Saturday NIght Genealogy Fun - Hobbies - other than Genealogy?

 Randy Seaver has posted another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge to genealogists at his Genea-Musings blog.

This time it's personal! 

"What hobbies or pastimes other than "genealogy" do you have now, or had in the past as an adult?

Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook post, or as a comment on this blog post."

Goodness, I'm pretty sure most of my activities relate in some way to genealogy! And have for years...and years...

One thing I've been since very early, and that's a reader. Here I am, reading to my "baby bother" in about 1951. He doesn't look very interested. It likely wasn't a book about cars! 

I do read a lot of genealogy and history. My 'recreational' reading is mainly mysteries though, and a bit of fantasy. It won't be a surprise to most genealogists to realize how much genealogy and family history one notices in any novel, or how a detective's fictional investigation triggers new ideas about finding someone in the archives or the library or - luckily right now - on the Internet. 

I've often participated in Readathons - offline and on. During 2020, I've enjoyed quite a few! And during the last couple of years I've been keeping track of much of my book reading on MyBookPledge at Savvy Reader. Free! 

Since 2003, I've been a BookCrosser. Somewhere I saw a mention of BookCrossing and knew it was meant for me! 

What is BookCrossing?

"BookCrossing is the act of releasing your books "into the wild" for a stranger to find, or via "controlled release" to another BookCrossing member, and tracking where they go via journal entries from around the world."  Learn more about it, and, sign up if you're interested, free at BookCrossing.com 

I was a bit lonely BookCrossing all on my own here in Vancouver for a while, but one happy day I saw an invitation to the Lower Mainland - Vancouver Bookcrossing Meetup Group. I've been a member ever since. 

As we say, we're a friendly diverse bunch, we always have lots of books to give others, and we have "no rules, no limitations, just a passion for the written word". 

Somehow we know when a book is 'right' for someone in the group, even someone new, and we don't hesitate to pass it on to the appropriate person!

Yes, sometimes we do talk about genealogy, and DNA too. And any other topic people are interested in. There's always a 'good book about that'. 

And once a year, we head out to Word Vancouver together. 

The Lower Mainland BookCrossing Meetup table at the Word Vancouver festival at the Vancouver Public Library, 2015. 

This year, of course, it's all going to be online starting September 19th. See the Word Vancouver website for details. It won't be the same, but, as always, the schedule of events, talks, and workshops is amazing!

Now, where did I leave that Leeds chart? Back to genealogy!