The FastDay Forum

Interesting to find how much I have in common with so many of you. As a retired biologist, I have microscopy experience (great pictures, Louise!), though with laser confocal, not EM; I have horses, garden and wish I had poultry. Can't say I'm interested in wooden toys, but I do love my chainsaw carved bear on my porch! And I watched a demonstration just yesterday at our local agricultural fair by a woman named Sara who calls her chainsaw animal creations "Chainsaw Chics".

HI Juliana!

just saw your post with the quails pic, lovely! I have a dozen chickens here in Kent, they are laying hens so we get about 8 or 9 eggs a day, last year we had quails too, but they somehow, they all died so decided not to have anymore as it was too upsetting..but the eggs were lovely and they are sooo easy to cook too!

Angie x

A lovely thread that I have just noticed & read. What beautiful photos Louise & my mind boggles with your wood working skills Julie I did find what I thought was an unusual wooden implement in Scotland apparently to stir porridge with, then saw one in my local kitchen centre so not so unusual
I enjoy beading, making jewellery, Chinese Brush Painting (although a novice & haven't painted for a while). I have just bought a book on Soutache (combining beading with soutache braid) so can't wait to try that. I also enjoy cooking & giving dinner parties & tend to live to eat rather than eat to live. I also enjoy reading, sewing, embroidery, going to classical music concerts, theatre & the cinema. I also seem to spend an increasing & inordinate amount of time here reading on the forum

Hi,
Where do hobbies stop and life-style start? I have 2 horses (couldn't imagine life without them even when I'm too old to ride), dogs, chickens, veg garden.
My life is shared between looking after all of the above and OH plus working, which sadly fluctuates so I never know how life will be -either too little time or lots of spare time and not enough money. I like to cook, entertain and travel. Also doing up a ruin in France in our spare time lol! I don't believe in wasting food - either we eat it or feed it to the animals. A lot of my lunchtime soups come direct from the garden - I make it up as I go - might start experimenting with juicing next - not sure if that's a hobby. Oh and I am currently reupholstering an antique chair - is that hobby or work? Depends if I keep it or sell it I suppose. Plus spending time on this forum!

I guess animals are my main hobby, i have a lot of hamsters as i show them. I am also a qualified Dwarf hamster judge. I also have a cat, amazing how many people think having hamsters means you cant have a cat or vice versa. Hamsters have their own room here and the cat knows better than to enter it! My cat thinks he is a dog and i have encouraged this a little, so i guess another animal hobby is seeing what tricks he will learn. He comes to a whistle, will beg, spin in a circle and lie down so far. He also likes fetch but for some reason only at night!

I do also do some creative type stuff, i like to knit, cook, including bread making so its great to see so many others do too! I also on and off write a hamster comic, though its been a while since i last did one. Like messing about making jewellery from fimo, somehow it ends up either as animals (mainly comic hamsters/cats etc) or food! Not so good for fast days!

Wow some really interesting hobbies! Mine are much more mundane and probably make me seem older than my 32 years! I love walking up hills with my husband but we live in a very flat part of the country (York) so have to plan trips & weekends. Inevitably we don't get out as much as we'd like, especially now we have a house to sort out, but I do love a good day out in the hills. Would love to be less scared of heights, though, so I can tackle more complex and higher scrambles.

This year I have joined two choirs, which I am really loving, and have also learnt to crochet which I think my husband is secretly appalled by (a granny hobby!). I also like to read - I've been reading lots of stuff about the tudors and wars of the roses (after watching stuff on tv - I'll hoover up historical documentaries, too)We also do a bit of bird watching and I like to watch out for wildflowers & creatures on our walks) and am grappling with having a garden for the first time which will doubtless take up lots of time over the next few years as I get lots of the overgrown stuff cleared and get more veg planted.

I have slipped off the running/jogging bandwagon, especially in the recent hot weather but now its cooled down I really ought to get it going again as I do enjoy the feeling when I get back!

Oh and most definitely cooking! Food, food, food - always thinking about it, planning meals, thinking about what I can make. Drives my husband crazy when I ask him at breakfast time what he fancies for dinner - he never thinks about food until he's actually hungry (and of course by then its too late to make something that requires any lengthy cooking). Drives me crazy that he can go for hours without thinking about food - I'm afraid I'm a 'feeder' - always trying to encourage him to eat more, as subtlely as I can! He really doesn't eat enough and will easily lose weight (I know, I can't understand it either..)

I've always wanted to be more arty and be able to paint/draw. I think I can write well but can't think of what to write about for that elusive first novel. Would love to be able to play the piano, too.

HI Juliana!

just saw your post with the quails pic, lovely! I have a dozen chickens here in Kent, they are laying hens so we get about 8 or 9 eggs a day, last year we had quails too, but they somehow, they all died so decided not to have anymore as it was too upsetting..but the eggs were lovely and they are sooo easy to cook too!

