Hobbies and Keeping Busy

After sorting out my jewelry and linen cupboards, I started “chatting” to a couple of friends via Whats App. My alarm had gone off, for a reminder of a monthly lunch date with my girlfriends; which this time round, was also supposed to double up as a birthday celebration on a wine farm. A few crying emojis were sent, although I suspect a few virtual drinks this afternoon will be in order! We have only recently started our monthly get-together, as part of our commitment to our much needed “girl” time. We all enjoy good wine and good food, so it is a “hobby” which we can enjoy together.

Whilst “chatting” to another friend, she commented that she was not much of a reader, and now wishes that she was and I replied, that I wish that I was a better baker. I was reminded that earlier in the week I noticed that for some reason we had a few open bottles of Amarula in our fridge and after much complaining about the lack of dessert in the freezer, (I argued that space was needed for meat and frozen vegetables, at the expense of the ice-cream) I decided to attempt an Amarula Crustless Milk Tart. Sounds divine and easy to make, does it not? Well, nope, no so easy after all! Lets just say that I am going to blame the consistency in me using fat-free instead of full cream milk! To me it had the consistency of a warm pudding, but Jason reasoned that maybe it just had to set a bit in the fridge, even though the recipe does not call for refrigeration. Must admit it tasted divine and bless my husband, for still enjoying it, even though for me, it was not one of my finer moments in the kitchen. Maybe I should just stick to my now perfected healthy makeover brownies, which I was determined to get right!

Now relaxing with my book and a bag of crisps, I look over at my husband whom is enjoying a hobby of his own, weather watching/Meteorology. A few birthdays ago, we all got “conned” into buying him a camera, which is set up on the balcony of the Pringle Bay house, for him to enjoy the “crazy” weather which they get there, whenever he wants to, as it streams to his laptop and phone.

This led me to think about hobbies and how we spend our free time. How do you relax and what do you “classify” as a hobby? Jason says that food and wine are not hobbies, even though we belonged to a wine appreciation club, whereby we had to make tasting notes and not just pretend we knew what we were tasting, since we did Google the descriptions after, to make sure we were not tasting saw dust instead of tobacco.

Does binge watching home makeover shows count? Another thing which Jason argues is not a hobby! I have a friend that is short of becoming a MTB professional, and that I know is a proper hobby. Surely a hobby can be whatever we want it to be? Although if I look at my mother-in-law, now she has tones of PROPER hobbies, which are weather dependant, that keeps her occupied for hours, i.e Philatelist (stamp collector – our word of the day!), Colourist (Adult colouring books), Dissectologist (collects and builds jigsaw puzzles - 2nd word of the day!), collector of Miniatures, playing of cellphone games, watching her DVD’s and maybe reading a book or 2. I am sure that I have probably missed a few more! No wonder my husband does not believe that I have a serious hobby?! How does one compete with that?

During this time of lock-down, I have rediscovered my passion for writing and learning of languages, Italian to be exact. What started out as simple thoughts, has turned into a daily blog, which I am absolutely loving! Long may it continue!

(Photo Credit to Ivan Samkov from Pexels)

What do you consider as your hobbies, whether it is a “thing” or not? Am off to rearrange another cupboard. After lock-down and with the amount of time I am spending on it, will that be considered a hobby?

Until next time…….

Love, light and positive change,

Ophelia