I was recently reading an article about hobbies which gave me pause for thought, and I wondered if I was not just all hobbies?? A little bit disconcerting to say the least. I have so many things that I like to do . . . collect salt and pepper shakers and cream and sugar sets . . . milk jugs . . . buttons, um and let's not forget cookbooks. That is just the collecting side . . .
Then there is my love of good music, which I frequently indulge, and the needle arts, my love of poetry and quotations. I have a book for quotations and every time I find one I like, I write it into this book. I love to write . . . and can often be found jotting down an idea for a story or a special thought that I would love to expound upon . . . special thoughts, another thing I collect . . . and then there is my artwork, and then the combining of the two. Hobbies . . .
I went to Dictionary.com to see just what a hobby was . . .
Hobby - any of certain birds of prey of the genus Falco (primarily F. subbuteo) that are intermediate in size and strength between the merlin and the peregrine. F. subbuteo is about 33 cm (13 inches) long and is dark bluish brown above and white below, with dark streaking and reddish leg feathering. It breeds in Europe, northwestern Africa, the Middle East except Arabia, and all of sub-Arctic and temperate Asia. It inhabits open country near woodlands, where it captures small birds and large insects. Similar species are the African hobby (F. cuvierii), the sooty falcon (F. concolor) of eastern Africa, and the Oriental hobby (F. severus) of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
I don't think so . . . although I once watched a gentleman training his hawk in the fields behind our old house. Fascinating to say the least!
Reading a bit further on I found that it is also known to be a small or medium sized horse . . . I did always want a hobby horse when I was a child . . . I wanted a pony and a monkey too . . . or maybe I just wanted to be Pipi Longstocking . . . hmm . . . still not what I was looking for.
Finally . . . a favorite occupation, topic, etc., pursued for amusement, pursued in the spare time for pleasure or relaxation. Bingo! (But then you astute people already knew that.)
Out of all my hobbies I would have to say that I love the writing and the artwork most of all, and they are often intermingled. When it comes to writing I do a fair amount of it . . . from the writing of my quotes into my notebook to little stories, letters, e-mails, poems . . . and these daily writings I pen for you here at Oak Cottage, and then The English Kitchen.
Then there are the endless notes I write to myself, reminders of things I have to do, menus and grocery lists, observations of things I have seen such as descriptions of the fat wood pigeon which visits our garden every morning . . . or the sparrow hawk that swooped down over our hedge one day . . . or the little heads of the sparrows which I see peeking up towards the sun over the top of the hedge as the sun rises . . . and then the sillouette of the Song Thrush that I used to observe in the dusky twilight evenings, perched on the chimney of the cottage next door down south . . . these observations and thoughts almost always make it into my writings on here . . .
And it does bring me great pleasure . . . but amusement??? Is that why I do it? When I sit at my desk with pencil in hand, or paint brush and bring these little pictures in my mind to life, am I doing it to amuse myself? I'd rather say that I cannot "not" do these things. They are as much a part of me as breathing . . . and as much pleasure as I derive from these two things, the writing and the artwork, there are days when they just don't come, or just don't end up the way I had envisioned . . . and those are the times when they are more hard work than anything else. It's sometimes even downright painful when all these lovely images that I compose in my mind and thoughts just won't translate themselves properly to pen and paper, or to paint and brush.
And yet . . . they are things I love, and which bring me far more joy than pain. But from the definition of hobby . . . they are not strictly hobbies. Passions yes . . . hobbies no.
A hobby, one feels should be a light thing, a sometimes occupation, and when I think about it that way I can see I only have one . . .
Dieting. Of all the things I pursue . . . this is my sometimes occupation and the thing I take most lightly in my life, and depending on how you look at it . . . I am either very, very good at it . . . or an abysmal failure.I much prefer the latter! ☺ I'm a bit like the little girl who had a little curl with that . . . when I'm good . . . well, I'm very, very good . . . but when I'm bad . . . I'm also very, very good at being diet naughty.
Cest la vie, as they say in France!
Happy thought for the day . . .
"Are you racing down life's highway?
Slow down a gear or two!
For you'll miss a world of wonders
If your dust obscures the view."
~anon
There's a simple Quiche Lorraine baking in The English Kitchen today!
Smile! It might never happen! Happy Friday all!
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