52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 11 Prompt - Hobbies

2025

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 11

Prompt – Hobbies

I would think that many of the ancestors really didn't have hobbies. All free time was spent working to live. Especially those homesteading on farmland in “the new world”. I believe their time was spent breaking the land, plowing the land, planting, building a home shelter, finding farm animals, building barns or corrals or both. The women would also be very busy at home - preparing food, cooking food, looking after the gardens, preserving the garden produce for winter time and looking after many many children. I suppose that their hobbies would come from necessity. The women might sew materials for clothing or knit sweaters, scarves, hats and mittens and socks. 

1920's ca. Marion Hoffart With Spinning Wheel

Bill's paternal grandmother, Marion Hoffart, had a spinning wheel (made for her by her two oldest sons) to spin the sheep's wool into yarn to knit family clothing as above. Was this a hobby? Maybe. Just like Bill's maternal great-grandfather, Daniel Fesser was by all accounts an excellent carpenter and built many shops and homes in Killaly when he arrived from Germany in the early 1900's. Not really a hobby but a dandy skill set to have when immigrating to a new country.

Fast forward to now. Our lives are quite different from our ancestors. We have so many conveniences that allow us to have free time. I have noticed that the further we go into retirement the more time we seem to have.

Before Bill retired from The College of Arts and Design he became interested in the 3D printers that they had on site. . Bill was not just happy with what the thing could print, but how it worked and thus how it was built. The machines were expensive to buy. Bill searched on line for all the information he could find and before long he was designing and constructing his first 3D printer. He has built 6 of them. He tends to make the newer ones by using the previous printer parts. In the past few months he has begun to build the latest version. Version 7 will be the biggest one. He has explained its workings but I could not even tell you exactly what he was talking about. It is impressive to see it built up. He spends many hours upstairs on the computer designing and re-designing it. He then heads downstairs to his shop and starts to build it. He is not finished but had me go down to his shop an inspect his work His knowledge of such things continues to floor me. He is so happy working on his 3D printer project. It must be a sense of accomplishment; of producing something from nothing. Not unlike his maternal grandmother's spinning wheel and the making of clothing needed for a cold Saskatchewan winter. Or like his paternal great-grandfather making structures where once there was none. A sense of accomplishment and pride in your work. 

March 2025 - Bill Working on 7th Version of 3D Printer

 

 

Wendy