I know that the Lounge chat is filled with harmonica talk, so I wanted to make a thread about my other hobbies. Well, most of you know that I love playing video games, with my favorite series being Sonic the Hedgehog. Lately I’ve been inspired by the games to get into digital art.
I’ve dabbled into drawing a couple of times, mainly traditional art (pencil and paper), but my fine motor skills aren’t the best. When I heard about drawing digitally (through a computer or tablet), I was extremely excited to learn. I’m obviously still new at this, as my shading isn’t really the best.
Here’s a recent drawing that I did of Sonic playing a harmonica:
6 Likes
I crochet amigurumi (little animals or inanimate objects with faces). The picture wouldn’t upload.
3 Likes
I’ve spent the last year building scale models, something I did when I was a kid and we went to a museum and they had some in the gift shop, why not…oops, got the bug for it again. I’m not very good, but getting better.
4 Likes
Fish, ,sleep late on cold, rainy days, fly my R/C planes, trains and looking for arrowheads in the middle of nowhere, which involves two things I really like. I play my harp as I walk around. The harp is by far the front runner. easy to carry, no electrical problems are amps to carry and no one expects you to be able to play something they like. People all over the world like music and being more involved in it has taught me how much social influence music and the harp have. Without music i would have gone crazy being in traffic 3.5 hours a day and having stress on me. I like almost all kinds of music and frankly when I posted Mon River and similar songs I expected to be laughed off the forum but wrong I was. I play it as much as four hours a day and work at things I like much harder than task I do not, It took me 68 years but the harp has be a game changer for me in retirement and I plan to play it as long as i can. Have about 20 songs i can play w/o music but not all sound great yet. If I were Luke surfing would be one of my hobbies. Went to Hawaii 47 years ago on my honeymoon. i saw a guy surfing and I had to get up at least once. I had no rope tied to my leg and swam in to be a runaway surfboard till 3.00 P.M. A nice girl saw me swimming all day and told me how to get up. After six hours I did and there is nothing quite like it. It was definitely worth the effort. Its one of the big ten things I got to do and i will never forget it. Piglet what models do you build? i just sold my 1/5 scale P 51, No place around here to fly it. Weight is 22 LBS and I have never seen a more beautiful scale model of one. A crash will only cost 5K and more.
4 Likes
Mostly aircraft, ww1 and ww2 and some cold war jets, mostly 1/72, although I’ll make other subjects and scales if I fancy it. I’ve got more patience for it now and they’re turning out a bit better than the mangled plastic of my childhood.
When I’ve the time and space I might give r/c flying a proper go, there’s an abandoned project in storage that requires some motivation to rescue and finding a club to learn with (UK has surprisingly restrictive r/c flying laws rushed in after some idiots with drones at airports incidents that ended up putting barriers up for everyone). I quite enjoy building with balsa wood.
4 Likes
Great idea for a thread. I love swimming. I live near the beach. I also cook, sew and garden. I love to be outside as much as possible.
6 Likes
My wife says I have too many hobbies …lol . Not in any order but I like :
- kayaking ( ok thats #1 )
- photograhpy
- coin collecting ( since I was a kid [ I’m 67 ] )
- collecting wrist watches and enjoy changing the batteries and wrist bands
- collecting pocket watches
- Collecting harmonicas ( especially the limited signature editions )
- playing guitar ( I have 6 guitars )
- being a moderator at Gretsch-Talk.com ( same user name )
7 Likes
Yes!
Cycling… In fact is my main hobby.
If harmonica needs many hours to master it, cycling needs many more if you don’t want to lose tour fitness.
But is great to increase your lunge capacity, as well as keep a good cardio system… And perfect too to sleep as a newborn!
A little bit more expensive hobby, but good to try it!!
8 Likes
I enjoy cycling, and swimming but running I would say is my main thing.
Took it up after a run in with mr Covid wasn’t too enjoyable, lost weight, made friends, got a lot of enjoyment from the progress I made. Then a knee injury nobbled me for the better part of a year. I’m involved in my local Parkrun volunteer team and I’m back to doing 10ks and looking to do half marathons again next year.
I be slow (i’m 1hr+5 for 10k, aint no stick thin runner), but I go.
7 Likes
@thunder58 , that’s impressive but I agree with your wife.
I walk an average 12,000 steps per day, I’m lucky to live in a beautiful scenic town and it gives me a lot of pleasure. Usually stop for a while in various waterside locations to play my harps: so, I get to combine those two things. Making music, while watching dolphins chase fish. I used to write a bit of poetry, but what little talent I may have had for that has dried up. Not as keen about fishing as I used to be but will be back into lobster fishing during December and hopefully fill up the freezer again.
9 Likes
R C and drones mmmm drones yes but R C is not done near airports. makes no sense. If you fly R C the harp is training you well for it as both seem easy but are anything but. I taught an airline pilot how to fly R C. He thought since he flow 727 airliners and R C plane would be easy. After about 4 seconds of near crashes he hand me, a 16 year old kid and said here fly it kid. I just wish a 16 year old kid would bail me out of the rhythm issue of playing a harp. it is the one thing I will be working on for a long time. bending and simulating a train were not so hard to be started on. I am a train nerd. I play at least 2-3 hours a day and things are coming into place but developing good rhythm is the hold back. My wife says I play na bit fast even though I play through some back tracks and go right over the notes right. Its just how long to hold one or change the volume. as harp players with no music all i can do is record what I play. The metronome is something I just cannot connect to the harp as no music is used.
