Got any hobbies, please share.....

[biggerbirdbrain]

Hey, mates!

I was interested in the pyrotechnics you mentioned, tom, as my hubby used to be certified when he worked at Six Flags park in San Antonio. He also liked to get set on fire when he was a stuntman.

Little surprise, then, that his nickname in those days was .......

.........

wait for it ........

here it comes .........


no joke .........

can you guess? .......

absolutely true .....


TORCH!

[Linda]

... and you have always carried a flame for him! 

[birdy]

Guess he's real hot stuff, eh, Threeb?   

[technomc]

No damp squibb there then?

Keep in touch when you can threeb me old china....

[smaug]

I suppose gardening would be my biggest hobby

I collect various succulents and cacti and like to display them in similar glazed pots of different shapes.

They are displayed on garden wire shelves that I find on council clean ups - I collect them when I see them (not too rusty),clean em up and respray them with a good green paint. They look a million dollars then! I have picked up all shapes and sizes and have more than 50 or so specimens potted and displayed.

But gardening gives me a lot of enjoyment and I have been able to share with people of all ages and interests, and especially with my kids who now appreciate gardens wherever they go.
I have lots of other 'collecting' type hobbies - some shared with members of the family, and some for me. I love the stories behind some of the things I have collected, and would love to be rich enough to buy some really beautiful things I want - like antique snuff bottles.
I also love reading, especially science fiction/ fantasy.
Anybody else into that genre?

[birdy]

Me! Me!

Actually, I share both your hobbies.  I have lots of plants, though, not just succulents, though I have my fair share of them.  I have three windows in my apartment, and I think at last count about 60-some plants.  But it varies depending on what cuttings are growing and what has died.  Some of my plants have been with me well over 25 years.

My succulents aren't doing as well as they used to, since somehow I brought in scale.  It's hard to get rid of, but I hate to throw plants out until they are dead beyond resurrection.  But to try to isolate the sick ones, I've had to move some away from the window, and they aren't happy about that.

I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy.  My favorite author is C.J Cherryh, and lately I've been reading Elizabeth Bear.  I like most subgenres, including military (though my eyes do glaze over the weapons specs in David Weber's Honor Harrington series - I'm willing to take their capabilities on faith).

[Tom44]

I am also a long term science fiction fan.  I like Cherryh, too, but David Brin would be my favorite.  I also like Alan Dean Foster and Elizabeth Moon.  Don't care for fantasy, though.

[birdy]

I haven't read any David Brin lately, but liked him in the past when I read him.  I like Elizabeth Moon too.  For me, Foster is uneven, but I like the Flinx books, especially the early ones.

[smaug]

Hi Birdy
we are lucky enough to have a very large garden - our home is on a 900 square metre block.
Sydney has a subtropical climate so most things grow well, except for very tropical or cold climate plants
so our garden is a very big mixture of everything in between, from all over the world.
I am afraid I am not so patient with my potted succulents and others, and so when they are sick or cease to look perfect, they are gone! If they can be broken up I re pot them and make more pots to give away, or even sell at the aged care facility where I work to raise funds for other things. I manage to scrounge all sorts of pots from places and decorative gravels etc. 

Glad to hear there are science fiction/fantasy buffs out there!  I think the line blurrs a bit Tom, dont you think?
I have too many favourites to list. What I like doing is finding the first volume of a series at an op shop or fete and then collecting the rest. It sometimes takes me quite a while, and they are often not current, but it means I can read them all at once, rather than waiting for years as they come out!

I am currently finishing the fourth and final book in a series by Ian Irvine, and Australian author, which makes it even more interesting for me. A bit long winded in parts, but very good and slightly different in design to the Euro-centric model (his words!) The quartet is his first "Tale of the Three Worlds"

I also liked David Zindell, who was very thought provoking in a philosophical way as well as science/fantasy
and Julian May's 'Saga of the Pliocene Exiles' , which I think was very original. I also enjoyed reading Arthur C Clarkes 'Rama' novels. Another Australian author I enjoyed reading was Martin Middleton.

I have a pile a mile high next to my bed, and still collecting from those fetes!!

Cheers

[birdy]

Envy, I believe, is one of the seven deadly sins, so I will refrain from describing my true feelings regarding those 900 square meters and a sub-tropical climate.  I mean, I may still be sinning, but not everyone has to know it!

My apartment is arranged for the convenience of my plants, which may be why there are quite a few who have survived so long.  I did discover the trick for convincing people I have a green thumb - get rid of the dead ones.  I used to say, "Name a houseplant - I've killed one of them."  Now I tend to keep the ones that do well in my apartment's micro climate.

[smaug]

Sorry Birdy - didnt mean to show off.
 A lovely apartment in the big city, full of plants sounds pretty good to me! I think its New York where you live?

[birdy]

Yes, in Brooklyn.  Don't worry - you weren't bragging!  A little envy may just encourage me to go out and buy a lottery ticket, so that I too may have a garden some day.  I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, with a fair-sized yard, and hated being outdoors until I was grown and living in the city.  That's probably when I began missing nature.  Then I'd go back to my parents' home some weekends and work in the yard for hours.  My favorite thing was weeding - boy, could I take out any frustrations on those poor dandelions and plantains.

[smaug]

Weeds dont last long in my garden - water is too precious to waste on them! We have had some very harsh seasons, and things can be tough for even the hardiest specimens.
Another benefit of a large garden is all the wildlife that pops in - lots of birds and lizards. The blue tongue lizards (a large skink) have recently given birth and there are lots of cute babies hanging around.

[shazza]

Well Birdy you are officially invited to visit me any time you feel the urge to weed!  I loathe gardening and my garden is full of huge wild rose bushes that I can't bring myself to prune and weeds, lots of weeds!  At least my husband mows the lawns so part of it looks civilised.

My hobbies include being a marriage celebrant, so I get to dress up and go to weddings a lot, and I read Tarot cards.  I class those two as hobbies because they aren't my day job, but I do make pocket money from them, and the occasional funeral.  um what else?  I am a word game addict, I love to read - mostly fantasy, and I play netball - much to the disgust of my poor old body....I have three teenaged boys in the house so there isn't time for much else, and I haven't even been on here for a while.  Shame on me!

[smaug]

Welcome back shazza.
seems to be a few fantasy readers on the forum