OT: non-bike hobbies

[dstein]

I feel like this has come up before but could only find a thread from 2010: what are your non-bike hobbies? Particularly anyone with young kids that suck up all your other time or involve them. I haven't been riding since an accident earlier this year. My wife says I need a hobby. I don't disagree. Bonus points if it's thrifty, because damn I've spent a lot of money at Rivendell over the years.

[Addison Wilhite]

These can get crazy expensive as well but fountain pens are one of my other passions.  Fun to find the in thrift shops/antique stores and restore them if you like tinkering.  Also easier to hide than a new bike.  :) 

Addison Wilhite, M.A. 

Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology 

“Blazing the Trail to College and Career Success”

Educator: Professional Portfolio

Blogger: Reno Rambler

On Sun, Oct 6, 2019 at 8:19 PM dstein <davec...@gmail.com> wrote:

I feel like this has come up before but could only find a thread from 2010: what are your non-bike hobbies? Particularly anyone with young kids that suck up all your other time or involve them. I haven't been riding since an accident earlier this year. My wife says I need a hobby. I don't disagree. Bonus points if it's thrifty, because damn I've spent a lot of money at Rivendell over the years.

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[Curtis McKenzie]

Spoon carving, growing food in your backyard, learning to play music and reading books.  Some of these activities can be done very inexpensively.

Enjoy,

Curtis"who is learning the banjo while carving spoons and growing food" 

On Sun, Oct 6, 2019, 8:19 PM dstein <davec...@gmail.com> wrote:

I feel like this has come up before but could only find a thread from 2010: what are your non-bike hobbies? Particularly anyone with young kids that suck up all your other time or involve them. I haven't been riding since an accident earlier this year. My wife says I need a hobby. I don't disagree. Bonus points if it's thrifty, because damn I've spent a lot of money at Rivendell over the years.

--

[Fullylugged]

Like Addison, I also collect and restore fountain pens. I moderate 2 FB groups, Fountain Pen Collecting and Fountain Pen Collecting Buy-Sell-Trade. I currently have a Parker 51 vacumatic set, a Parker Duofold butoon filler, a Sheaffer Crest lever filler and a Sheaffer Sovereign rod vac filler set to restore for friends. Good bad weather day stuff.

Bruce

[Ian A]

If running is a possibility, I'd recommend it. A daily half hour run can be a really rewarding hobby. Apart from running shoes, no costly gear needed. A run just before bed can be a great time to get time to yourself.

IanA

[Matt C.]

I'm going to answer your question a bit differently because I've been going through something similar.

I have two kids (3 and 1 years old). Instead of hobbies I do myself, I have been curbing my hobbies to involve them.

Here are a few things I've done:
Wrenching on bikes in my little workshop is something they both love to do with me. Though I never expect to get much accomplished. But they just grab a wrench and try to figure stuff out. It's pretty fun to watch.

About a year ago we bought a house nearby water, so we have started fishing together which was something I didn't really do before.

I've also had to take a hiatus from doing lots of backpacking trips and turn that energy towards being a car camping family. These things all have their own rewards in different ways.

Also, I frequent swap meets in the area when they come about, and I've started taking the whole family instead of going by myself. My 3 year old loves them.

Also, slightly off topic, I would say 95% of my riding lately is just commuting to work and back. But my wonderful wife gave me a pass last night to go out for a ride. I rode a local hiking trail on my Bridgestone MB-2 and was gone for about one hour. Less than 5 miles total. I was amazed how much fun can be had even on short rides. So maybe that is something you guys could work out. Best of luck!

Matt Cook in CT

[ascpgh]

My wife and I have this habit of acquiring residential structures to renovate, not to flip. Currently rebuilding a three story brick single family structure from 1885. Tooling, materials and licensed trades make bikes seem paltry in comparison.

