When you’ve spent 34 years teaching English to young people between 12 and 18, reared two daughters, and run a household (just to name a few things), there hasn’t been too much time – or even incentive – to record life and what it throws at you.

Now that I’ve retired (early, six years ago), I still have the energy and motivation to keep the brain cells working with my ‘Over The Hilda’ blog in my carefree post-work life. Just mastering a computer keyboard and uploading material to this site has been challenging, but I’m getting there!

My blog is designed to share with others my journey into the next middle age, by using my own experiences and those of my close friends and family and so hopefully pass on some useful tips, advice or just random thoughts on the challenges facing the older woman.

Who am I? A wife, mother, friend and confidante, sports enthusiast, lover of fashion, food, wine, theatre, travel and reading, and definitely someone who enjoys life.

Like many, life has had its share of ups and downs. Surgery for a slipped disc put paid to my Hockey-playing days over 30 years ago, a gap that was filled by Tennis to a pretty competitive standard until recently when persistent back pain sadly put paid to that activity. Golf, though, has been my saviour, so I am learning how to play this most frustrating game while I have to admit to being totally addicted to Bridge (another activity to keep the mind active, don’t you know!)

On the upside, I’ve been happily married to the Gorgeous Graham (aka GG) for 34 years, and have two beautiful, smart and fun-loving daughters – the elder one Kirstin and her fiancé Mark producing our first grandchild Logan (born September 2016) and Courtney with her boyfriend Mark – all living close to us, and I have a wide circle of individuals and couples whose friendship I value immensely.

So, now, in ‘Over The Hilda’ you can read my beauty finds, my search for fashion for the ‘older woman’, foolproof recipes I have gleaned from my culinary-talented friends and tips on health and wellbeing, among other things, as well hopefully debunking the myths about growing older.

“Do not regret growing older – it’s a privilege denied to many”

I hope you enjoy sharing my journey.