1. DAILY LIFE

 Life is good in het Dierenhuis. The animals meet in the spacious stairwell. There is always time for a chat. The houses are very peaceful. Especially the children love it here. They play together, they explore and swim. And the combination with de Lauwerkrans as neighbours is so much fun . The animals are allowed to use the library and they also enjoy going to the clubs. But the 1970s house and het Kantwinkeltje also play a role in their lives.

The home of the cats is the nicest. The widow is often there to help with the twins, but the other penguins also like it there. Renate can finally let go of her mother role and hang out with Daan and adolescent.

 

Then the widow and the wife of the young couple take care. They love to be in this house. The kitties are always cheerful but also naughty. Especially in the stairwell they can rage quite a bit. Then they climb up via the banister. Recently Jochem and Imke had climbed on the roof . But then John became really angry and now they don’t do it anymore.

Renate prefers to bake cakes. She does that with the grandmothers in de Lauwerkrans. And she likes to be in het Kanthuisje. She loves the beautiful laces there and finds the customers who come very interesting. But she does not dare to touch anything because she is afraid her nails will damage the lace. The other kitties are just having fun. They like to play with the little one, with Finn and with the dachshund. At de Lauwerkrans they only come to have a chat because they cannot concentrate long enough to do something nice. To be honest, the grandfathers and grandmothers are often happy when these noisy but sweet kitties go home.

 The frogs are very different but also happy. 

Father John loves to read and has many books about nature. With his sons he makes long trips where they take the binoculars. He teaches them a lot about nature . Then they take a nice dip in the water and eat their belly round with insects. They love that.
Daan likes to be at the craft club. He learns to use tools from the grandfathers and he is already very handy. He also wanted to join the train club, but he is not that suitable for that. His fingers are too clumsy for that fine work. But he can do carpentry very well!
Finn is no longer so shy. Sometimes he even forgets to bring his soft toy.
He likes to go to the grandmothers to play a game and cuddle a little. Jochem is his best friend. Jochem can climb very well but Finn can jump very far!
When the frogs sit together they look at the sculpture of their mother and ask father John to tell stories from the time the mother was still alive.
In the evening when the boys are in bed, John often stands in front of the painting. Then he thinks of the happy time he had with his wife Klara. But, he tells her, it is also nice here.

And when he goes to bed he kisses her goodnight.

With the penguins  things are a little different. They were the first residents here and were so happy with their home! But when they saw how the other animals lived, a feeling of dissatisfaction slowly crept in. Not by everyone, by the way.

The little one and the adolescent were not bothered by anything. They loved it in het Dierenhuis.
The leader and his assistant also liked this. Life was a bit boring but also very easy. Every evening the leader drank a glass of cognac and his assistant a beer.
Serious had thrown himself into chess, but the grandpas were no longer a match for him. He single-handedly played famous games from books. He had already read all the books of de Lauwerkrans . Now the lady of the ASC kept bringing new books for him from the city library. He was interested in a lot of subjects. Astronomie, geography, mathematics, chemistry, he actually wanted to know everything. Next time when the lady comes he will ask if he can go to the city too. He has never been in a museum or a church. The city has so many options.
The 2 bachelors are not so happy. They are bored to death and there is nothing to do in the local pub. And all those children who just roar around. Not very funny. They liked the little one very much, but all that other little grit ... Now they have heard of a pub in a village further down where it seems to be very different. They want to go there soon.
The young couple is satisfied. Their lives revolve around the little one and he having so much fun! Yet the young couple's wife often looks enviously at the cozy rooms of the frogs and especially of the cats.

The widow is getting a bit nagging. She has aches and is easily annoyed. Everyone avoids her a bit and she doesn't like that. Lately she has been complaining a lot about sore feet. A grandmother knitted fine pink socks for her. She was happy with that but now she has pain in her back.

During the day there is a big difference between one and the other half of the house. As soon as the penguins are awake, they get up and go somewhere. They are used to do so. But the homes of the frogs and cats are always lively. There is often someone at home and they have lovely furniture. Therefore, the penguins always go to other houses and no one comes to them. That is something that bothers the women, but they do not know how to change it. Our house is so empty, the widow thought.

They will talk about it the next time the lady of the ASC comes .

And that fourth house? It is still empty. The young couple asked if they could live there for as long as it was empty, but it was not allowed.
The lady is always very secretive when it comes to the fourth house.