We are involved on a couple of other fronts too. We help a young college student who's beyond her family's ability to aid or contribute. Read Educated by Tara Westover and you'll appreciate how global this mentorship is. We also are very involved in a family in our neighborhood whom we met while the mom was in med school with three babies at home and a husband with the lifelong effects of a TBI. We offer the functional other parent often in support of all three of their childhood pursuits and daily challenges of family life (boiler quits on 20 degree night) their mom isn't able to schedule, attend or do herself.

Leisure application of life skills for others? I guess so.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 11:19:14 PM UTC-4, dstein wrote:

[LBleriot]

I turned to photography during my riding downturns.  Kids make for ready models and the technology scratched the itch to fiddle with something mechanical.  Landscape photography got me out and moving again.  When you heal, you can combine both hobbies by riding to shoots.

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 11:19:14 PM UTC-4, dstein wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

I hope you are able to get back on the bike before too long.

Me, if I couldn't ride, I'd walk, with or without dog, with kids if mine was still at home. Of course, this is much easier if you live up against good walking spaces, as I do. But walking involves nothing more than a good pair of shoes and socks and perhaps a baby jogger. (Tho' I sometimes carry my slingshot and a pocketful of gravel in cold weather when the coyotes gather to skulk in my neighborhood; this to protect the dog, not me.)

Reading history via Kindle loans from the local public library system. Literature; there's a whole world out there that I read as a boy and very young man.

YouTube, old bbc mysteries; sorry, I've not watched broadcast TV for 15 years, and never watched cable, but American mystery series aren't as well done. Rumpole, Morse, Gently, Holmes (Brett), Poirot (Suchet), Foyle's War, PD James, Ian Rankin (I think they did some of his), etc etc etc. Actually, the American TV series Nero Wolfe is very good too.

I need to re read Shakespeare. Junk reading has dulled my reading sense, and I find it difficult to read what I read with delight in my adolescence and youth, but I've long noticed that the satisfaction derived is far greater -- more real. Which is not surprising, since S was truly a genius in character and plot, while even, say, Patrick Aubry, or for that matter Trollop or Austen are not.

Willa Cather is decent and free. I read a lot of children's classics too (The Secret Garden, Narnia).

Military history, again you tube.

Some library systems have checkout streaming video collections. Ours hasn't much, yet.

I manage to get a lot of what I want for free; video on Youtube, many, many classics free from Kindle, or perhaps for $0.99 or $1.99.

Philophy and theology. I tried Augustine but as a professional rhetorician I find his elaborate style trying; we modern's haven't the language skills or appreciation of our ancestors. Plato; he's not ornate. Back to history: just "picked up" in Kindle Caesar De Bello Gallo and Thucydides on the Peloponnesian war (in English). Plutarch. De Divinibus Nominibus with Aquinas's commetary (kidding as a suggestion, but the 2 books have been sitting on my "read next" shelf fro 3 years.)

Building stuff for the house.

Reading the bible in vulgate Latin (trying).

Not me, I hate working on cars, but I know people who have found great satisfaction in restoring old cars; just mainstream iron, nothing expensive.

If I had more time, boxing or fencing. Sailing too in a small boat if I didn't live in a desert.

Chopping wood -- if I had a woodpile; but I loved it as a boy.

Gardening. I don't like it, but I don't try. If I had to fill time, I'd once again try a vegetable patch.

Woodworking: I don't do it, by my father liked it very much.

Etc etc etc!

Let us know what you try.

[Eric Floden]

I have a number of activities but will mention one that has tied in with riding in the past. I became a radio fan and DXer in my teens and have retained an interest through today. My interest in mostly AM/MW, and shortwave. I have carried a small portable on my rides, either overnights, or up great hills. Currently use a Sony ICF-SW7600GR.

When I was a baseball fan, I would take a portable up one of the local mountains and listen to a game from a Washington state broadcaster. (In the 90s, much of the post-season was not available in the Vancouver market.)

When in eastern Ontario at the cottage, I have pedaled up to a high point (Foymount) and listened at sunset for interesting signals.

FM and TV DX is a thing, but has not interested me. Yet.

More info: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DXing

I have been a member of the Ontario DX Association, the IRCA, and NRC, and found membership helpful and rewarding.

EricF

Big 10-4

Vancouver BC

[Dave Small]

My other hobby is collecting antique vending machines, most (but not all) of them designed to sell gum, candy, or peanuts.  They're much smaller than bikes so I can have more, but---unlike bikes---they're completely useless for anything other than looking at.  I do like to do that, though.  

http://www.smallvintagevending.com

Dave

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Music hasn't been mentioned (much if at all).  It's never too late to learn to play an instrument (I know violinists who learned after age 60 and are playing in orchestras now).  I'm a serviceable violinist, but am teaching myself to play piano.  If I have a keyboard and Bach music, I could survive happy for the rest of my life.

Toshi

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[Curtis McKenzie]

Toshi,

Surely you are not discounting banjo music.  Toss in a fiddle and a good time will be had.  Grin.  I started well into my fifties.  Really enjoying the first instrument I am learning.

Enjoy,

Curtis

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[Clayton.sf]

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 8:19:14 PM UTC-7, dstein wrote:

I feel like this has come up before but could only find a thread from 2010: what are your non-bike hobbies? Particularly anyone with young kids that suck up all your other time or involve them. I haven't been riding since an accident earlier this year. My wife says I need a hobby. I don't disagree. Bonus points if it's thrifty, because damn I've spent a lot of money at Rivendell over the years.

Lifting weights. Last year I put a power rack into my garage, bought a barbell and some weights and have been having a blast with it. Equipment can be found used relatively cheap but the investment in your health is huge. Happy to provide more info if interested.

Clayton Scott

HBGCA

[rpeters...@gmail.com]

Putting in another good word for banjo music! Especially if your significant other is a fiddler or mandolin player...sounds better outside on the porch. I fiddle and bought my husband a banjo—then my kids each got a keyboard and a stand up bass in short order. Of their own free will I might add. 

Cooking is both hobby and survival for me: current obsessions are making pickles and hot sauce. Baking causes more waistline casualties so although I love tea cakes and biscuits, I’m not training for anything that’d justify those calories...yet. :) The kids have helped with pickling (no canning tho)- great fun to have chopping help.

I’m thinking of tabulating and making a Venn diagram of these hobbies of Riv owners-i get the feeling there’s a lot of commonalities!

Happy exploring!

Rachel 

Arlington MA

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[Toshi Takeuchi]

My orchestra played with a bluegrass band at my last concert.  It was great fun.  I also play mandolin ok, since the fingering is the same as the violin, but  I just can't pick very quickly.  Getting the family to play together is really priceless.  

Toshi

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[Birdman]

I’ve been playing old-time banjo styles for about 18 years and feel fortunate to be married to a terrific fiddler. It’s great fun and the old-time community reminds me a lot of the Rivendell and bike camping communities: lots of good folk. Clawhammer banjo is a great instrument to learn to play as an adult. The playing technique is relatively simple; in my opinion, it’s about 10% technique and 90% taste.

More recently, I’ve been shooting black and white film photography on a fully manual camera using sunny sixteen. The beauty in simplicity is similar to riding my Quickbeam.

Isaac in Portland, OR

[Philip Williamson]

When the kid was younger, we did kung fu as a family. I liked that pretty well, but I haven't kept up the practice since moving back to California. 

I do a lot of art. Drawing, watercolors. Oil painting when I take a class every few years. Drawing is cheap, even if you get the nicest supplies (get the nicest supplies). "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," a pencil, a black pen, and a decent pad can give you that effort/reward of riding bikes. 

Photography. I got back into film cameras, when I inherited a bunch from my dad. I kept and repaired the most appealing ones, a Leica screwmount, a Graflex 34 (converted to 44), and an Exakta with a couple nice lenses which I haven't used yet. 

Before that I shot a lot with a Sony Nex, cheap adapters and vintage or cheap lenses. That was very enjoyable, and you could get into that for a couple hundred dollars. 

Gardening. I have speakers in the yard, and for the last couple of years I'd spend Saturday morning listening to one of Mike Varley's KWMR shows from that week, sit down with coffee and look around. Pretty soon I'd think, "Oh, I could deadhead those roses," or "that tree limb is bugging me," or "I bet that irrigation system isn't totally shot." 

Reading. I get books from the library, or use the 'Libby' app to read on the phone or iPad. I read "Dataclysm," "Outliers," and a couple of Richard K Morgan books with Libby so far. 

Philip

Santa Rosa, CA

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 8:19:14 PM UTC-7, dstein wrote:

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Things I love outside of biking that include my bear cubs:

1. I read them books, and have done since they were babes. Even at 13 and 10, they love it. We’ve been all over the world and to other worlds, too. We’ve crawled into the wardrobe to have tea with a faun, and met a terrifying and good lion who gave us the kingdom. We have graduated wizarding school and made the best friends we could have ever dreamed up, learned to stand for Good when no one else would and defeated our mortal enemy in a final act of selflessness. We have avoided capture from man-eating trolls and, in a reversal of fortune, left them as stone statues, so there! Most recently, we fought our way out of an arena to start a revolution and overthrow a cruel and oppressive government. We have made foods we learned about in these books, and we have talked at length about what the stories were trying to teach us. Take them to the library - tons of free programs. Go to Barnes and Noble story time and let them choose a book to buy. Bonus points if you let them have their very own library card and book bag.

2. Adult coloring for you, regular coloring for them. When they were little, we’d sit together with hot chocolate and music and talk about all the things little people want to know while we filled in black and white spaces with color. I love anything by Johanna Basford, a young Scottish darling who kicked off the adult coloring craze with her first book, Secret Garden. Bonus points if you splurge on the Sakura gel pens with glitter ink.

3. Cooking. It is a universal fact that kids love to help in kitchens. We got aprons and chef’s hats and a Harry Potter recipe book and went nuts. Bonus points if they help with dinner prep and learn about what nutrients specific foods offer and how they help the body!

4. “Adventuring.” This is done mostly by bike nowadays, because it’s faster and they like fast. But we would go out for nature walks and they would crawl over rocks and make forts and and look for creatures. We would do a “park tour” in our California days, where I would stuff them in the bike trailer and we would hit one park after another via bike on the paseos until we made our way home. Bonus points if you bring a picnic lunch. Double bonus points if you bring their stuffed animals and set them up at your picnic.

5. Movie night. In our CA days, we lived in a tight neighborhood. I was best friends with 3 families who had kids the same ages. One couple would host movie and popcorn night at their house while the rest of the couples had a date. Could be dinner, could be an ice cream or a walk at the pretty outdoor mall. Bonus points if your friends are from elsewhere - all our friends were from India and taught my kids their mother-tongues while our kids were in their homes.

6. NATIONAL PARKS! These are the gems of our United States and nearly everyone lives by one! (State parks are grand, too.) They are affordable and memorable and good for the mind, body and soul. One year we just hit every national park in driving distance and had a ball. Bonus points if you sing songs on the drive.

I wish you minivans and road trips and chapter books and good food made with tiny people in tiny aprons. Bonus points if you report back here with photos and stories.

Leah

[Drw]

Feeling these feelings now too.

Film photography with cheapish cameras has been happening recently. I’m not a photographer, but have an art degree, and it’s been nice doing something different and analog and easy these days. You can spend a lot of time looking at cameras (see my recent post), spend very little and come away with fun stuff.

Also, potentially not financially feasible, we bought some property out in the country, before kids, that needed/needs a lot of work. Much of my time is dedicated to simple (painting a room. Cutting 10 acres of brush every year) to complicated (replacing a well. Rebuilding a barn) jobs. The work has been infinitely rewarding and relatively cheap, since it’s just me slowly plodding along at it every few weekends.

I’d love to say reading, but that’s the hobby I maybe want to do the most and get to do the least. It’s such an easy target for distraction...or maybe I don’t try hard enough

[Drw]

How’d I miss the banjo recommendations. If not super musically inclined, like me, maybe check out a banjolele. It’s tiny and a mix of a banjo and ukulele. Sounds great and it’s Pretty easy to learn 4 or 5 songs, where more complex instruments have discouraged me.

