Hildadorissen's Profile

I am a 'housewife' for the past 30 years, 62 years old, with three adult children, who left home at the age of 18 while studying, and four grandchildren between 3 and six years old, whom we adore. We like to look after them now and then, for they bring so much fun and joy in the house.
I have several hobbies, gardening is one of them, as well as photographing and filming, baking and cooking. Philip, my husband (Pip for the grandchildren) loves gardening too, and is a great cook. He also loves to 'preserve' food, in all possible ways. He makes the Christmas puddings and mince pies, the chutneys, pickled walnuts etc. ;-) while I make the crumbles, apple pies, puddings and trifles.
We enjoy gardening a lot, and have had several gardens over the years.
We live in the Belgian countryside for almost 10 years now, in Flanders, some 6 miles from Louvain (Leuven), and 25 from Brussels. Our garden is almost half an acre (in Belgium it is 13 are). We have two greenhouses, and one coldframe.
Until 2003 we used to live in the university town of Leuven for 25 years (yes, Stella Artois), where we had a walled town garden with lots of flowers, fruit trees and a pond. I even won the price for best small town garden of Louvain once.
From 1995 until 2006 my husband worked at the university of Groningen, up north in Holland, near the border of Germany and Denmark. During those years, he travelled to Groningen weekly, while I divided my time between the two houses (countries), I spent about one third of the time in Holland. We bought a tiny house there, right in the centre of the city, with a plain garden, so we were able to start all over again, and transformed this garden over the years. It became a haven of green and tranquillity, yet right in the centre of town.
We do not only grow flowers, but also vegetables and fruits. We are real Anglophiles: we love England and English gardening.
For years we watch BBC2's Gardeners World on Friday evening, never miss an episode!
These last years I have got a form of degenerative arthritis in my big toes, the joints have got so inflammated, deformed and painful that they've been fixated, lots of metal put into them, so that they can't move anymore. I've had seven operations since 2008, never very successful, with complete rest put onto me afterwards.
I must count myself lucky, for my husband tried to keep on top of all the work inside the house as well as outside, ànd looked after me very well!
Since August 2010 I am a bit better, thank G... or no... thank the doctor ;-) !
Since February 2012 they have improved a lot!

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