H is for Hobbies

Years ago, Frank and I taught single adults in Sunday school. Every fall, we had a retreat at Camp Beckwith, a get-together that we all looked forward to. We always prayed for cold weather, but that seldom happens in the Deep South; so we'd build a fire and turn on the air conditioner to make our own cold weather. Silly, huh? Anyway, one year we ladies decided that we wanted to learn to cross-stitch during our free time at the retreat. The only stitcher whom we knew was Linda Thomas, one of our Sunday school members, but one who had never been on the retreat with us. I was appointed to approach her to see if she'd go to the retreat not only for spiritual enlightenment but also to be our teacher. She accepted and came equipped with patterns, fabric, floss . . . everything that we'd need to become cross-stitchers in one weekend. Of course, she came prepared! She was an English teacher and knew that her students would need everything necessary to go home with beautiful products. She was one of the best English teachers I have ever known, and she was THE BEST stitch teacher ever. So much patience with her non-nimble-fingered students. Since Christmas was near, she brought ornament patterns for us to use, and she even taught us how to use gold shower curtain rings, cotton, and glue to complete the ornaments. That Christmas, I made two ornaments for each teacher in my English Department, probably 36 in all. My friends had no idea that I was so talented . . . thanks to one of my best friends, Linda.

In the years after that retreat, I have stitched all sorts of gifts for friends and family, including a map of Mississippi, a Mississippi piece that read "It's hard to be humble when you're from Mississippi," a sampler for my brother-in-law and his new wife, many more Christmas ornaments, bookmarks, and the only three pieces that I have for myself (pictured below) -- the Chimney on Scenic Highway in Pensacola, a map of Pensacola, and a Welcome piece that I actually stitched as a wedding present for a friend but never got around to framing it in time for her wedding. So . . . now it's framed and welcomes guests to our house.

I haven't stitched much in almost 25 years, but I plan to begin again very soon. I remember that stitching in the evenings when I was a teacher was very much relaxing to me. When I finished a piece, I felt a satisfaction comparable to finishing the grading of autobiographies or anthologies or to baking a beautiful cake to take to someone. I loved cross-stitching, and I'm making a promise to myself to take up needle and fabric . . . soon.

The hobby that I’ve always had is reading. I have always loved to read, though I can't remember a time when my parents read to me. My mother read books for herself, but I sometimes wondered if my daddy could read because Mother always read the newspaper to him at the breakfast table every morning. I knew for sure that he could read when he became a Christian late in life. He decided that he'd read the Bible from cover to cover; however, when he came to the story of Noah and his sinful son, Ham, in Genesis 9, he decided that the Old Bible, as he called it, was nasty, that he'd read only the New Bible. Funny, huh? Anyway, I didn't have much encouragement to read in our house; I was just expected to do well in school, and that included knowing how to read. I have no recollection of learning to read; I just knew how. When I was only eight or nine years old, I'd walk the three blocks to Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans and ride the streetcar by myself to the library, going home with a load of books. Many years later, when I was a teacher, I required my students to write their Reading Autobiography, one of the best assignments I ever made, and I wrote mine. Since this was a long time before computers and saving everything, I don't have mine. So sad. Technology surely has improved my life.

And so today I'm still a lover of books and reading. I read mostly hard copies of books (not hard cover books, you understand. They're way too expensive, and they hurt when I fall asleep reading in bed), but I have a gazillion books on my iPad and sometimes read those. In fact, I finished The Death of Santinion my iPad just a couple of days ago. I belonged to the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club for a couple of years and read many books suggested on that website. I got out of the book club when I retired last year, but I think I'll join again and bite the bullet for $10 a month to get to participate in the leader's chats with "real live authors." You can google Modern Mrs. Darcy for the free participation if you want some good reading suggestions.

I read mostly when we go to bed, and Frank does the same. Most of the time, we read the same books, but sometimes I find ones that he has absolutely no interest in, and I feel the same way about his. Both of us love mystery thrillers. Our favorite authors are Lee Child, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, and Vince Flynn. Flynn died a couple of years ago, and Kyle Mills is now writing his Mitch Rapp books. I don't like the books as much now with a new author. I miss Vince!

So . . . I'm listing here the books that I read in 2017, several of them from the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club suggestions. Maybe you've read some of them, too. I must tell you this: I taught the classics for 32 years, and I seldom read any now. I can tell you lots about those books, but now I'm an escape reader, and there are many books on my list that I'd have to read the "ad" for them to be able to tell you what they're about! So sorry for the confession.

BOOKS READ IN 2017

Baldacci, David                        No Man’s Land

Baldacci, David                        The Last Mile

Baldacci, David                        Split Second

Child, Lincoln                           The Third Gate

Clark, Mary Higgins                 As Time Goes By

Coben, Harlan                           Home

Coben, Harlan                           Darkest Fear

Ellison, J.T.                               No One Knows

Fadiman, Anne                         Ex Libris

Fennelly, Beth Ann                   Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs

Flagg, Fannie                            I Still Dream About You

Flynn, Kathleen                        The Jane Austen Project

Ford, Jamie                               Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Francis, Melissa                        Lessons from the Prairie

Frankel, Laurie                         This Is How It Always Is

Grisham, John                           Playing for Pizza

Hanff, Helene                            84, Charing Cross Road

Jiles, Paulette                            News of the World

Kelly, Megyn                            Settle for More

Kline, Christina Baker             A Piece of the World

Lawhon, Ariel                          The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress

MacArthur, John                      The MacArthur Daily Bible 

Mackintosh, Clare                    I See You

Moyes, Jojo                             The Girl You Left Behind

Riggs, Ransom                        Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Rosenberg, Joel                       The Last Jihad

Setterfield, Diane                    The Thirteenth Tale

Shama, Avraham                     Finding Home—An Immigrant’s Journey: a Memoir

Sparks, Nicholas                     See Me

Stegner, Wallace                     Crossing to Safety

Watson, Renee                        Piecing Me Together

Now I’m starting my Books Read in 2018 list by keeping all of the finished books on one shelf. Maybe I’ll need two this year.