Flamingo Dancer’s blog

My second hand copy of Marjorie Lawrence's autobiography Interrupted Melody arrived! It was sitting on my doorstep when I walked down stairs and I was so worried as I ripped open the packaging. I so did not want it to be dirty, or grotty or realy damaged. It wasn't! It was in even better condition than the bookseller had described. I felt like I was handling the past.

signed by Marjorie Lawrence!

and as I browsed the pages - and on page 180...

there was a gift folded within the pages

I felt like I was stepping back in time.

long ago someone had pressed flowers

Who had placed the flowers within the book's pages? What did the flowers mean to them? Had they been in vase in the bookshop the day Marjorie signed the book and the book's owner kept them as a memento? Were they flowers given with love? Picked from a garden on a spring evening? Flowers worn as a corsage to a night of opera?

Suddenly, the past came into the present. I felt as though I had embarked on a romantic mystery and that I must go out into the night, mist swirling about me, to discover the story behind the flowers in my book. Was it romance? Regret? Hope? Joy? Sorrow? I can only imagine...I'd like to think that whatever the reason for the flowers being placed within the pages, that it was connected to happiness,,,

The book was superb reading - I read it in one night. I could not put it down. She told of her childhood: the loss of her mother when she was 2, the years spent with her Grandmother, her musical education, running away from home to pursue her dreams, journey to Paris and then to Neg w York, the finding of a love that lasted a life time, her battle with polio and struggling to regain her operatic career. Sometimes she was humble and grateful, at other times she was the great artist, confident and sure of her talent, craving the adulation of her public. I do not follow opera in any way - I do not understand opera at all, but I found this biography of Marjorie Lawrence, to be enthralling. Marjorie reached across the years and made me another one of her devoted fans.

I only wish there had been another chapter... 

I was watching Sarah Palin being interviewed - I have forgotten by whom now, there has been so many this week, probably Barbara Walters - and she was asked if she agreed to Israel expanding their settlements and Sarah said yes, as "in the days, and weeks and years ahead" that people would be "flocking" to these areas and so they needed to expand. When she was asked about the Palestinians she just repeated that Israel needed more room. Is her foreign policy to sterilise everyone in Palestine so that their populations don't grow? What is her foreign policy?

I saw the long lines of Sarah supporters lining up outside bookstores waiting for 32 seconds with her and it made me wonder if the cult of personality that the American media has honed to perfection is actually going to overtake the culture and place someone at the head of the country who has no real intelligence, or substance, but is street smart and sexy.

I know that we are all tired of old style politicians, but to replace them with plastic Barbie wearing glassess and sitting in a bus, is not doing the world a favour. I don't know - is she popular because she is viewed as the underdog? The pretty girl is being picked on, let's go save her! Has the ability to think critically been gentically removed from the human race?

I saw a woman on a bookline saying "they just don't know her" as if she did. Are people constructing the media Sarah as one of their friends? Do they think they know her because Rupert Murdoch's media has packaged her for them? Has society isolated individuals so much that we think people we never met are people we know?

Factual discrepencies in Sarah's book have been laid at the feet of the ghost writer. This person wants to rule American and yet she can't write her own autobiography? This was her chance to have a real dialogue with her country and someone else had to write it for her!

To me, it would be like putting Roseanne Barr and her TV family in the White House. I don't underestimate her for a second. As I said she is street smart and street smart is dangerous because they don't play by the rules, any rules. I just pray that Obama can lift America to the heights he promised, though everyone is so self interested, that I fear for his abilities - I do believe he is human after all. I think that it is only if American can claw back its prosperity and make peace with other nations and religions that there is any hope of keeping this woman out of the race. Or if someone can find some scandal in her life, though even if they found that she used to work as a topless dancer I think it would only enhance her reputation. Magnetism is a strong tool. 

I just wish that people would stop pointing and saying "look at the pretty lady" and actually ask her for policy and substance. Is that too much to ask from a politician? Or do they give Sarah Palin a "get into the White House free card"? Maybe the end of the world will come in 2012 - when Sarah goes to the White House.

MR FD's mobile office

Mr FD is making an early return from his Northern Queensland business trip. He apparently has to make an unexpected trip to China - as one does! I think he is coming home to change underwear.  Daughters1 and 2 have both sent texts to warn him not to steal state secrets or bribe anyone (in reference to recent arrests of Australian Rio Tinto exectutives in China). He does tend to find trouble wherever he goes - lost coat in Hong Kong, stolen luggage and passport in Holland, forgotten phone charges up and down the eastern Australian seaboard - that they have every reason to worry.

I will focus on the postives - what he can buy for me on the trip!

Lessons on how to pickpocket. Follow at your own risk!

 or the other option - hold on to what you already have!

Advertisement for anti- pickpocket purse, worn inside the waistband of trousers 1889

I just pulled the sliding door to the patio closed and a gecko [lizard] fell down and hit me on the forehead, bounced onto my top lip and hit the floor before running away.

