Passions, Pursuits & Pure Pleasures

So much of our time in school and after was focused on moving along in a career. Now, with the second half of your adult life to consider, the endeavors you focus on can be anything you want!

One of those endeavors may be the arts: from painting, to glass blowing to jewelry to performing on stage or playing the piano. Or, maybe you’ll just finally have the time to watch and appreciate others’ artistic abilities.

Either way, here are a few great resources:

The Visual & Performing Arts Center at Elgin Community College offers non-credit art courses. Listings can be found at http://www.elgin.edu — click on Academics / Non-Credit Courses and make use of the Pick A Program pull-down menu. Or click on Calendar and Events and choose Arts Center Events or Writers Center for other interesting possibilities.

McHenry County College offers many art classes, such as art appreciation, art history, ceramics, computer graphics, painting, photography, drawing, 2-D and 3-D design, sculpture, interior design, jewelry and watercolors. Start at http://www.mchenry.edu and click on Course Schedule for a PDF catalog, or click on Continuing Education for those options. MCC also has four art galleries on campus.

Jailhouse Potters in Woodstock offers classes in clay. See http://www.jailhousepotters.com

The Raue Center For The Performing Arts is one of those must-see and must-do places which you’ll find irresistible if you live in McHenry County. See upcoming performances Raue Center is offering at: http://www.rauecenter.org/events/

The Woodstock Opera House is another venue for culture close to home. See their plays and events at http://www.woodstockoperahouse.com

The Hemmens Center in Elgin (a little farther, but worth it!) an acoustically superb 1,200-seat theater, offers a broad spectrum of programs. Take a look at their website http://www.cityofelgin.org — click on the link for Hemmens Tickets.

Libraries are great starting points for planning your retirement pursuits, plus they offer some great programs, book clubs, speakers, etc. Take a look at your local library website for some of the options in your community:

Park Districts also work to provide programs for all age groups, so add that to your list of possibilities for starting or continuing a passion. As just one example, the Crystal Lake Park District operates a Senior Center at Park Place with excursions for lunches, plays, tours and activities in Chicago, Lake Geneva, and Southern Wisconsin. Their adult classes are also worth a look. Of course, Crystal Lake is not alone in offering outings, classes and programs. Here are the parks and recreation websites for many of McHenry County’s communities: