Besides standing out in the first rain of summer (earlier post today), what do you do purely for fun? This question is especially directed at those people actively "prepping" and making changes in their lifestyle to use less energy, grow or locally source more of their food, become more self-sufficient, build community, and so on. These activities have their own rewards but sometimes are not enough for a satisfying life.
What do you do for pure enjoyment that has nothing to do with increasing your self-sufficiency or decreasing your impact on the earth? Oh sure, I know some of you find all the enjoyment you need from making jam from those fresh blueberries picked on a nature walk, pickling your own home-grown peppers, chopping wood for winter, feeding and watching the chickens, and such. But for those of you who need the occasional break, what do you do?
Do you write? Read? Draw or paint? Go for nature strolls just for the heck of it, not in search of edible or medicinal plants? Watch the birds? Make music? Listen to music? Whip up a non-local totally unsustainable dessert? Go to sushi classes? Learn a new language?
My passion lately has been reading. I've always been a voracious reader but have also gone through times where I've barely cracked a book in ages due to lack of time or energy. Recently, though, I can't get enough of reading books in the SciFi/Fantasy genre. There are a lot of new authors out there writing well enough to get my head out of doom thinking for entire evenings.
What's your pleasure for pure enjoyment?
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15 comments:
Well, like you I love to read. In addition biking along our many miles of trails with my husband and jumping into the river before we head home is another favorite.
Yesterday a bunch of us drove up to a city park in the canyon and played in the river, walked up to the reservoir and did some swimming and jumping off of rocks. We had 6 kids ages 8-16 and they all had a ball even without cell phone access ;o)! We didn't get home till almost 7 so we rode bikes into town for dinner out on a patio at a local brew pub. Biked home singing silly made up songs.
Also love hiking,crafting, backpacking, badminton, canoeing, tubing, dancing....... I could go on but I've got to finish paying bills.
Reading. Although my reading material often has everything to do with my preps :).
I also enjoy playing scrabble, but since no one in my family will play with me, I have to play "Maven", the computer opponent, which, yes, means I'm on the computer.
And audio books. We've been following Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series for the past few years. It's a great story!
Read! Mostly fiction: mysteries, sci-fi, or modern literature.
Make stuff: I knit mostly, but also crochet, spin, and sew/quilt some.
Watch TV and movies: I'm usually knitting *while* I'm watching, unless I have to force myself to take a break so my shoulder doesn't get messed up. I find it hard to just *sit* there and watch!
Occasionally I even like to leave the house and socialize, having a meal or a beer with friends. =)
The hubby and I love to wander. With the heat and humidity on the east coast, we've been doing the museums lately. Sometimes we just get in the car and drive to see what's around us (we've lived here a little over two years so it's all still new to us).
dc - if it weren't so damn hot right now, I'd love to be exploring the new neighborhood on my bike, or riding it down to the really tasty pizza joint. Sounds like you do fun stuff!
Wendy - not fair. Can't be productive fun. ;-)
Haha, nobody liked to play Scrabble with my Mom either because she was the best in the family. Audio books are good.
dogear6 - museums are good. Too far away for us, but we have done a little exploring by vehicle, too.
Adrienne - I used to try to be productive while watching TV - cleaning wheat, darning socks, that sort of thing. We don't have TV reception other than PBS now, though. We have been watching some shows on DVD from the library but they don't have the commercial breaks needed to really get into the chores. Lol
So far, I haven't been able to convince my friends to make the drive up here to see me. Maybe I should offer samplings of my homemade liqueurs as a bribe?
Well,hommade liqueurs might almost make it worth a trip even in this awful weather!
Truly, I would like very much to see your place but i wast hinking I wouldn't try to take trips until it cools off again. Anyway, my brakes need looking at!I like to escape with history and biographies and scifi, mysteries I'm not so hot on.
peace, shamba
Have a look at artfibredunedin.blogspot. Thats what I love to do along with drawing, reading etc, etc, etc
viv in nz
ps This is mostly work in progress - finished things aren't posted yet.
Major reading freak... museums and theatre... it's hard to think of 'play' time when I'm retired and everything sort of falls into that category, now... 8-)
Twitter: SolarChief
Read, write, play dulcimer, flatwater kayaking, making home brew -- GARDENING -- listening to Bach, Mozart, Haydn -- take pictures ... browse ... nap ... go to the moviehouse with my son ... eat ... drink th' homebrew ... volunteer at th' park ... watch for meteors ...
When I have spare time (ha!) I love to read, garden, hike, do photography, and scrapbook. The last is my creative outlet that makes up for my day job (even if I rarely do it.)
