Dark ,long winter evenings....

....how do you pass the time and hopefully exercise the little grey cells??
Any ideas, suggestions would be good to share.
We're not television watchers at all , we may catch the news once a day. I am quite selective in what I watch and save things for later if they seem to grab my interest....love history, but not war related programmes . Also like the selection of foreign detective programmes from Walter Presents.....all of course are subtitled.

During the winter I like to do...
Jigsaw puzzles, in the real and online.

I always have a library book on the go ( sometimes several) , but obviously I get through a lot more duringing the winter months.

I have a selection of Adult Colouring Books ( now ,now.....) with a range of some super coloured pencils that when dampened act as paints.

I knit.....anything, so family beware!!

I enjoyed all year round but again play more during the winter...
Suduko
Mahjong
Masyu....new to me ,so in early stages of play.
Word Searches ( just found some really difficult ones where you have to work out the words yourself!!)
I will without doubt go back to my attempts at learning another language, I have an online course set up ,but seem to forget about it once the Winter has passed!!
Trying....very trying ...to learn French ( one son has a French partner) German...because my Dad was also learning it and we use to test each other. I have recently added Portuguese to my list too......I think I'm being overly optimistic!! Don't hold your breath Vicky!!

Crosswords.
Solitare
Just recently found One,Two And Not Three Quiz...it will help pass the time!

And last but not least planning our garden for the following year.

Always on the lookout for new ideas so please share what you get up to to pass the gloomy months .....!! Keep it printable!!


And mustn't forget of course our lovely @shiney Quizzes too...keep them coming Mr S!!

 

Bom dia Upsy. Você me cansa com seus passatempos!

I crochet, read (mostly crime-related stories and botany), watch TV (crime, quiz, Discovery and Historia, NEVER soaps). I exercise daily. I MAY resume painting again, making jewelry with china/crystal beads and finish writing my children's cat stories. I can't seem to keep my attention on anything for long. Because of our weather I can spend time relaxing outdoors most of the year.

 

Killer sudoku- best done "live" because scribbling sums with a pencil by the side happens a lot.

Lockdown found was diamond painting, very meditative but requires good light.

Batch cooking challenging dishes.

Board games: Carcassonne (we play with "nice girl" rules, no hijacking so one can focus on building best ever fields. The pieces are well made wooden boys so if the lads are "home", one can amuse oneself by forming politically incorrect Chinese acrobat pyramids or arrange a Green party protest march across the dining table ) Azul (sudoku logic and quite pretty), Kingdomino (suitable for kids but can be played in as challenging way as you want- we have two boxes for a mega game)

Air dry clay for making fun pots for cacti. Waterproofing with modpodge and painting with bathroom paint works well. For some reason, I'm also fond of making ducks with the stuff



...and books, books, books. Amazon is a great place to buy second hand books, you can find all those childhood treasures that are so satisfying to read again. Famous Five and the lot...

In addition, I drink wine and work full time when life allows

 

You tire me out too....you do loads!!!

You've reminded me that I use to make all my own earrings many moons ago. My younger sister and I bought loads of wires , hooks ,loops and beads..our stash was left at our Dad's place to help ourselves to, wonder what happened to it all .

Oooh...writing a book, now that's exciting!!

 

You seem to be in for a busy winter @Upsydaisy and you will be multilingual soon

I'd love to do that. It would be a detective story, something like Poirot can't see it ever happening though ...

I'm not a tv fan I spend the winter researching and writing out my family history and some local history, and visiting various archives. I remember you mentioned somewhere else that you had done that.
This winter I must also sort out and label the many family photos that go back for several generations (late partner's side as well)
And I want to ( and have been told to do so by the next generation ) to write out everything I can remember about life in the 50s and 60s but my memory is fading so I'd better get on with it before it all goes blank.

I like to read, but not novels - local history and such things. Boring to many but fascinating to me.

I also enjoy sketching and water-colour painting. I have some of those colouring books too, they've been here a few years waiting for me to do something with them. But I prefer doing flowers and old buildings, and I have lots of photos saved from places I've been that I want to draw/paint.
I have been thinking of doing my own Christmas cards this year.

I don't do much planning of the garden, Whenever I've done that I always change the plan when I actually come to do it, so I tend these days to do any alterations etc as I go along.

I've also got my pottery wheel and kiln which I intend to get going again this winter, and I can spend ages drawing/designing something I want to make so that passes a winter's night too.

That's one problem I have as well, my mind tends to wander ...

 

Michael I have recently be able to combine my passion for history , interest for the area I live in and my, not so pleasant, love of crime/ detective cases by reading this online from my library. Some crimes certainly didn't deserve the death penalty!!!




Yes you're correct I have done my maternal side, sadly Mum never got to see it. My Uncle did the paternal half, so we are very fortunate to be able look back at our heritage.
I am starting to search through street view to see how many of the old properties that my family once rented/owned are still around. As the family were mostly ( well for the last couple of hundred years) London based a lot of properties were destroyed during conflict.

You certainly have a varied lot of interesting ways to spend your time. It's so beneficial in many ways to keep our minds stimulated.

 

That book is the sort of thing I like to read @Upsydaisy.

That is very true, when you think of what they were hung for it just doesn't make sense. Sometimes it was a case of starvation or risking being caught and hung. In fact lots of punishments were far too severe for the 'crime' committed.
I remember my grandmother telling me she was caned as a little girl in school for speaking Welsh to her sister.
Things like that have made me become interested in social history. It helps to pass the winter

I also enjoy going around looking for old farms etc where my ancestors lived. It's a pity so much was destroyed in the war.
I once bought a cottage that was built for my 3xgreat grandparents in the 1830s, it is still there and was built on ground where there used to be an orchard. It needed a lot doing to it but I got it done and enjoyed living there for 25 years. It was fascinating discovering its history over many years.
I have been known to wander around grave yards too it's surprising what you can discover.

I've been trying to do that for years but it isn't working very well. Good luck, I hope you succeed @Fat Controller.

 

Your life sounds too stressful @Fat Controller. Those changes sound good and your health will benefit.
I thought you meant what people say when they get older and unable to do the things they could when young. That's my problem, I think I'm still young.
Good luck !

 

The nights not much don't watch TV programmes much these days, but do watch YouTube a lot, I watch a lot of gardening and hubby technology.
Also think of what I'm going to do in the spring.

 

Do you watch these things on phones? These small screens must not be good for the eyes hours at a time.

 

I do search for videos on my phone to put on here but not for a long time. The rest of the time is on a smart tv.