Now that you all know the purpose of the blog, I believe it is time to start introducing my Gumnut Girls to all of you. I originally thought that the best approach to this was to introduce them in chronological order, but I am having second thoughts about that. I have decided to instead just to go with who my heart chooses, and whose story seems to be pushing through my fingertips and onto my keyboard first. Right now, I have a sweet girl standing beside me, smiling confidently and brightly. I guess that is a good indication that she should be the first! I would like to introduce you all to the effervescent Lanie Denise Fischer; a performer from the Western Australian Pilbara town of Tom Price! In regards to the chronological order of the characters/dolls, she is the twenty-third and the most recent; coming to live with us on the 28th of April 2018. The twenty-second anniversary of Port Arthur, if I may add. Port Arthur will be something that will be mentioned plenty of times on this blog, and will be linked to the story of one of my Tasmanian girls. I will leave this for another post, however.
Picture this in your mind; a sun-kissed fourteen year old girl, with shining green-hazel eyes, rosy cheeks, a round button nose and a perfect smile - save the little gap between her top two front teeth. Her face is round, and you would be forgiven if you mistook her for being much younger. Her armpit-length bright blonde curls dance and bounce around her face, and by the end of a long day outside the ends of her curls will be covered in red outback dust. Never mind that, though - nothing that a good shake and scrunch cannot fix!
Lanie calls the north-central Pilbara region of Western Australia her home, and she has been there her whole life - namely, the town of Tom Price. Tom Price is the highest above sea level town in WA - by 747 metres, 2450 feet! It is a mining town; currently being utilised by Rio Tinto, and is a small regional city of considerable affluence. The most important person in her life is her Dad. Marshall Fischer is a single dad, raising a young teenage girl all on his own, running a motel (called the Jacaranda), and bearing the brunt of tremendous loss and although he is only in his forties, he seems much more worn than that. Lanie did have a mum, of course, but she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when Lanie was only four. Jackie Fischer (nee Holland) lost her battle, leaving her husband and then-five year old daughter behind to deal with the aftermath. Lanie has grown to be the splitting image and copy of her mum, much to her dad's delight and her Oma's dismay - from her bright blonde curls, her theatrical and carefree ways, to even her love of circus and vaudeville and Wa Wa Nee!
Lanie's extended family consists of two sets of grandparents, an aunty on her dad's side, plus the workers at her dad's motel and some angels to look down upon her from heaven. Her Oma, so her dad's mother, lives in the nearby mining town of Paraburdoo - less than an hour away from Lanie and her dad (although Lanie holds the belief that even this is too close). Her Oma; how do we put this politely? She is a disagreeable type; your typical conservative old German lady, who does not like change or self-indulgence one little bit. Of course, Lanie loves her as does her dad, however she could certainly do without her Oma's "surprise" drop ins as they usually lead to one of two things; one, an argument as to why Lanie has not gone to pursue "better" education in a boarding school outside the Pilbara, or two, to come and lecture her dad about his lax parenting. Sometimes they may be really lucky, and it will be both! Sometimes something else entirely! What fun!
But in all seriousness, she can be rather exhausting and is not the most nurturing lady in the world. That is why Lanie looks forward to visiting her mum's parents; her Nanna and Pop. As they live in the historic town of Onslow, three hours away, she does not get to see them as much as she would like to, but it is a momentous occasion when she does. Marshall has made sure to keep Lanie in contact with her maternal grandparents, despite his wife no longer being around. Secretly, he adores the Hollands as they remind him of the parents he wished he had. They spoil Lanie rotten, as she is the only grandchild to come from their only child, and it is them who nourish Lanie's obvious performing talents. Pop even bought Lanie her prized unicycle, and Nanna has the best dress up selection in WA! As for her long gone relatives, she has three; her mum, of course, her Opa (Oma's husband, Marshall's father) and a big sister who she never had the chance to meet. She will talk of her big sister in heaven some other time.“Vater, we have company.” She rolled her eyes. Mr Fischer took one look at her, and sighed.“Great. Am I to be lectured about my parenting again this time round?”“Probs will. Apparently I have the devil in me.”“Oh something new this time? How very intriguing!” He smiled at her, winked and ruffled the top of her head. ~ From Lanie's story.
So where does Lanie's performing talents come from? She likes to accredit her theatrical ways to her late-mum, and her love of Australian entertainment television programmes; such as "The Big Gig", "The Sideshow" and "Fast Forward". Her nickname of "Ding Dong", plus her middle name of Denise, derive from the wonderful media personality Denise Drysdale, who has been entertaining Australian audiences for over fifty years. She even shares her birthday with Ms Drysdale; the 5th of December! She will be sitting in front of the tellie, watching recordings of these programmes on old VHS tapes, and she will often think "How can I get to where they are?". She loves all the performing arts, including some of the forgotten types. Magic, vaudeville, cabaret, comedy, circus; you name it and she is probably into it! But magic tricks and circus tricks are her specialty. Sometimes she will even put on performances for the holiday goers at the Jacaranda ("only if they're interested! Makes sure you tell them that, otherwise I will seem like a pest!" Yes, thank you Lanie. I will include that! And you are most certainly not a pest). Oma was horrified the other day when she caught a glimpse of her granddaughter unicycling through the carpark, juggling three plastic bowling pins and wearing her crispest white shorts.
“Don’t back-chat me, young lady! And look at all that red dust in your curls! Oh Lanie, do you not have any trace of respect or pride in yourself? And white shorts! How does that father of yours let you walk out of the house in your good town clothes just for you to ruin? You little ragamuffin! Stop these stupid public nuisances and find yourself something of use to do.” ~ From Lanie's story.If that is how Oma reacted to that act of "public nuisance", I would imagine she would be seething if Lanie confided in her about her plans to run away and join the circus! I believe her response would be, "You have the devil in you, Lanie my girl!" Or perhaps that would be too kind...but anything else would simply not be appropriate for this blog! Though perhaps Lanie's compassion and her ability to see brightness in any situation may be better used elsewhere, namely palliative care - something very close to her heart.
Phew! That is one girl's introductory post, done and dusted! Now for twenty-two more. Perhaps for the sister sets, they will share a post, but that still leaves me with a massive amount of posts. Oh well, you will stick around for them, will you? Of course you will! I look forward to seeing you next time. I will converse with Lanie and see who she believes should be next!
Best wishes,
Erin and Lanie, your Gumnut Girls storyteller and Tom Price girl xoxo
