especially Indian T20) athletics, rugby, cycling, tennis, climbing & most of all football, I'm a 'blue' & O.H. is a 'red' like steve on here so we have plenty of arguments. 😁 I love going with my O.H. to watch our local football team who play in the North West Counties league (semi-pro) & are only a 10 minute walk from our house - I do get carried away & cheer them on sometimes! 😄
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Post by balc2 on Jan 19, 2023 21:51:48 GMT
Thank you all so much for participating in this thread! I didn't expect such great answers to the question I posed! But I'm glad I encouraged you all to write about what you like doing!
Eli . I'm glad that you "came out of your shell" so to speak! I found your interests fascinating, I had no idea you had so many hobbies! I didn't find your post at all boring & I doubt anyone else did either!
SueA, it seems we have many interests in common! I've been watching the ISS fly over our place many times for many years now! On a webpage called "Heavens Above" you can get times of when it is visible from where you are & what magnitude. There's a ground map view that lets you see it's pass over a map of the UK! I've used it a lot over many years. Like you I hate romances & traditional detective type stories. I even hate it when the lump Sci-fi & Fantasy together on book sites & in libraries!
Where we differ - greatly - is in sport! Most sports I have ZERO interest in - especially football! I was never any good at any sports that I was forced to do at school & that continues to this day! However I used to like motorbike racing when I lived in Spain & when I was a boy in London. My dad & I would watch many races together on TV on a Saturday! Sadly when I returned to the UK over 20 years ago I found that it hardly featured any more on TV. But I've always loved watching F1 races. My 2 sons also like to watch them. When the Valencia circuit was first opened my son, who still lives in Spain, said perhaps we could go together to watch a race but somehow we never did.
grindle, I think your hobby of knitting is very useful & no doubt many children benefit from what you create from "odd balls" of wool! I haven't walked as a hobby but I always try to walk everywhere I can - if it's not too far of course! I prefer to walk instead of using my bus pass except when my wife comes with me then it is the bus to town!
seaburn I was most surprised to hear that you also like to read Asimov's books as well as Philip E Dick's! I also like his books! It seems I may not be that "rare creature" with his hands in the soil & his head in space as I thought after all! I am also interested in prehistory & have always been fascinated by the things that went on years before Homo appeared on the scene!
I've only visited the seaside on a few occasions in my life - even in Spain I only ever visited Valencia on the coast 3 or 4 times for a day! I've never visited any of the seaside resorts in Spain. Even here in the UK I've only visited a few beaches in my whole life. Though I spend 2 weeks at Skegness 3 years in a row before I went to Spain in 1972. Two years my wife & I went to Great Yarmouth to spend some time with our grandkids. My wife liked the town very much & would like to return again someday!
Though I have never seen the pools that form when the tide goes down for myself, I've always been interested in the creatures that live in them.
Please continue to tell more about yourselves as I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds this interesting!
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Post by Eli on Jan 19, 2023 23:14:40 GMT
Well balc2 , and SueA , it seems we have the ISS in common too. I have a friend who always lets me know when it's passing over here, and if the sky is clear and I am awake (!) I will go out to watch it.
However, like you balc2 I am not a sports person. On the days we had sport in school (ie rugby and nothing else) I used to mitch and go to my Gran's house. After she died I told my dad about it and he had no idea I was mitching, my Gran never told him It's from her I get my love of the garden (my dad's mother) and as you all know I am especially interested in desert plants - cacti etc.
We used to take my Gran to parks and botanical gardens and when we got back to the car she'd empty her pockets of the cuttings she'd 'stolen'. I did the same and we'd swap if one of us had something the other didn't. My dad used to tell her "If you get caught taking cuttings in this park I'll be saying I've never seen you in my life" She'd look at me with a little grin and roll her eyes !
I hope I'm not rambling too much but there's something else I can tell you about, and that is my fascination with marine life. I grew up quite near to the Gower peninsula with it's wonderful coastline and if we went to one of the beaches for an afternoon, I would always wander off to see what I could find in the pools. Many years ago I had a marine aquarium. I got water from the sea and collected some creatures from the pools to put in it. (not allowed now but in those days things weren't so strict) I used to feed the sea anemones with bits of meat. I even had a tiny snail that had things like wings and swam through the water. I can't remember what it's name was. It was minute. There were starfishes, sponges, different seaweeds etc, and a hermit crab. It was very pretty, and I had a pump to aerate the water, like waves do.
I must stop now !
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Post by grindle on Jan 20, 2023 4:39:30 GMT
lovely to hear what you all enjoy doing apart from the obvious
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Post by seaburn on Jan 20, 2023 9:05:04 GMT
Snap Hywel, we also had a sea tank with the usual suspects, blennies, grey topshells, rocks with barnacles, shrimps, sea anemones, sand eels, crabs and hermit crabs when we could get them. We used to do a 50/50 water change every week and after a month fish, crabs and shrimp would be released back. This happened for a good 4 years. we also had tropical fish tanks and for pocket money I had 2 tanks, one with 'cobra' guppies [now called snakeskin guppies] and the other with green swordtails. They used to breed freely, live birth, and when big enough I'd sell them to a local aquarist shop. It helped that my eldest brother worked there on the weekends. 10p a fish.
As for sport, don't watch any. Rather do it than watch, but dont do that either. I was an u15 Durham county thrower, [disc shot & javelin] as well as a junior brown belt in judo. 2 of my brothers also did that and my middle brother now teaches it as he is a 2nd dan black belt.
Did I mention that hubby Steve and I go out on motorbikes most Fridays and in the summer on Wednesdays and some Sundays? Bikes are his hobby and he renovates British ones. I went out on Monday and came home to find 2 yes 2 in the conservatory. They are old, one is a 1916 Triumph H which was a WW1 dispatch riders bike, the other is a 1926 AJS.
Enough waffle from me.
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Post by geumgrower on Jan 20, 2023 10:56:46 GMT
Writing! Spent the last week rereading one of my older stories and putting better pictures with it. Forgotten how entertaining the stories are. Not looked at them for about 10 years.
This is one of the new images created with AI program Dall-E
This is Glenda the Wendle. Sorry about the size.
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Post by balc2 on Jan 20, 2023 20:54:40 GMT
geumgrower, nice to hear that you write stories! Is that how you imagined Glenda the Wendle? I've read about the AI program Dall-E.
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Post by balc2 on Jan 20, 2023 21:00:22 GMT
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Post by seaburn on Jan 20, 2023 21:32:02 GMT
I had 3 older brothers so I learnt lots of fighting techniques haha.
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Post by geumgrower on Jan 21, 2023 9:22:32 GMT
The Wendle stories (2 books full of them) came about for a very disturbed child who lived at the farm near us. (Autistic,ADHD, speech defect and some other medical problems). He collected stuffed toy animals, model farm animals and model zoo ones too. Trouble was he used to wander all over the farm and leave them all over the place. So I wrote a set of tales including his animals and used the words he made up for them. The stories actually came from one phrase. "Glenda the Wendle wended her way though the woods."
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Post by geumgrower on Jan 21, 2023 20:22:34 GMT
And if you want something agonising, today I have lost the whole file of stories about Glenda. 200 pages of them. Gone for good as far as I can see.
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