Autumn was already in full swing, the children of the schools had autumn holidays. Children and also some adults searched for beechnuts, chestnuts and acorns in the forest, walked with maple kites on their noses and enjoyed the autumn wind blowing through their hair.

Annerieke and Margreet walked through the forest together, looking for them themselves. Recently, Annerieke also had one of those beautiful, Huib-made semi-circular tables with a semi-circular bowl on top. She had followed Margreet's example by putting pebbles in it first and then things she found in the garden or in the forest.

"I remember Sjaak telling me that he had put an acorn in the ground on both sides of the garden last year in autumn. I saw that a plant has already sprouted on both sides. In a few years, we will have two real oaks there. That has something, like two watchmen on the estate!" Margreet told.

"Oh really? What a nice idea! That man often gets such simple but beautiful ideas. When I think of those larger flowerbeds he has been working on, with stepping stones on the paths in between. And those pergolas he had made with Huib. The climbing hydrangeas he had planted there did well last summer. I enjoyed those big flowers."

"Yes, big flowers made up of little flowers. And now that they have finished flowering, it still looks nice. Sjaak said, deliberately leaving those finished flowers attached. Only the ones that fall to the ground, he sometimes picks up because otherwise they stick to our clothes. I've noticed that myself a few times, then I found all those little dried-out flowers at home, and they feel hard and sharp on your bare feet. When Gloria starts crawling, I don't think that's a pleasant feeling for her. When I see them, I pick them up myself, and like Sjaak, I just throw them among the bushes. Those flowers of the climbing hydrangea remind me of Elly, by the way. The way she had painted such flowers in Huib's building. From the outside they look quite large flowers, but on the inside they appear to be made up of little flowers. I haven't spoken to her in a while, would she still have commissions for murals?"

Annerieke shook her head. "She called me yesterday and then I asked about that. She said she had had one more commission after Sjaak and Lisa's nursery, at a friend's house, but had taken a time-out after that. She hasn't told me anything else about that yet, but she hopes to do so tonight. She is joining us for coffee tonight, then she will tell me more. And show me, she said. I wonder what she was talking about!"

Margreet chuckled, "Me too, apparently something has changed!"

"If Elly likes it, shall we come to your place?"

" Well yes, cosy! And if Elly likes it, we can ask Bianca, Sjaak and Lisa too."

And so it happened, that evening, Elly arrived at Annerieke and Simon's house with a big bag full of small paintings, but walked on with her to the house down the road. On the way, Annerieke called Lisa, told her that Elly was there and that she wanted to share and show something. If they felt like it... yes, at Huib and Margreet's.

"They will probably come too," Annerieke told Elly. "Lisa is going to ask Sjaak if he is also in the mood. Now it is still possible, with one baby on the estate, each time we all go to Huib and Margreet's. In two months' time, we will have to choose, going to Sjaak and Lisa every now and then. Lisa is due at the turn of the year."

"Yes, then that organisation will be a bit trickier, but knowing you guys I'm sure that won't be a problem. You guys will find a way," Elly thought.

"Well yes, after you ma'am," Annerieke said jokingly with a bow at the scullery of the house. Inside, they were cheerfully greeted by Huib, Margreet and Bianca. "Isn't Simon coming?"

"Yes, he'll be here soon. He was back from work late, just had to eat and shower. And on the way here I called Lisa. She is still consulting with Sjaak, but suspects that she will also... Oh, here they come already! Nice to see you too, every time it's lovely, all my chicks together!" laughed Annerieke.

Huib gave his mother a kiss on her cheek: "What a great mother hen you are. You leave your chicks completely free, but sometimes still catch them under your wings for a while, just for fun. Nice! Come along people, to the living room! All coffee? Lisa still prefer tea? Will do!"