I did not scream. I did not go all girly. If I wake up in the morning with mutant powers I vow to take them in my stride and make the world a better place.

The damn gecko however, is an endangered species. No one touches the Flamingo Dancer unless I give them permission.

Marjorie Lawrence - Australian opera soprano

I have just spent the evening watching an old movie about the Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence. Marjorie was born on a farm in 1907 and somehow managed to go from distant Australia to France to study and then onto New York to rise in the operatic ranks. Being an Australian girl she was very physical and she was the first soprano to perform the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended. Good old Marjorie also performed the Dance of the seven veils in Richard Strauss's Salome^[1] "more convincingly" than most other sopranos!

Not long after she married she contracted polio and was left confined to a wheelchair.  She managed to resume her career and sang for some time afterwards. She even travelled overseas to entertain the troops after WWII and I think even during the Vietnam War. Marjorie died in 1979.

The movie starred Eleanor Parker as Marjorie. Dear Eleanor I believe was nominated for an Academy Award. I can only think that it was either in the category of "most overacting actress" or "worst lip synching by an actress in a muscial". Hey Brittany Spears wasn't born yet! [In case you missed it in other parts of the world, little Brit is in Australia and audiences are walking out because she is lip synching her way through the concerts and badly at that!]

Anyway, the movie was the usual Hollywood bad retelling of a great story. Marjorie was disappointed with the result saying that it did not represent her life at all. Bad movie, as it may have been, the subject, Marjorie Lawrence, really interests me. I want to know more about her now.

I went online and was able to track down a 2nd edition copy of her autobiography "Interrupted Melody" which is what the movie was called also.  The blurb says it is a little damaged, but heck it was published in 1949! It claims to have been signed by the author also, so I am a little chuffed. I don't usually buy second hand books as I love the feel and smell of new books, and I worry about introducing book worm into my own library, but in this case there was no choice, To get a copy reproduced through a library would be more expensive.

So, I hope all goes well, and hopefully the book will arrive in a week or so. I hope Marjorie told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth....more than what can be said for the movie!

Son has just driven off to his univeristy exam. I am more nervous than when I go to exams myself. I guess that a parent always wants the best for their child and even if they are 24 and a big hairy man! I kept a low profile until Son left so that my nervousness wouldn't freak him out.

Daughter2 ran a 5.2km marathon after work last night. It was a twilight marathon. This is the same girl who climbed two of the Glass House Mts last weekend. [When we say mountain in Australia, take it with a little grain of salt. Our Mountains are sometimes more a description than an actuality]. This is the same girl who spent her 15th year horizontal in her bed, with severe chronic fatigue. She is 28 years old now and doing things we never dared hope for her. This weekend she is buying a bike so she can go riding with Daughter1 and The Boy. I can't believe these are my daughters.  It has been a long road for her, but damn, nothing is going to stop her. I am in awe!

Mr FD is on the road in his new car. He keeps phoning me and singing me "I'm driving in my car". Springsteen has nothing to worry about. I would still be his in a blink. I am happy that Mr FD is enjoying the thrill of a new car ...before they repossess it at least! Hopefully he is doing more than just drinving in his car, but making some money as well!

I am feeling a strong desire to start baking again. My nesting instinct is coming back. Damn. First I have to rediscover my house under the filth and dust of the past 12 months. I was going to take before and after photos to show on my blog to motivate me into action, but I fear you would all tell me to change my name to Pig in Mud instead of Flamingo Dancer! You will just have to be content with my written crowing about my domestic superiority instead.

Daytime television viewing is really bad. Well the advertising is really bad. I think I missed out on the Snuggies as it is now summer, but I can still get in on the shamwow offer. I can't help wondering how one washes a shamwow if they absorb all the water? I can also buy life insurance before my medical results come back from the doctor to make my husband happy, and buy funeral insurance so that my children don't have to worry about throwing me in a hole. Then I can lemon detox and shed a dress size [and my health] in two days. After that I can buy Nude cosmetics and hide all the ugly bits - does it come in a drum?  I won't mention the range of sports equipment that I can have delivered to my door either. It is a full regime being made dissatisfied with myself and fearful of life in general.

The crow has left his post. I started lying on my bed with a pile of pillows blocking its view of my face. I did hear a noise at the bathroom window early last night, like a bird clawing against the screen, but I didn't investigate. I am starting to feel like I am in a remake of The Birds!  Between magpie season and being told to walk around with an ice cream container with eyes drawn on the back of it, on my head to avoid a pecking attack and now the Crow Stalker , I feel like I am an endangered species.

Isn't Al Gore looking good these days? Lost weight, better haircut. Does he have a girlfriend?

My mother phones to say that her sister, my aunt, is to have chemo after her bowel cancer surgery. At least that is what I think she said. She told me "you know those tablets you have after you have an operation". Chemo, Mum? "I don't know, I don't ask questions!" Then she proceeds to make all sorts of wild claims and predictions based on no information and no fact. I guess it should be no surprise to anyone that I have a mother who is rampant, but it still surprises me. Was she like this when we were growing up? Surely not. Yeah, probably. Explains a lot doesn't it?

