For me, it seems to have a lot to do with nostalgia; a keen interest in things and ways of the past. I love "old things." I love taking them apart, seeing how they work, seeing if I can get them back together, and making them better than they were.
I have always been a very hands-on person. My parents told me of a time about which I have only the vaguest memory, that I painted our neighbor's car with a paint brush (until someone "caught" me.) Just a slightly-weird, but determined, rug-rat going about her day. Nothing to see here.
I've purchased five steam engines since the beginning of the year, and it makes me slightly unsettled, but I'm pretty sure I can quit whenever I want. And since I'm not currently keeping a husband (I like to keep 'em out in the yard in work boots, with a shovel in each hand
) I may not want to quit for some time.
Paula