[Nick Payne]

I play classical guitar (badly), and competition English billiards and snooker at a reasonably high level. I guess the guitar probably averages around 1hr/day and the billiards and snooker two or three hours a time two or three times a week.

Nick

[brendonoid]

This seems so far afield here but my biggest hobby outside of cycling is tabletop games. Specifically D&D for me but its a big exciting world of tabletop out there.

Adult play is so important for mental health and often gets shunned as something for kids. It's not. Using your imagination is great.

[Ray Varella]

This list is full of interesting and community minded members. You are an inspiring group.

I’ve been involved with Parrots for nearly 40 years.
I fly them outdoors as well as photographing them in flight.
I do free behavioral consulting to help people better understand their birds and prevent unwanted behaviors.

I also have a small commercial coffee roaster, I use much of the profits to help support an in situ nest box program in Bolivia for a critically endangered species of Macaw.

Ray

[Dan McNamara]

I have a few hobbies that ebb and flow depending on what else is going on. 

Rebuilding lever espresso machines. 

Mostly the smaller machines like La Pavoni, Olympia Cremina, Sama. Friends find machines at garage sales and I’ll fix them up and show them how to use them. Parts are readily available. Nice combination of wrenching, plumbing and electrical. Occasionally I’ll sell one to fund further endeavors. 

Playing guitar and ukulele. 

Working on this with my 8 year old daughter. A WIP on both our parts. 

 

Film photography.

I have been down the photography route before. Decided to leave the Nikon SLR alone this time and use a fixed lens rangefinder. Decent ones are fairly inexpensive - there have been lots of good recommendations on the list recently. Tuning up a older camera can be pretty satisfying. Replacing light seals or a stuck shutter is not too difficult but does require a clean space and concentration. Then you get to take pictures with it. 

Friends have tried to get me interested in other things - stamp or coin collecting, baseball cards, Frank Zappa records etc - but I have so far resisted. 

Dan

On Oct 6, 2019, at 8:19 PM, dstein <davec...@gmail.com> wrote:

I feel like this has come up before but could only find a thread from 2010: what are your non-bike hobbies? Particularly anyone with young kids that suck up all your other time or involve them. I haven't been riding since an accident earlier this year. My wife says I need a hobby. I don't disagree. Bonus points if it's thrifty, because damn I've spent a lot of money at Rivendell over the years.

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[Ginz]

Shortwave radio listening, scanner monitoring, and a tiny bit of Amateur radio, but not much.

[David Bivins]

My hobbies:

Analog (mostly) synthesizers and effects; playing with and building. It's pretty inexpensive to get into building electronics. You can start with some simple hand tools (screwdrivers, wrenches) and an entry-level soldering iron. As with bikes, you can crank up the geekiness (and expense) as high as you'd like. Aion Electronics (https://aionelectronics.com/) is a great source for kits (and printed circuit boards if you want to buy your own parts) for building clones of many classic and rare guitar pedals. If you play guitar or another electronic instrument, you can then use it! I find the smell of rosin on a rainy day to be quite relaxing ;) (kidding kind of - get a fan).

I've built a large modular synthesizer in the older 5U format (MOTM for the fellow travelers, 30+ modules). The modules were offered as kits back in the 90s and I saved my pennies for each one. It's now an impressive instrument from which I can coax sounds never heard before. 

I repair older, simpler analog machines, such as old drum machines. I find them broken or "as-is" on eBay, fix them, then sell them or add them to my collection. If you start with a single model and get to know it well, you'll become proficient pretty quickly and learn a lot that will help you with your next model.

Playing music with my adolescent son. He plays b-flat clarinet and I play b-flat trumpet. He has trouble sight-reading the music, so we play together. It keeps my embouchure intact and is genuinely helpful for him. 

