corner view: hobbies

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane (Spain) and curated by Francesca (Italy), where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme. The theme this week is "hobbies", and comes from Kristin (Germany).

I think I've always been expressing myself as a creative person. Even as a small child I was looking for things to make and tried my hand at all types of activities. I taught myself some of the arts and crafts. Some, like embroidery, knitting and crochet, I learned while sitting beside each of my grandmothers and I loved exploring one grandmother's basement studio to see how she was transforming a canvas with her paints and brushes, or to lift the plastic from her latest clay sculpture to see a work in progress.

Music has also been a creative sideline for me for my entire life and is something anchored pretty strongly in my family. It's something we've always shared and in many different forms. 

I've also been a collector. When I was very young, natural objects like beautiful bird feathers, shells, sea glass and interesting stones were valuable treasures, and frankly, they still catch my eye.

Through the years, my creative avenues and collections have changed as I've explored and my interests broadened, but one thing that remains the same is my love for reading. My parents would catch me reading under my bedcovers late at night, with just the beam of the flashlight to brighten the page. Rarely does a day go by when I don't take some time to escape into a good tale, pour through a cookbook or take in new ideas from self-help books filled with encouragement. Historical novels such as the Outlander series, Fantasy adventures like the Harry Potter series, Southern writers, Travelogues, I love them all. I live in an area that is rich with well-known, published, prolific writers and I adore delving into the special section in bookstores that is set aside for them. My home is filled with books. I know that e-readers are becoming increasingly popular, but I personally treasure the soft pages and worn, cloth bound volumes. It's a tactile experience that adds to my enjoyment of an engrossing yarn.