Interests, Hobbies, Fads, Obsessions...

So, I don't know what I am developing, but I am gaining great interest in a few things: quilt-making, cooking, breadmaking to name a few. These are things I enjoyed in my previous life BW (before work). In my new life PW (post-work, of course--keep up, please), I am returning to things I have always loved. I have taken the opportunity to ponder cooking and my relationship to it. For a reason I think I understand, I have always been reluctant to admit that I enjoyed--maybe even loved--preparing food. The reason, I think, is that my mother hated to cook--and she was really verbal about that, as I'm sure you all remember. Somehow it seemed as though I was not permitted to love something that my own mother hated. I realize that's wrong-thinking and maybe a little stupid, but there it is. Since living a few months PW I realize that since I have the time, I really love watching cooking shows, poring through cookbooks and www.foodnetwork.com recipes as well as others. I have chosen to do this. Bobby says between me and the food network he'll soon lose his feet--there could be worse things I guess--I could have studied famous bank robberies and formed a gang; I could have decided to do "street work"; I could have taken up interior decorating (he would have REALLY hated that, because it's a very expensive hobby). But, no, I was drawn to cooking, breadmaking and quilts. My grandmother Amy Brown made Bobby (my little brother, not my husband, of course--please keep up!) a quilt pieced of 1" squares!! I remember this quilt, and he wouldn't allow me to put it on my bed. I loved that quilt, too. Her sister (what was her name?) made a quilt top for me--hand-pieced it, too--that I quilted many years ago and it has long since worn out. I remember going to Relief Society work meetings and watching the sisters sitting at the quilt frames working. When I was really small, we played under the quilts--it was like playing in a fort--but after I got a little bigger--maybe around 10--they began to teach me how to quilt, too. I really loved that. So, I guess I have been doing this for many years. As my children were growing up, I made a few quilts, but they were utilitarian and made because we were living in the Rocky Mountains, and it was COLD. Although, I have to say, I enjoyed the process. Some of those quilts are still living, I think. So, that's what I'm doing now. Amy encouraged me to join my local quilting groups, and I did that. I have enrolled in a few groups, including the Norman Area Quilters' Guild. I am loving this. Have a great day, all. We have blowing snow outside today the first day of Spring!! I'm hibernating, making bread, preparing a supper dish for a neighbor who had surgery yesterday, and cutting out pieces for my Mystery Quilt group in two weeks. So, I'm having a good, quiet and productive day.