Vintage Tidbit Tuesday: Ride a Hobby Horse! (part 2)

Lot's of hobbies lead to business successes.  Fulton's hobby led him to invent a steamboat.  A veteran I know makes a living raising tiny parakeets.  Another got interested in poinsettias...so his interest blossomed into a growing business.  Maybe you'll find a new recipe for popcorn or popovers, or raising mushrooms!

But even if your hobby horse doesn't carry you on to fame and fortune, it'll be yours.  Many a gal met her husband over the tennis racket of the ski boots.  All you need is a mutual hobby like horseback riding or deep-sea fishing.  It's a sure heart-winner.  You don't even have to be good at it...just be there!

Even hobby horses, however, have some requirements.  Materials aren't so difficult to get.  A child's box of paints will do to start.  A famous French artist made brilliant posters of Paris dancers on cardboard...and today you're seeing moving pictures of his life.  Materials for weaving and flower-making are not too expensive...some hobbyists even use odds and ends...string and hosiery they find in the workbasket or about the house.

Often second-hand materials will do for a start.  Many a famous poem has been scribbled on a piece of wrapping paper...one of Shakespeare's sonnets once turned up as the lining of a pie-pan!

In general, don't try too many hobbies or you'll be Don Quixote...too busy chasing windmills to accomplish anything.  Then, too, you've got to think about space for your hobby...the attic studio, basement workbench, or garden garage.  If you have to start out in a corner cubbyhole...keep planning, keep dreaming, and some day you'll have the space you need.  Start now to ride a hobby horse.  Everybody's doing it!