Offtopic pictures of things you love.

[CJ1]

I hope this is the proper place to post this. But thought that maybe we could spark some activity for the things we love that do not directly relate to being self sufficient.

So I suppose I'll start off. One of my favorite things to do during the spring and summer when given the free time is but up poker runs.

There's something freeing about being out on two wheels. Unfortuantly my bike was down last weekend and I didn't have time to get it running before the last charity run. So I had to ride with one of daddy's friends.

And mom and dad on their too pretty bike.

 

[CJ1]

I found a picture from last year when I tried to get myself back into dancing (didn't work. Job kept getting in the way) . I'd been looking for it everywhere. By chance I was looking on an old phone and There it was.

 

[Britesea]

Only time I ever did the splits all the way to the floor was by accident when I stepped on a splash of grease on the floor... OUCH!

 

[sumi]

That looks like fun @CJ1! It's been awhile since I was on a bike myself, I miss it.

If/when I get the opportunity, I photo-explore castles and ruins, both of which are in abundance in this wonderful country. I've got many, many, many photos, here's just some…

 

[baymule]

We moved 160 miles from a tiny city lot in Livingston, Tx to 8 acres north of Tyler, Tx to be close to our daughter, her husband and two daughters. And we will have another grand daughter to spoil in September! One of my favorite things to do is ride my horse and what better way to ride than with my oldest grand daughter?

These pictures were taken shortly after we moved and they serve to remind me that I need to ride more. The background has also changed considerably.

 

[CJ1]

So I managed to get a little time to draw the other day. So I did one of a picture of mom and dad. Thought I might share it with y'all.

 

[baymule]

Wow @sumi !! That is quite a favorite thing to do!! We have a shortage of ancient castle ruins here, or I'd go snap some pics! Have you thought about doing a castle calendar and selling it in the USA?

Great thread @CJ1 I have a feeling this one will be popular. And you have made me realize that I need to take a break from all the work around here and go have some fun. We moved a year ago and have had our nose to the grindstone ever since. We are working on the things I love and enjoy doing, so my latest pics are things like fence, barn, sheep, chickens, dogs, etc.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Awesome pics, Sumi! I don't dare show them to my DH!

 

[sumi]

I am VERY fortunate to be able to live here! Really, hardly a day goes by that I don't say "thank you" and I've been here nearly a year now. My ancestors were the usual South African mix of German, French and Dutch, but so far I've only visited (and lived in, briefly) the Netherlands.

There is a lovely small (by castle standards) castle across the street from me where I live right now. I can't get a good angle on photographing it though as some genius put a shop in front of it and the owners put a huge gate next to that to keep people like me out If I go round the corner I can see it across the neighbours' yard, but when I explored that angle I got some funny looks from them, so I gave up!

 

[baymule]

When we were looking for a place to buy, we looked at a stone house built in 1934 by the CCC. Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC was a government program to employ young men doing public works. If I remember right, they were paid $5 a week, with most of it sent home to their parents. They built schools and parks, right here in this area, they terraced fields to prevent erosion and planted trees. There is an elementary school in town where the CCC built a stone fence around it. Anyway, we found their headquarter buildings on 15 acres that was fantastic. But the house was in such a state of disrepair that it would have taken a small fortune to restore it and we didn't have a couple hundred thousand to spend on it. It needed foundation work, plumbing, electrical, none of which we knew how to do. The whole thing needed to be gutted and done over. We still wish we could have bought it and restored it.

Sorry about the pictures being sideways. I have many talents, none of which are technical. Here's a close up of the stone work. The stone is a type of iron ore, which is plentiful here.

We found a stone fireplace surrounded by a stone foundation that we figured must have been the barracks for the young men.

This was close to the end of the house, had a dirt floor and was very cool, compared to the heat outside. We figured that it must have been used to hang meat in to feed the camp.