4 . THE HIGH TREES FOREST

 But that changed when they came to the High Trees forest.

They got tired. The widow had such a pain in her back. The young couple had more and more difficulty to take the egg on this bumpy ground and started to grumble at each other. The bachelors found that egg too annoying and suggested to drop it somewhere along the way. That made the widow very angry again . The serious penguin was grumpy because he hadn't brought his sandals. They would have come in handy now. The assistant did not approve of all the leader's decisions, but he could not show itt. He had to ensure that leader's orders were followed. In short, the whole group was in a minor mood and no longer believed that it would ever be okay.

For days they walked on the bumpy ground and had to sleep standing like this. There was not much food and the penguins were weakened. They lost weight and didn't have much energy. Even the widow was not  happy that she was finally getting slim. Singing naughty songs didn't help any more. The leader sent the 2 bachelors and the adolescent out to explore.

They had to wait a long time until the 3 penguins finally came back. The group was already half asleep.
"We have a house, a real house," shouted the 3 penguins from afar.  And they came running enthusiastically. “And there is also water nearby”
The group woke up a bit drowsy and hardly responded.
"With a real roof though!" cried the adolescent. Still little response.
"It's only a 2-hour walk," said the bachelor, and thought to himself, "but with that stumbling widow and that stupid egg, it'll be almost 3 hours."
It finally dawned on the leader that this was really good news.
He started enthusiastic a pep talk to his group.
Slowly life began to come into the group and they were getting ready to set off again.

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3. THE LEADER

 But the landscape changed.
Everything got a different colour: green, yellow, brown.
Their feet ached from the changing surface, their throats became dry and they could no longer wash themselves by wallowing in the snow or taking a refreshing dip now and then. And what should they eat here, who were their enemies, where should they sleep?
The serious penguin couldn't remember the way. The group grumbled and stopped listening to him.

The 2 bachelors and the adolescent tried to boost morale by singing songs.
First all kinds of folk songs and other famous songs, but soon they had run out of their repertoire.

The serious penguin knew some French songs but nobody liked them. The widow's nursery rhymes were also unsuccessful. However, help came from an unexpected source: the leader knew a lot of naughty songs.

And that was a success! Suddenly the mood was back.
On the rythm of  "the penguin’s little willy" they walked happily again with the leader in front. All the aches and fatigue seemed to disappear. And then the assistant also knew a spicy song and the bachelors knew good jokes. Even the widow knew very dirty songs. Who would have thought that. The adolescent got very warm!

Those songs made the leader popular.
He held meetings, decided when to stop and where to sleep. And because of his actually good decisions, this part of the journey went smoothly.

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2. THE JOURNEY

 

At first it was a quiet, sad journey. Everyone was still in shock and processing his grief. The Adolescent was actually the only one who thought it was a great fine adventure. He did all the extra chores and helped the Widow by giving her extra nudges when she was struggling.

As long as they walked in the snow, it was not so difficult. Here they knew where to find food and where the dangers were imminent. The Serious penguin had prepared well and knew the way. He led the group and felt in his element.

They were well on schedule and after a day of walking it was good to sleep in the soft snow.

Walking endlessly every day worked therapeutically and the group was able to cope with the disaster. At first they walked in silence, then the stories started gently. There was a lot of crying and comforting.

All the victims of the disaster were commemorated and memories were recalled. 

Both the good and the bad.

Many conversations started with, “do you remember that ……… ”

After a while, walking even became fun! Now the Bachelors could say their jokes and the adolescent could be rude and make noise. He was so happy that he got his grandmother's hat, socks and mittens.

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1.WHO WENT WITH IT?

The Serious penguin . After the first warnings of a possible evacuation, he had already packed his backpack. He has thought carefully about what he could need and is prepared for everything.
Unfortunately, he is not willing to share his stuff.

         

The Leader with the white fur coat. He has the most expensive jacket, has the biggest spot on the floe and can scream the loudest. His friend and assistant look up at him and tries to imitate him. That is why he also has a long coat. But his coat is made of shiny yarn. Also chic, but still….

 

      

 The Adolescent.
The evacuation came completely unexpected for him. He had missed all previous warnings. He was never cold. As an adolescent he was thinking about completely different things and that made him feel warm. Fortunately he had just put on his hat, socks and mittens that day because his grandmother had knitted them for him. And that is the last souvenir he has of her.

The Widow.
A sweet, social creature.
Although she herself has also suffered great grief, she is still the mainstay for many others.
She especially takes the adolescent under her wing.

The Young Couple. They have not been together that long and have an egg! In turn, they take very good care of it. It won't be long before this egg hatches.
Miraculously, they did not lose each other during the disaster and even managed to save their egg.
Actually they are very happy but they don't really dare to radiate that.

2 Bachelors. They used to be rivals in their search for females. At times they even wanted to kill each other! But now that the females are no longer there they seem to be good friends. Actually they have a lot of fun together. They come up with the craziest jokes but don't dare to play them yet. The time for fun has not yet arrived.

    

            

     

 

 

 

The Animal House

 What preceded:

 November 2013 I bought this house from Jacomine Mink in IJsselstein. I had seen this house on the fair and immediately fell in love with it. It is a kind of house but, due to the large staircases, it also looks like a theatre. I had no idea what I would make in it.

   

Over the years I had already bought cats from Angelique (Angels dolls ). Just because I fancied them. Later she also had frogs and I loved them too. Of course, all those naked animals had to be dressed. The animals are the same size as dolls so the clothes I designed fitted cats, frogs and dolls.

I had the penguins , from Schleich, since 2006. Over the years I had collected even more penguins. And over time I had dressed up these animals just for fun.

 

Now the story starts……..

 

THE PENGUINS


A penguin colony lived peacefully at the South Pole. Of course there was sometimes a quarrel, as everywhere, but in general the penguins were satisfied.
Although ... their habitat was getting smaller due to the crumbling ice. This caused more and more irritations and even fights. It became less and less fun and some animals really took up too much space. Others adapted easily and simply settled into their destiny.
There were warnings that their floes were no longer safe and that they had to move. But well, if you have lived on that floe for generations, you don't just give up on that.
Still, not everyone ignored the warnings.
It went well until one night there was a terrible storm. The floe creaked under the penguin's feet and slowly started to break free.
"We have to go, we have to go immediately," it suddenly sounded from all sides.
Panic.
There was a scream and a push. Cries of terror and splashing echoed in the roaring wind.
Penguins crowded through the narrow glacier that was their floe's entrance to the hinterland. They were safe there, and they sat shivering and exhausted.
Only the next morning, when it got light, they could see who had survived the disaster.
What a shock! Everyone was missing family members and loved ones. The defeat was great. Rescues were launched, but they were unsuccessful. A few days passed before they realized they needed to take action. After long deliberation, it was decided that they would set off. Because everyone had suffered a great loss, togetherness was great. They would do it together.
On to a safer place.

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