Helping my child with homework. I know, hobby?! Yeah. He's dyslexic, so diving deep into that and learning (and helping him learn) strategies for playing to his strengths and getting around his weaknesses is exciting, challenging, and super useful. 

Bettering myself. I used to shun the "self-help" category like the plague, but I'm now very interested in flexing mental muscles I've long ignored due to my half-baked DIY attitude ("I don't need help!"). Example: How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci. Really good stuff to incorporate into my life and outlook. 

Coaching and refereeing youth soccer. Holy cow refereeing is difficult when one has never been a soccer fan. When my kid joined a team, I had fun watching. Then they were short on coaches, so I said "what the hell, OK" (it's AYSO so it's only competitive in the game you're playing - there are no tournaments or rankings). When they were short on referees I said "this is a terrible idea, but OK." Fun fact - the kids yell at the ref more than the parents do. And these kids are too young to caution or send off :)

Volunteering at a community garden. I know nothing about gardening. But I seem to have a knack for getting people to volunteer for things, and I've taught myself how to build pretty nice raised beds and a chicken coop. I was membership coordinator, so I got to meet everyone, and eventually I became the garden coordinator - basically setting in motion stuff the steering committee and the garden overall votes on. It's a great way to spend a weekend - kind of like the rural property someone else mentioned. There's always something to do, and there's rarely a deadline for when to get it done. I also grow a ton of my own garlic now, so I have that!

David in Brooklyn

[Eric Myers]

What an interesting bunch of folks, I wish more of you lived closer to me.

While my wife was pregnant I worked on reducing my hobbies, so that I could spend more time with my son.  I picked music (guitar) and reading as things I could do either alone or with him.  He's 13 and we still play music together sometimes, and still read the occasional book out loud to each other.  The key thing I try to include is that it should be music or books that are new to both of us, or already loved by both of us, so there is a shared sense of exploration or appreciation.

Later we started biking as an activity we could do together as a family, and I still ride with my son a lot.  But we also spend time walking by the river, skipping stones, talking about stuff, birding, etc.  These are all good times, year round.

Over time my son and I have also had a great time exploring and experimenting with the simple machines (lever, inclined plane, pulley, etc).

Outside of family time, I run a fencing school where I research and teach historical swordplay, and also translate renaissance era fencing texts to English.  This is my main outlet for spending time with other adults.

Finally, my woodworking hobby has been on hiatus for a long time, but I'm starting to get into that again.  Designing stuff and making it is pretty rewarding.

[David Bivins]

Whoops - forgot photography! I shoot 35mm mostly, some medium format, and, about once a year, 4x5. I develop my own black and white film (then scan it). I bring my color film (rare) to a mom-and-pop photo shop here in Brooklyn, but I'm going to start developing it myself more often (only done it once). My camera habit is like the bike habit is for some of you - N+1.

[christian poppell]

I broke my collarbone a few years ago. As a result, I got into ham radio. My girlfriend and I studied and took the licence exam together. You could spend a lot of money on gear and equipment but there are a few inexpensive radios and many DIY projects that can be done inexpensively. There are multiple facets of radio communication to explore. I'm currently working on learning Morse code which has been a fun, brain bending adventure. I've also joined Summits on the Air which involves hiking (or cycling) to registered peaks, logging contacts, and getting points for the peak. Check it out at https://www.sota.org.uk/

73

Christian

Berkeley, CA

[Brian Campbell]

At 51, I find myself in 2 original rock bands. One with my wife and brother-in-law and the other, with long time friends. Writing, rehearsing, playing shows, recording music and all of the stuff that comes with it is taking most of my free time at the moment. We are all self taught players and do it as a creative outlet, with no real aspirations, other than to do it. 

That said we have racked up thousands of listens on Spotify etc. and the band with my wife was contacted recently by a small label who wants to put out our music on vinyl. Perseverance pays! ;-] This was something we all did before our children were born and decided to start again, now that they are older and starting their own lives. 

The two worlds occasionally (cycling & playing music) collide as they will in early November when I have to play a show on 11/2 (late night affair) and do a 100k gravel ride on 11/3. We shall see how I fare.....