I have spoken to my sister 3 times by phone this week. I love my sister. She doesn't understand me at all, but she loves me. What more can you ask from a big sister? I on the other hand understand her too well, but I still love her. That is what younger sisters are for.

Another niece engaged. Two family weddings planned for next year. We are expecting at least one more yet - wedding that is. The changing of the guard generation wise. We are becoming the elder statesmen/women. It is a nice thing. I am ready to hand over and be dotty and allow them to take the pressure.

I think I will lie here in bed a little longer and think about house cleaning and baking. It is a life and someone has to live it. I sacrifice myself for you!

Not feeling altogether healthy today, so have been lying a little upon my bed. I have the blinds open and a crow is spending large amounts of time sitting on the lamp post outside my bedroom window and looking in at me. It flies away and then returns to take up its post again. I am not overly superstitious, but I am starting to get a little spooked out by the damn crow. I would indeed like to stone the damn thing.

FD and the crow : not friends at all

Look you saggy bag of black feathers take your business somewhere else! SHOO!

Yesterday Mr FD and I experienced two ends of customer service - the good, the bad and the bad was ugly.

As mentioned in a previous post, Mr FD and I have been in the process of buying a car for the company that Mr FD is currently setting up. He started some two week ago on this process and he told everyone involved that he needed the car to leave on an extended trip last Monday. He just wanted the basic car, happy to choose from the colours on the show floor. Wanted no extras - oh except floor mats which now cost $180AUS for 4 rubber floor mats! Mr FD made call after call, repeating his need and his deadline. No one listened. They all heard what they wanted to hear, and then covered up with excuses of "fax didn't arrive" ,  "missed the deadline and head office won't process until tomorrow" and "they are out of the office and I'll leave theme a message" . Where do you leave the message? On the toilet wall of the business next door?

Anyway, we finally got the call to collect the car. We made an appointment for 2.30pm. When we arrived our saleswoman was nowhere to be seen. She was out on a test drive with another customer, even though we had an appointment and knew Mr FD had to leave that afternoon on an extended trip. A number of salesmen walked by us without even acknowledging that we were human and breathed. Eventually we made enough noise to be noticed and demanded to be served. A very junior member of the team took us through signing the papers and then she found a poor salesman who had a leg in a cast and couldn't make an exit to go through the car with Mr. FD. I made little effort to make small talk with Junior Girl as she kept up this charade of our Saleswoman returning at any moment, weeping over her unintended absence. Oh yeah.

An hour later we are driving out of the show room and Saleswoman appears. She throws herself in fron of our car and reefs open Mr. FD's door and screams "Congratulations " as though we had just given birth and not gone into spasms more of heart breaking debt. Then she plants a big lipsticky kiss on his cheek, something that normally would have his heart go into overdrive. THEN she runs to the otherside of the car and reefs open MY door, and rubs her cheek against mine. I take particular note of her name badge and facial features to add her to my stick list. I had never met this woman before, Mr FD had only ever spoken to her over the phone. Not a word of "sorry" even though "I knew that you were driving an hour to get here, and had an appointment with me, and were short of time". Nope, She had our money and she was onto the next sale. Customer service? I think not. Next company car, and there will be one or two or three, won't be bought from her.

On the other side, earlier that morning, a real estate salesman left his comatose mother to drive over an hour to bring some papers to us for signing as he knew Mr. FD needed to sign them before he left yesterday. [We are renting warehouse space]. While we were signing, the LOVELY [HANDSOME] Salesman received a phone call to inform him that his mother had just woken from the coma. She had been involved in a car accident a day or so previously. So this man spends 3 hours away from his possibly dying mother as he knew how important his role was in the next step of Mr FD's business. [If we had known before the meeting we would have gone to his office]

Wait there is a 3rd tale of service. Mr FD is in the seed business, pasture seed mainly. He had bought some seed and organized for it to be sent to a depot for delivery. Yesterday morning there is a knock at our front door, Mr FD goes outside and there is a delivery truck driver outside. The delivery man says "Got a pallet of seed, here for you, mate." They sent the damn seed to our residential address despite Mr FD making it obvious the residential address was for billing purposes only! The poor delivery driver had in fact alerted his office that they were sending him to a residential address with a pallet of seed, but they wouldn't listen or double check the details, so the poor delivery driver drove across town only to be told that "yes, that is right, this is the wrong address", and to have to drive back across town to the depot.

So not only are they giving bad customer service to their customers but they are giving bad customer service to each other. Your co-workers deserve as much as your customers, if not more.

To me, it is easier to do the right thing, and to do the right thing first time around than to do to the pretence dance. And if MR FD asks you to help him make a deadline - just remember there is a Flamingo Dancer with a stick list standing behind him.

[Stick list : list of names of all the people I am going to hit with a stick one day soon]