About us
Jim and Trui met at university in Ghent (Belgium) in 1990 and have been together for nearly 20 years now.
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Paris,
June 2004 |
On
top of Napoleon's fortress Ostend, 1997 |
Some years ago, we bought our house
in Oedelem (between Bruges and Ghent in Belgium - map)
and started renovating it. After moving there, our family of animal companions
expanded rapidily and because we now have the company of three donkeys, we decided
to call our home "het ezelhof" (the donkey court).
The donkey court is our personal project, and stands beside our professional
activities.
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Trui
in New York, September 1999. |
Jimmy
in working outfit in our living room summer 2004 |
Nature
conservation and animal rights are important issues for us and we try to live
our lives with respect for these principles.
For example, in winter time (roughly November - March), the trees around our
house are decorated with several birdfeeders and attract tens of birds. An attempt
to capture them on photo:
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Some of the bird species that we have had the pleasure of seeing in our garden: - Great Spotted
Woodpecker (Dendrocopos Major) |
Each summer, we are very happy with the breeding barns swallow in the sheep stable, and the tens of frogs in our pond.
 young of barn swallow - out of the nest but still inside the stable , waiting to be fed by the parents |
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We are both vegetarians and have stopped eating animals around 1997. Obviously, none of our animal companions at the donkey court end up being eaten...
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In a nutshell,
the reasons why we became vegetarians: |
While many people in developing countries struggle to survive, a large amount of the vegetable food grown in these countries is exported to developed countries, where it serves as food for animals in husbandry. Worldwide, about 44% of all cereal crops is used as food for animals in husbandry. Although we personally didn't consider this a major issue, many people turn vegetarian because of health considerations. An increasing amount of scientific data prove that a vegetarian diet is more healthy than an omnivore diet. |
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If you have seen the movie "The Matrix" then take a look at this: The Meatrix
Every once and a while, we take a holliday abroad. In april 2005, we went to South Africa (Cape Town and surroundings), where we had a magnificent holiday! Here are some photos. If you want to see more, click here.
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Jim
& Trui at Cape of Good Hope |
Table mountain, view from Blauwbergstrand. |
 Cape Gannets (Morus Capensis), Lambert's Bay |
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Jim, Table moutain |
In July 2009, we went down under and travelled from Sydney to Port Douglas in Australia. If you want to see more photos from Australia, look here.
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 feeding the roos |
 Blue Mountains |
Music plays an important part in our lives (listening and enjoying). Trui is a huge Genesis fan and we went to see Genesis on their Turn it on Again Tour in 2007 on 6 locations. You can see a detailled report of those Genesis shows here.
Every once in a while, we go to a live show. Our musical preferences are very broad and varied, from Stevie Wonder to Dream Theater, from big band to prog rock and many things in between and beyond.
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