4 Likes
I collect a few 18th century silver dollars but they are hard to find not cleaned. scratched, etc. I cannot find the $300,000 I put side to get the 1794. I guess the harp will take the place. Sold my $20 D E new Orleans coins. I can but lots of good harps with what they bring. Only three ways to get rich legally born into it, marry into it or work for a long time and live beneath your means. Both my wife and i missed the first two and the third has not happened yet. At this pint I worry more about getting better rhythm with a harp than owning lots of stuff I care nothing about .Good A C, heating a a bath, food and playing a harp are much more important at this point. frankly most of the money people are poor people with a lot of money. Having lots of it seems to have complicated their lives.
6 Likes
@leah I had not heard of amigurumi, had to look it up; very cool! My mum (91) was knitting little dolls, much simpler, along with several other ladies and they were distributed to sick children in hospital. I think it was such a lovely thing to do. I don’t imagine that you would be giving away your amigurumi, as they must take ages to make and I’m guessing that you become quite attached to them, but it just reminded me of the charity thing. Is it of Japanese origin? So many beautiful Japanese art forms, they seem to tap into something that the rest of us don’t. The pottery mended with gold, and their poetry. The last poem that I wrote was haibun, a Japanese form.
1 Like
@PapaCurly while I do become attached to them, I have given away many. They are actually pretty quick to make since they are so small and I can only hold on to so many. I’ve been meaning to check with my local hospital if they have any use for them. The Japanese do come up with some cool things, like amigurumi. I wouldn’t know about the poetry. It has never been my thing. My grandmother used to knit clothes for my Barbie dolls. She taught me to knit, but I prefer crochet.
1 Like
Love the topic, already seeing we all seem to come from a broad spectrum of interests!
I used to happily claim my hobby was having hobbies, then I learned it was ADHD with neurodivergence 
I am a full time stay at home dad with a 2 year old terroris— toddler. So I don’t have much free time anymore, and most of my hobbies have met the axe as I learned they no longer brought me joy or there was nothing left to explore. The knowledge they’ve granted me carries on though.
Mainly: Reading fantasy, mythology, ancient philosophy, poetry. Playing Kendama an incredibly satisfying Japanese skill toy, and harmonica. Tea and coffee.
Dabbling: I also really enjoy pipe tobacco but rarely these days and nasal snuff. Book repair. Charcoal grilling. Yo-yo, juggling, visual art, photography. Secular tarot. Voice impressions (for story telling)
Was deeply passionate but found mastery in these things so they are simply a part of me now: fountain pens, mechanical pencils, journaling, knives, watches, personal fragrances, firearms, wet shaving, flashlights.
Abandoned, my time with these is over for the foreseeable future either due to lack of interest or time to commit: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, classical guitar, renaissance lute, ukulele, tin whistle, video games, scotch, wine, mead, nalbinding, HAM radio, camping/bushcraft, origami, knitting, Jeep Cherokees XJ, Subaru WRX’s,
woo! I’ve never tried to list likely only 90% of it before, mental illness is a hell of drug!
In short, I spent a lot of time trying new experiences and things, each and every one taught me something useful about myself or life, challanged me, frustrated me and delighted me. But now I consider myself quite simple.
Give me my books, a cup of coffee, my harmonica, and a tin of tobacco and I’ll probably find a household task to do instead 
5 Likes
I LOVE snowboarding. Rarely get to do it, living in Hawaii. But took my 7 year-old son last year and he LOVED it so maybe I’ll get to start doing it a bit more…
4 Likes
Luke
My cousin went to the big island to interview for a job at the top of the mountain a few years ago and I went along. There are many big telescopes there on top and he can make the mirrors for them. I did see snow at the top but did not go up with him. We went to a bar on the far side and it seemed like a nice place for a harp player. Cannot remember the name of the town. He was meeting with people from KECK SP ? Saw some snow from and other island 80 miles away in 1981 when my wife and I were on or honeymoon there but it seems Maui and the other islands are getting overrun. I was sad to see the road to Hana changed so much. There are some places that are not to be over run and Maui is one of them. Went all the way to Lindburgs grave at the small church just past Hana. What a great place. The one lane road took eight hours to navigate but involved several stops. Had a great time and am so glad we got to see Hawaii before the light rail and crowds. I’ll take Hawaii and a snow boarding vacation over living where it snows 11 days out of 10. Texas is big but given about 10% of the U.S. population lives here things are getting crowded. No snow but we have had baseball size hail, a bit of snow, a tornado and two terrible floods and three very close lightning strikes. I think you were smart to get settled there when the getten was good.
1 Like
I like playing my guitar’s when I can. Acoustic and electric.
Spending time with my wife and family
BBQing
Feeding the cats who were dumped at the park near our house. 15 total. Used to be more.
Playing the harmonica. Learning to play it.
Going to the beach.
Surf fishing.
Riding my bike. Pedal type.
Building things out of wood especially Adirondack chairs. Original design no short cuts or anything different.
5 Likes