While the last few were still sipping their coffee, Elly began to share how she had experienced doing a mural at her friend's house. "She lives too far away to drive up and down all the time, so I stayed over there. And I found out that I hated it. A few nights away from Martin. And I started thinking about assignments I don't know where in the country, with unknown people. Then I would have to stay there too? Because of that obstacle, for me it was really an obstacle, I started doubting, thinking. And so I found myself in a process point, which for a short time was quite intense. To cut a long story short: I needed to be seen. Martin sees me, he really does, and with you I know that too, but because of the wounds beneath that cry to be seen, I couldn't receive that. And making those murals made me be seen. At least that's what I thought, that that would be it then. But however enthusiastic everyone was about my work, it obviously didn't heal those wounds. I had a difficult time for a while, went right through it, or at least through a deep part of it, and then discovered that I actually really enjoy making small paintings anyway, just on Action canvases. I enjoy being able to do that just at home, at a table in front of the window. We have a room upstairs, where I have an open cupboard, a very large one, where I keep my paint pots, and in all the open compartments that were left, I put my paintings. That looks so nice! But tonight I took them out for a while, because I wanted to show them off. Which is most comfortable for you, Lisa, shall I show them here one by one, or shall I put them all on the dining table."

Lisa smiled at her, "Sweet of you to think of me, but my tummy hasn't bothered me yet, so you're welcome to put them on the table."

"Good, I will do that then. Come and see if you feel like it!"

Elly grabbed her bag and started putting the paintings on the table. The others came to look and it took only a few seconds before the first enthusiastic comments rang through the room.

"Oh Huib, look, our heron with his little goldfish!"

"That shark, what a creep, he's coming swimming towards you like that!"

"What a beautiful flower... Margreet, do you remember what we were talking about this afternoon? The flower from Huib's building, this one, made up of little flowers."

"Oh yes, just like the climbing hydrangea."

"Say Elly, all this together, this is like a mural. It doesn't fit together like that, but you could make a collection of flowers, or a collection of birds."

Elly nodded, beaming, "And that was exactly what I had in mind. And I don't think, I'll just be working on birds for a week, not that. I think I'll just paint whatever comes to mind each time, but I can put a lot of paintings together as collections. Both those bird paintings are already together in my closet, too. By the way, you know what's cool? I spoke to the manager of Action. I may place a large order through him, then I will get a discount. And they already don't cost that much there, so I jumped at it straight away. He came up with it himself, had already seen me going to the checkout a few times with a crate of canvases of all sizes, and asked me about it. I take a picture of each painting, and I showed them to him. Then he came up with his proposal, nice huh? And he doesn't care what kind of painting stuff I order. ‘If it's for your life hobby, you can include it in your order,’ he said. I was actually quite taken by that!"

"I can imagine so!" Huib responded. "And those photos you took, have you put them on the website yet?"

"No, I could hardly do that, could I? Actually, I stopped everything, social media too. I still have it though, but I mean I haven't put anything on there about my work anymore."

"When are you going to do that again?" asked Huib. "You first thought murals were your 'life hobby', but you have now discovered your real 'life hobby'. I would be happy to help you change your part of the site a bit, so that it is clear, from now on, that you make smaller paintings. You can sell them if you like, or if you prefer to keep them all, you can display the pictures and thereby let the power of your soul shine over the world."

Elly furrowed her brow: "Is that how it works, you think?"

"I'm almost sure, your power is in your work, your work radiates it. Something like that. It will touch people and help them in their healing. Do you want that?"

"Oh yes, definitely! Then we should indeed start changing that on the site. Can we do that right away later or shall I come back tomorrow?"

"I don't mind, can do both. Let's just see how tonight goes," Huib replied.

"Huib, can I ask you something?" came Bianca forward.

"No, we can't do that," Huib began with a quasi-serious face. "Of course you can ask us anything, just tell us!"

"I have rediscovered my hobby from my childhood, and I think it is a kind of 'life hobby' for me. In any case, I'm thoroughly enjoying it! We've talked about your website before. I think I would like to put my work on there too. Maybe even to sell..."

"Those doll dresses? Definitely! I think Elly is the only one who hasn't seen them yet, but I assure you Elly, those aren't just any doll dresses. They are works of art! When I saw those, I knew she hadn't just fiddled around, she was getting pictures from her soul and just knew what she could make. And as we all know by now, there is enormous power from that. Bianca, I would like to make a page for you on our joint website, to put your photos on it, so that people can see them, enjoy them and possibly buy them".