[Christopher Cote]

@Brian, you can't post that without telling us the name of your band(s)! Got to check you out on Spotify!

Chris

[John McClusky]

Sorry to hear about the accident David. Buy an old house. Based on my experience, that’ll keep you busy for a solid decade. I’m just wrapping up the last big project, the kitchen remodel in our 1924 bungalow. We hired some of it but my wife and I are building the cabinetry ourselves. With an old house your “hobbies” become woodworking, drywall, demolition (my wife’s favorite), plumbing, electrical and landscaping. None of it’s cheap but it does add to the value of your home.

After the kitchen’s done we’re building out the pottery studio so I can get back to a hobby I haven’t done in 20 years.

John

[Mark Roland]

Nice thread, so many interesting pastimes!

A good deal of my non-working time is spent with my almost 10-year old son, Mack. I had always thought of hobbies as things like flying model airplanes or bottle collecting, but its actually broader than that according to the dictionary. Here are some activities (aside from biking, which we do a lot) we like to do together.

Fencing. He has really gotten into this. Until a few weeks ago, I took him to practice twice a week. The club had lots of gear, and sometimes I would fence too. Unfortunately, after 15 years, the club shut its doors. Now his mom takes him to a program down in NYC on Saturdays.

Football. The other day after work/school, he wanted to toss the ball in a steady drizzle. We kept at it till we were both soaked. He will endlessly run post patterns. He's got a decent spiral, too.

Puzzles. Puzzle season is fast approaching. Challenging, cooperative, slightly obsessive,, pointless--what's not to like?

Reading. Like BBDD, we did the magic wardrobe land. Recently started on The Hobbit. We also ride to the library most Sundays. He likes to read there. So do I. I also enjoy writing, but since a health thing a couple years back, I've found it hard to get back into it.

Chess. He likes it even more now that he found out its a favorite pastime of many fencers. I'm not good at chess.

Art. I got us matching doodle sketchbooks for Christmas. I also like to make small sculpture type art with mostly found flotsam and jetsam. I used to have a welding studio and made bigger pieces and some furniture and lighting. Certain of my bike builds also take some of this energy. I did score a nice Olympus OM-1 based on recommendations here, shot my first couple rolls of b&w. Haven't shot film since probably the 80s. I need to get a loupe. Also, expensive!

My biggest hobby used to be going to tag sales, auctions and flea markets. Actually it was a hobby combined with my livelihood, as I ran a junk shop during one period of my life. I don't do it much these days. Other activities/skills on my to-do list include learning to sharpen stuff properly, wheelbuilding, nuclear fusion & more. 

[Dorothy C]

I play electronic Scrabble. The version I have (EA games) has a pass and play option, so you don’t have to play against the computer or with an internet connection if you don’t want to. I like the fact that it does the math and flags invalid words. They also have a dictionary and the two letter words for some help.

[aeroperf]

When I was young my dad and I built model airplanes together, which set up my career.

Now I'm building a robotic kitten.  https://www.petoi.com/

Hours of fun building and programming with a Raspberry Pi computer, and it is relatively cheap.

You can do it in any weather, and if you get the kids involved, they'll learn to program.

[Mark Roland]

[Lynn Haas]

I knit and spin (with a spinning wheel, not an indoor bike-type thing) and make a few kinds of lace. Great hobby because it has astonishing depth, but you can also keep it as simple as you want. It can be cheap or expensive, although I suggest budgeting maybe $100 for startup so you can begin with a lesson or two at a local yarn store and good wool. If you have kids you can make stuff for them and knitting is a nice portable craft to take along and keep you busy during stuff like soccer games or playground time. Check out Ravelry.com if you want to see the possibilities; my username is titianknitter if anyone wants to look me up over there. Lately I'm into buying raw wool straight off the sheep and processing it all the way to finished garments.

Fun fact: Knitting and weaving were traditionally male occupations. Women spun.

If I had time for another hobby I'd restore vintage bikes.