My Hobby-Horses

Welcome to my stable of hobby-horses. You can pet them; they won't bite. What is a hobby-horse, you ask? According to Laurence Sterne's great philosopher, Tristram Shandy, a hobby-horse is anything that starts as a pastime, grows into a passion, and flirts with the edges of obsession. In general, the more obscure and less comprehensible your pursuit is to other people, the more hobby-horsical it is. But, let's not judge the creatures too harshly. As Tristram reminds us, we all have our secret, or not-so-secret, stables, and "so long as a man rides his HOBBY-HORSE peaceably and quietly along the King's highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him, – pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?" My favorite mounts:

Z My number one obsession right now is probably William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement he helped found. Morris was a decorative artist, designer, poet, typographer and social critic in England in the later 19th century. He was inspired by the craftsmanship of the Middle Ages and feared that the mass production beginning to take hold in his day would stamp out appreciation for true artistry. He used his lush floral and vine designs in various media, including stained glass, tapestries, wallpaper, furniture and the illustrated books printed at his Kelmscott Press. My first exposure to Morris' work was in a class I took with Dr. Norman Kelvin, Morris critic and editor of his copious letters.

In my appreciation for Morris' ideals, I've designated my home office as my Arts & Crafts room. Since original Morris-design wallpaper is fabulously expensive, I chose a border in Morris' Iris pattern. With painting and woodworking help from my friend and master craftsman Alfonso Muragas, plus a couple of Tiffany-style lamps, the room has taken on a definite Morris feel. It is still a work in progress. Inspired by this room, in which I've created this Web site, I've used a Morris design for the artwork at the top of each page.

William Morris

My growing collection of Morris-related paraphernalia includes practical items, such as an umbrella and bookplates, as well as a first (American) edition of his poem Love Is Enough and a facsimile of his elaborately illustrated tale, The Wood Beyond the World. Someday, I hope my hobby-horse budget will allow me to buy a facsimile of his Kelmscott Chaucer – considered by many to be the most beautiful book printed in modern times.

The first page of the Prologue to "The Canterbury Tales" in the Kelmscott Chaucer (click to enlarge)

Z Genealogy is a hobby-horse that my husband and I both ride. I started researching my family roots when I was a teenager, then neglected it until a few years ago, when Patrick started working on his own family tree. So far, I have traced one branch of my family almost back to the American Revolution! We've both discovered fascinating details about the lives of our ancestors, learned that our ethnic makeups are different from what we thought, and visited many places important in our family histories in New York and beyond. UPDATE!! We have just begun making our family research available online! Click here to view my ancestor tree (in PDF format). I hope to add photos and more detailed stories about family members in the near future. If you are interested in researching your own family roots, the FamilySearch and Ellis Island Family Immigration History Center sites are good places to start. Z Mix a garage sale, an antiques shop, a used bookstore and a computer, and you've got all the glories of Ebay. I've been hooked since I won my first auction – my beautiful black Kawai piano – several years ago. I'm amazed by the amount of adrenaline an online bidding war can generate! Favorite recent purchase: a keychain made out of a genuine ivory knob from a 1920s-era pipe organ. Favorite recent sale: my early 1980s Casio MT-45 keyboard, for a mere $25. Original purchase price: $180!  Z Stamp collecting is a pastime I've enjoyed since I was a kid. With so many countries issuing so many stamps every year, it would be a full-time pursuit to keep up with them all. I try to keep my U.S. collection current and pester my friends and family to buy me stamps when they visit other countries. Most of my foreign collection, though, including some interesting World War II-era stamps, was given to me over the years by my late uncle Frankie, whose massive collection first sparked my interest. Sometimes it's fun to visit other people's hobby-horses and watch them ride about: Z The world of remote-control airplanes and the specialized niche of remote-control aerial photography were completely unknown to me until a couple of years ago. Though I'm no pilot myself, I enjoy watching these small planes' graceful flights and the stunning photos taken with them. My friend Bernard is an expert pilot; check out his aerial photos and videos on his flying page. The aerial photo below is of my neighborhood taken from his Wingo. RC plane flying is also a young colt in my husband's stable – see the photo below of him launching his SkyVector. (Photos by Bernard Weinstock)

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. – Walt Whitman                                                                                                                Back to home page