Bianca nodded and eagerly replied, "I would love that! At first I just thought I might be able to make it my job one day, but what you just said about that radiating, I would find that alone worthwhile."

"Wonderful! Would you fetch the dresses? Then we'll take pictures of them right away and try to put up your part of the website tonight or else tomorrow as well and sign up to social media if you like," Huib suggested.

"If you know how that works and want to help me, that's fine with me! I'll get them, just a moment! You'll keep an eye on Julian, won't you? Sorry, silly question, as if you wouldn't care about him. I'll be right back!"

Julian, in the playpen, was awake by now, but looked around happily.

"That's true too," Elly said to Annerieke, "you do have two babies living on the estate already."

Annerieke chuckled: "You know, Elly, it's all running so smoothly that I had forgotten about it myself for a moment. Both children are easy as well, sleep on in no time when taken to one of the other houses. Of course, you shouldn't do that a few times a day, but every now and then, they can handle that just fine. Huib and Margreet don't always come to the guesthouse for coffee either. And they eat at home by default. Margreet cooks for herself now..."

"And so does Huib sometimes, he can bake delicious pizza!" Margreet complemented.

"That's true as well, he loved doing that as a boy. He was also great at varying that wonderfully. Well, you guys will manage! And I suspect that things won't be much different with Sjaak and Lisa later on. In principle, they will also be home much more often. But then evenings like this are all the more fun, great to see each other again. Ah, there's Bianca back already!"

Bianca took off her coat and came in, where she put the doll's dresses on the table near the paintings.

"Oh my, my mouth falls open at that," Elly sighed, "how beautiful! So how did you do this? Look at it, all those ruffles, what work, and what a great result. The doll who gets to wear that is a lucky one! She dances away with that in no time!"

Lisa stroked the ruffles, full of admiration. "I knew you were working on it, but hadn't seen the end result yet. It's a really good idea to put them on the website and so on. This should be able to be seen by everyone. How powerful, all three of them touch me."

"Isn't it too early to put them on there now? There are only three yet. And the fourth one, it is far from finished," Bianca asked in despair.

"That doesn't matter Bianca, I started with just the mural I made above. It naturally grows into more, just look at it!" Elly pointed to her paintings.

"And with me, it doesn't go that fast either," Margreet shared. "I made that tapestry hanging there first, then four little ones for The Shelter, and then one for Lisa and Sjaak, of the size of our own tapestry. Those are now finished, and I have now started another one, three-dimensional this time. So I also need a lot of hours for one piece of work. That doesn't matter!"

"That brings us straight to something else, the working hours you spent on it," Huib said, "we keep rough records of how much time we spend on a piece of work, and make a price indication based on that. Do you also get your materials from the thrift shop?"

"Haha, that's where she became a regular customer!" laughed Elly. "I only work there twice a week, two days, but we've seen each other there a few times!"

Bianca laughed: "True yes, I've found just about everything I need there so far."

Huib chuckled: "So that's how it goes here, Margreet gets pretty much everything she needs there too. You can add the material costs to your price, so it's quite advantageous for your future customers. Maybe we should sort it out together tomorrow. There is a bit more involved for you than for Elly. Do you both mind if I work on the computer with Elly now and with you Bianca tomorrow?"

The women looked at each other, nodded at each other. Elly followed Huib to the computer, where they consulted with each other to adjust the text on the website and social media.

"Basically, this is everything. What you can do yourself is just adjust your price indication and put your photos of your new work on the site. I think it would be nice if you also make some collages of the groups you want to gather together. You remember how that works, right?" Huib asked.

"Yep, that's no problem. I will start working on it first thing tomorrow. I just feel that this is not just something. It's important to show this to everyone."

Elly sighed deeply as a bright smile appeared on her face. "I was in such a dip, you know, when I noticed I was getting a distaste for those murals. I'm so glad I went right through it. I can now do what really has my heart again!"

Huib put his hand on her hand. "I'm happy for you, Elly, being busy doing what really belongs to you, that's the most beautiful thing there is!"

To chapter 23. Pain points and impressions

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