Angie x

Sad about your quails how old we're they

Quail eggs are yummy and kids love them

Eggs are 1/3 the size of chicken eggs. and a just 14 calories each. Some say they are a bit of a "super food"

Below is a photo i took of batch of eggs a few months back. Bet you didnt know that each hen has its own "pattern" .. i arranged the eggs by pattern.
Isnt nature wonderful.

Nothing special about my hobbies. I play Golf as often as I can in the summer & spend the Winter wishing I lived in a warm climate! The Winter drags on so long when you're a golfer.

I guess my fitness routine would be considered a hobby too. I do an intense boot camp workout 3-4 times a week. I go to the studio at 5:45AM on training days and sweat like crazy with 15-20 other nuts! Our trainer is awesome and keeps things fun. Love it!

Lots of interesting hobbies as you would expect from such an interesting and diverse group of folk.

Me, I'm a horse person, breeding my Highland ponies, learning to carriage drive. I also love my cats, dogs and chickens and live on a smallholding. Then there is reading, cooking, internet and all those other things I used to do before life got too busy like growing things, crafty stuff and painting.

When I retire I may take them up again, but I run two businesses at home and have no plans to retire so maybe not for a while!

Do you ride your Highland ponies Gillb?

Thanks for telling about all the interesting activities 5:2'ers are doing.

When we were younger (just 3 years ago, actually) We lived on several acres with a big vegetable garden--lots of freezing and some canning and pickling going on. I always liked home decorating--sewing curtains, pillow covers, even slipcovers (never again--too painful with all the crouching, kneeling, getting up and down--I was almost 70 last time)

Now that we live downtown with no garden (been there, done that) OH buys season tickets for matinees at a community theater and at the local college with a very strong performing arts concentration. We're also just across the street from a 6-screen independent movie theater and right next door to the public library.

With the diminished energy of octogenarian OH and septuagenarian moi, we find we have all we can do to attend exercise classes, do some exercise videos at home, keep up with household chores and do some volunteering and not neglect siblings, children, grandchildren and friends. So a lot of time is spent on the sofa reading (me) and watching streaming movies and TV on the computer (mostly him--although he likes reading, too.) He also likes sitting in on lectures and seminars at his former uni and chatting there with profs he used to work with.

Doesn't sound like much compared to you younger folks, but it all keeps us busy.

Thanks for telling about all the interesting activities 5:2'ers are doing.

When we were younger (just 3 years ago, actually) We lived on several acres with a big vegetable garden--lots of freezing and some canning and pickling going on. I always liked home decorating--sewing curtains, pillow covers, even slipcovers (never again--too painful with all the crouching, kneeling, getting up and down--I was almost 70 last time)

Now that we live downtown with no garden (been there, done that) OH buys season tickets for matinees at a community theater and at the local college with a very strong performing arts concentration. We're also just across the street from a 6-screen independent movie theater and right next door to the public library.

With the diminished energy of octogenarian OH and septuagenarian moi, we find we have all we can do to attend exercise classes, do some exercise videos at home, keep up with household chores and do some volunteering and not neglect siblings, children, grandchildren and friends. So a lot of time is spent on the sofa reading (me) and watching streaming movies and TV on the computer (mostly him--although he likes reading, too.) He also likes sitting in on lectures and seminars at his former uni and chatting there with profs he used to work with.

Doesn't sound like much compared to you younger folks, but it all keeps us busy.

I have 2 dogs, 3 chickens, bake bread, do Crossfit so at the gym 3 times a week. Like growing veg and cooking too. Not very arty but like to learn stuff.

I will be learning to coach weightlifting and competing at Crossfit over the next few months so that's a bit of a departure from being morbidly obese!

HI Juliana!

just saw your post with the quails pic, lovely! I have a dozen chickens here in Kent, they are laying hens so we get about 8 or 9 eggs a day, last year we had quails too, but they somehow, they all died so decided not to have anymore as it was too upsetting..but the eggs were lovely and they are sooo easy to cook too!

Angie x

Sad about your quails how old we're they

Quail eggs are yummy and kids love them

hi Juliana
thanks for reply
I don't remember how old they were, but maybe about a year from when we got them, not sure why it happened, after the first one died we changed a few things, like grinding the feed very finely, putting them inside during the winter...but I guess it was just one of those things,i looked up what I could find on the internet and it seems they are quite fragile little things but yours look so lovely and healthy
my hens are doing nuch better , but they are getting on a bit now, about 3 years old! so soon I will get new layers, colleagues at work love the eggs
anyway enjoy your little quails, and the eggs too! yummy
Angie xx

Do you ride your Highland ponies Gillb?

Currently I ride my Welsh cob but not very much as having some back probs hence taking up driving. My driving boy is only 5yrs though (home bred) so a good friend is starting his ridden work at present. I'm proud to say I backed him myself last year though. I hope I can carry on with riding. My other two Highlands are his mum who is retired and his baby bro only 2yrs.