Read - especially SF, modern novels about the late nineteenth century/early twentieth, and very idiosyntric selection of nonfiction
Swim - yes, I love doing laps
Bike - after struggling with a borrowed bike for a while, I bought a new bike and its like being a little kid again
Make or listen to music -- recently it's been mostly listen
Watch DVDs etc. -- we have a massive video library. And Chile, ever since the changeover to digital, we have progressively losing TV reception. First to go, PBS. So I'm a bit envious of your limited reception.
And I love museums, especially art museums.
Shamba - honestly, I'd be embarrassed to have anyone over yet. The place is still a mess. However, with the new shed, we plan to move quite a bit of stuff out of the house this weekend. That will open up room for me to finish unpacking. Finally!
Sharlene - all play time sounds good to me!
Viv - cool! Makes me yearn to drag out collage supplies...
Risa - I could live with that list. Well, except I really don't like beer, home-brewed or not. I loved kayaking while in OR though! And Bach, Mozart, Hayden are good, but can we add in some of the Romantics, please: Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Brahms?
Robbie - I'm making the time now. It became quite clear that my sanity depended on having the down time...
Hiking, mmm, yeah, a nice hike way up high in cool mountains would be wonderful right now!
SusanB - when I volunteered for the library, my book selection was incredible eclectic. Almost any subject could catch my eye. I miss that exposure to random selections.
Oh yeah, swimming can be so nice. Hypnotic. Zen.
We're building a DVD library as we come across cheap movies at yard sales, especially now that we've lost the broadcast channels in the move. So sorry to hear you've lost PBS! Yeah, the digital thing kind of screwed those of us not interested in paying exorbitant fees for tv.
Sheer enjoyment? For my very own personal moment - reading my old Sunset Magazines - every issue since 1982 - catagorized by month so I can pick the current month and look at all the issues. But I havent' done it in a very long time. Second moment of sheer enjoyment - hanging my head out the car window when we are driving at night and feeling the wind blowing through my hair - goofy but freeing - it takes me to Tofino, B.C. where we went fishing with family - I can feel the pounding of the boat as we raced across the inlet and the wind had us plastered to the rails of the boat. Together - we love to get out and drive old logging roads, exploring and hiking.
I'm sensing a pattern here!! I wish I wasn't so late in posting, as it will seem I'm just saying "ditto" a lot. :)
READ! I love to read, anytime, anywhere. I have my own bookshop so I have a pretty good supply. :) (And - among other genres - I like science fiction as well. :) )
Bike. Right now I don't have a reliable place to put it, so I'm not biking as much as I want to right now :( but I'm hoping that will change in the next two weeks. Last night at a barbecue, a friend told me about the expanding "rails to trails" system (turning disused railways into walking/bike trails), so I'm excited to learn about that, both from a purely pleasure point of view, but also as a way of avoiding highways (between the city & suburbs), and hopefully eventually as a way from getting from one town to the next! :)
Photography. I prefer a manual camera, but I'm using a digital almost exclusively so I can only keep the pics that turn out well and only print from the best of those.
Museums. When I can afford it, I buy a subscription which gives me access to any museum in the province for a year, and free or reduced fee for special events and shows.
Live theatre. Something I love but usually can't afford. This past year I've been on a mailing list for "word of mouth promotion" for one of the local theatres. Two free tickets with the idea we would promote the show - a deal I accepted with pleasure! (I missed one, but I went to all the others & really did promote them; easy to do, they were fabulous.)
Swim. I love the water outdoors. When I lived next to a lake, I even bought a wetsuit so I could swim all year until the lake actually froze. :)
Sitting in nature. a) Just sitting somewhere under a tree and watching the wind blow through the leaves or the rain fall.
b) Often I will have a small wood stove that fits in the palm of my hand and will have a wee campfire. I consider that a mini-education for when I have a full-size wood stove of my own. :)
There is more I'd like to do, but it will have to wait when I'm not working six days a week. :0 My roommate has a piano & I'd like to learn to play. :)
His in JOY
(: Sunshine :)
Friday, July 02, 2010
2 Tramps - what a neat idea. We used to have almost all of the MENews, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to pick out the current month from each year to read. Too bad we didn't keep those (too many moves)!
I can relate to the wind in your face joy, although mine is standing out in a cool rain. Here in Arizona, the summer rains bring on a big drop in temperature when the storm hits. Makes the heat more tolerable. It was quite a shock to spend a summer in upstate NY and find the rain didn't lower the temperature at all. It was sticky and gross!
Sunshine - never too late. The love of reading, I think, is tied in with intelligence. Little wonder all you folks are readers! ;-)
Lovely joys all the way around. Speaking of campfires, I ran into a fire inspector today and confirmed that using my rocket stove will be just fine, so long as I do it away from combustibles. Yay!
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