Each week I post another fascinating true-life excerpt from my friend & mentor’s journals while she was Housekeeper & Cook at The Flamingo, during the period 1968-1999, titled Cookie’s Diaries. Together we’ve changed a few things around & set Cookies story in a fictional Australian country town so as to protect the innocent & the not so innocent!  We hope you enjoy Cookies journey from such humble & all but penniless beginnings to owning & running the highly successful country guesthouse, ‘The Flamingo’. To read the last chapter click HERE
The Appropriate Attire
My first winter at The Flamingo brought with it an unwelcome change from the happy carefree summer months where the place seemed a hive of activity, with the constant noise of hammers & electrical saws from the builders. Suddenly, it was over & we all tried to fit back into our old routines with varying degrees of success. Frederick fell into a mood & spent weeks locked up in his office working on a new project, leaving Jamie to host the evening meal with our guests, a job he disliked doing on his own, feeling very inadequate without Frederick taking the lead with these things.
Frederick was a difficult personality, he was a natural leader & visionary & wonderful with people, but there was a dark side to him that sent him into a funk for weeks at a time every now & then between his projects. Jamie was a much lighter personality with an endless supply of energy, he was fun & creative & usually very enthusiastic about everything; together they worked brilliantly, but independently when things weren’t right between them they were both lesser men. Continue Reading 
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