Hobbies and Interests
I have always been an athletic person. My earliest memories are of one of my older sisters teaching me how to ride a bicycle when I was six years old. I was made to memorize all the parts of the bicycle before I was allowed to ride. She went on to become a Ph.D. in Physical Education and Recreation. I learned to play baseball, basketball, football and tennis from her before she left for college. I was never a swimmer, although the entire family enjoyed the sport. I taught myself to swim correctly when I was in my mid-twenties. I met a lifeguard named Brian who took the trouble to break down my stroke, show me the mistakes I was making, and help me learn to integrate my breathing with my arm stroke.
On the other hand, my father loved books, and taught me to love reading. I used to sit in his lap listening to his voice as the snow fell outside, or the summer twilight faded in the room. I was given Huckleberry Finn as a birthday gift when I was eight by my grandmother. I read it clear through when I was ten, but I still had a hard time understanding anything except Huck's fierce determination to be himself. My father also taught me to play chess, cribbage, and to shoot a gun.
My current hobbies are running (jogging and walking with an occasional spurt of energy), bicycling, swimming in either the LI Sound or off the south coast of Long Island at Smith Point Park. In winter I ski cross country in the woods near our house. I have a bad habit of buying old chests & trunks, restoring and refinishing them. I enjoy woodworking when I get the time. My wife says my work on our backyard shed will never end. I have done some watercolor painting, and occasionally that comes back to me, but it takes a degree of concentration and isolation that is hard to manage.
My main enjoyment in life comes from teaching. I like to work with individual,s but also with groups of any kind. My main source of relaxation these days is reading and gardening. I suppose this list tells you that I am a somewhat driven person, which is true, but I love my various activities, turning from one to another as the day suits me.