After breakfast Huib went to work in the barn. He had thought that it would not be necessary to put the dresser in the children's room already. He measured the height and the width and went with his ruler and pencil to the children's room. There he measured the same measurements, in the approximate place where they had in mind for the dresser. With pencil he put a few dashes there and muttered to himself: "So, then Elly knows what she can paint around."

He walked downstairs and almost bumped into Margreet and Elly there.

"Hey sweetie!" Margreet greeted him, "I was just finishing up my work when Elly came over. Shall we lug the dresser to the nursery?"

Huib shook his head. "No need, I took the measurements and marked them off on the wall. Come and see." He greeted Elly, took a bag from her and walked ahead of them to the nursery.

"Ooooh, how beautiful it turned out! Even nicer than I imagined. Amazing color!" Elly looked around enraptured. "And tell me, where does... aha, I see, this is where you marked off the dresser. Then I'll have a lovely big piece left over to indulge in. I'm looking forward to it! Do you have some kind of table, a folding one or something, where I can put my paint pots, a water pot and my brushes? I already brought an old plastic rug to put over it. If you don't have such a table, it's no problem, I'll put everything on the floor."

"That doesn't work well Elly," thought Huib, "and I think we still have such a garden table at the guesthouse in the barn. I'll have a look right away."

Margreet and Elly stayed behind together. "You're really looking forward to it, aren't you? I can see it in you, you're just about eager!"

"Oh yes, I really am! This is totally my thing!" Elly smiled at Margreet. "I want to start with slightly larger birds today, and then paint small birds and butterflies in between later."

"Sounds handy, little ones are easier to put in between than big ones," Margreet thought.

"Yes, that's what it is! By the way, what a great evening it was yesterday. Had you seen that movie before?"

"No, actually I've rarely watched movies in the past. I thought yesterday's was fun, entertaining and confrontational. Huib and I were just talking about it this morning and wondering: are we going to get officially married or not? And you know, a party might be fun, but the wedding itself adds nothing to our relationship. We can buy a ring just like that, and Huib has already done that for me."

Margreet showed her ring with the jade stone to Elly. Elly grabbed her hand loosely. "Beautiful Margreet, Huib picked out something that really suits you."

"Right, and you know what else was so special? Danielle, the owner of that store, had just made the ring the day before, and she had known exactly how it should be, including how big the ring should be. She knew it wouldn't be long before it would be picked up. And then Huib came the very next day and knew immediately that he wanted to buy this one for me. Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, don't you think?"

"There it is again huh, living from your soul..." Elly sighed and wiped the tears of emotion from her eyes.

"I have a feeling that creative people have that even more strongly than other people," Margreet considered.

"I think it's the other way around, Margreet," Huib just came in with a folding table and unfolded it by the other wall of the room. "It's the other way around, by living from your soul, you live more creatively. The soul of a human being is creative by definition. The more stuck in beliefs and emotionally wounded we are, the harder it is to live creatively."

Margreet nodded, "I feel it's true, and I recognize it from my own life as well. As a child, I liked embroidering, but I wouldn't get it into my head to embroider creatively, to make up something myself. I always needed one of those printed drawings on the pattern that I could just fill in with cross stitches. There is nothing creative about that. If I wanted to embroider now, I would want to make something grow while I embroider. That's what I want to do with this tapestry I'm going to make for the living room. I'll finish my vest first, then I'll start embroidering."

"How far along are you with your vest?" Huib asked.

"It’s coming along already, the second sleeve is half finished, the front and the back were finished before. So for now I only have to make a collar and then put everything together. I figured out I didn't even need to put buttons on it. I want to look for some of those big pins, I'll just hang them on there. If I want to close my vest, I'll do it with those pins."

"Clever thought! No fussing with buttonholes knitting."

Elly suddenly thought of something, "Do you know Action, that store down the street from the thrift store? I've seen pins like that there before, very large safety pins, with a little figure attached, a feather, a key, things like that, if I remember correctly. And it costs about as much there as it would cost at the thrift store."

"I know that store is there, but I've never been in. I'll have to do that soon then! Thanks for the tip, Elly! And now, let's see, what all you have brought."

Elly looked in both her bags and took out of one a plastic rug, which she laid over the little table. Then from her other bag she began to take out all kinds of jars of paint, of all kinds of colors. She put a large screwdriver and a spatula next to it and added a glass jar with brushes of all kinds of thicknesses and a glass jar that she would fill with water later. She had brought an apron to protect her clothes. She put it on and rolled up her sleeves.

"So, I'm ready to get started! By the way, that window, it doesn't bother me now, but if I get too cold, can it be closed already, do you think?"

"Oh yes, no problem, I'll put it on a smaller tilt, then some fresh air will come in, but you won't feel like you're being blown away here." Huib did what he had said. "So, now it's just a crack, but if you still find it too cold, you can close it confidently though, the paint on that window frame is already dry, and the rest everywhere too, I think."

"For the time being it seems fine to me, I had put on an old thick sweater on purpose, because I assumed that the window should remain open for a bit. That's good for my own painting too, by the way, then it dries quickly and I'm not so bothered by the smell either."

"Anything else you need?" Margreet asked.

"No, just some water, can I just get that from the bathroom?"

Margreet nodded. "And if you want to throw away dirty water, I think it's best to pour that into the toilet, don't you Huib?"

Huib nodded, "Yes, I think that's the best place, if you flush right then, that should be fine, right?"

"Yes, I did that in the past at home too, that was fine. Indeed, flush immediately, works fine. Any residue I wipe away with toilet paper, I'll be fine! By the way, I use as little paint as possible on my palette, so there won't be much to wash away."

"Nice! Then I'm going to knit... or no, I'm going to cut the cloth for the tapestry to size and zigzag it with a rough stitch to prevent it from fraying," Margreet thought, "By the way, it's beautiful fabric you had set aside for me in the store. Nice and coarse, not too coarse, just right for embroidering with all kinds of threads. Yes, great, I'll do that. By the time we go for coffee, I'll come and get you, okay? Or would you rather have coffee here and move on?"

"Is it true that we have another hour? Then I'll just start and if you want to pick me up, I'll come with you to the guest house. A little break in between is good for me, otherwise I'll just keep going." Elly laughed, "Yeah yeah, I can do that too, rushing myself."

"Sounds familiar, but besides it’s not nice for yourself, it's also not necessary. Take your time, the baby is not coming yet. It's fine if you can do it at ease and with pleasure. I'll come and get you later!"

To chapter 133. Everything that touches you

Or to the Table of contents