Hobbies

Ernie- for those who don’t know- is currently obsessed with photography. This is normal for Ernie, completely normal to have an obsession. Ernie is the kind of man who knows a great deal about pretty much everything and loves, loves, loves to have a hobby. Ernie is also an all or nothing hobbyist. His interest range is extensive, but every few years something strikes him the right way and a full obsession is born.

Let’s recap.

When I was pregnant with Little Ernie, Ernie and I went into a fish store. In the back of the shop they had this amazing room with all these walls of fish tanks. The fish tanks were full of coral and exotic looking fish and I called out to Ernie, telling him that he should check it out. And that, ladies and gentleman, is how the Reef Tank Obsession was born. Ernie’s salt water tank started with a 55 gallon tank and by the end- consisted of a 180 gallon tank, built into the wall of our basement in Indiana. We killed fish (at $40- $100 a piece). We killed coral (at $20-$150 a piece). We invested in equipment and then more equipment to keep the pH balance, the calcium levels, and the salinity right. We learned that the appropriate lighting for a reef tank requires metal halide lights which are only used for two reasons: coral reef fish tanks and growing pot in your closet. The fish tank, in short, was a money pit- but it was beautiful and the kids loved it. Over the years of crisis management with Ernie’s fish tanks, while he was traveling full time, and him trying to talk me through the trouble shooting over the phone and fish dying and water leaking- I began to develop negative feelings about his hobby. It’s been 4 years since we said good-bye to the fish tank. Ernie sold all the fish, coral, and equipment at a fire sale in our basement before we left Indiana. And I’ve made him promise, that while it was beautiful, we won’t have a fish tank again for a long, long time. This was the final iteration of Ernie’s Reef Tank, built into the wall of the basement:

Then Ernie became interested in woodworking. Now this is a hobby that I can get behind- no doubt about it. At the moment my dining room table is planed and joined and in partial assembly in our garage. But in the beginning, this hobby involved many, many purchases of expensive tools in a short period of time and an addiction to ordering wood off the internet. Ernie- and I cannot judge him for this- likes to buy interesting wood just as much as I like to buy fabric and we have a lot of wood stacked up and stored in our garage, plus all the tools and custom work bench on which to use the tools. And since our last two houses have been 2 car garage homes (as opposed to our other houses with 3 garages) I have not parked my car in the garage in several years. This is a picture of the beautiful wooden box that Ernie made for me a couple of months ago:

And now Ernie is a photographer. We started with a Nikon D40 and a 18-55mm lens. Now we are on to a Nikon D80, several lenses, a Flickr obsession, and Ernie has been asked to photograph golf courses for Here’s Hattiesburg magazine here in town. Every free moment Ernie has, he takes pictures. The camera bag and tripod live in his car because he often stops on his way home from work to photograph a beautiful sky or a dilapidated barn full of kudzu. The kids are often the subject of his photos, and me too- although I am admittedly less willing than the kids. Ernie’s quite gifted and he has a really good eye. I enjoy his photographs very much and I often enjoy the weekend drives we take as a family, meandering down back roads, looking for the perfect spot to take a picture. Here’s a barn he photographed yesterday:

Over the years I’ve become much more tolerant and understanding when an obsession strikes. I appreciate that it represents a lot of what makes Ernie wonderful- it shows Ernie’s awesome desire to always be learning new things.