Aussie Readers discussion

Carmel wrote: "Laura wrote: " Time for avatar change :D Hopefully I'll stick with this one for longer. ..."

Is this a Laura creation? Very cute:)"
Thankyou :) Yep, just a quick creation this morning before I started the day :D

Cheers :D
Stick ppl rule you can do so much with them but we already talked about that and got taken the wrong way..LOL

You're very talented Laura! Love the cute little wabbit!:)

XD Long memory I do!

Mandy, thankyou :D

Congratulations Dot :)


Today I had that pool party. It was pretty awesome. Ten or eleven people in total-I wanted to keep it at a small number.
We were swimming for a few hours, then some people watched a movie, and others-including me-drifted outside to just hang out on the grass and go back in the pool (Where we froze to death!)
Then we had a pretty crazy bunch of cards games, which was a riot :D
Haha, it was a nice, fun and small party :)

Sounds like a lot of fun, Jessica. We've just come back from the beach where we didn't freeze to death, even though it's night-time. It's 10 pm but still 26 degrees. I've decided that night is the best time for the beach. In the day you risk skin cancer and heat stroke, or burning your feet on the hot sand. In the evening it's very pleasant..you could even go for a walk. And you don't have to get into an oven on wheels to go home, either.

Sounds like a great time Jessica! :D

I'm hunnngggrrrryyyyy~! Breaky timmmmeeee~! Wooden Boat Festival as well buut I don't think I'm going x( Public holiday tomorrow well (atleast for Southern Tassie).

It's gorgeous Laura! I think you should create one for each of us..:D (be nice tho!!)LOL

Thankyou Brenda :D LOL *thinks of evil things* mwahahaha~!

Laura wrote: "Thankyou Brenda :D LOL *thinks of evil things* mwahahaha~!"


Uh-Oh!! lol

Mandy wrote: "Laura wrote: "Thankyou Brenda :D LOL *thinks of evil things* mwahahaha~!"


Uh-Oh!!"

Mmmmm!! Uh-Oh it is Mandy!!! *thinks bad suggestion maybe*

;D!

**Draws, draws, draws**

What mischief are you up to??? Hmmm? LOL

LOL Wahahaha! I've got my programs open and ideas are flowing out......I got my ideas when watching GLEE this evening!

I thought Glee was on Monday night!!!! Has it changed again?:(

I don't think it has? I've recordings of it ;D

Laura wrote: "I don't think it has? I've recordings of it ;D"

Whew! I'm looking forward to the new 'Thriller' episode tomorrow.

Excited for the Thriller episode :)

Hehehe..good ol'glee..wacky episodes!

Has anyone else noticed the 'view all' function has disappeared next to the folder titles? You used to be able to click on that and see all the discussions in that folder. I can't see anything about it in the Goodreads feedback group.

I agree its annoying, but you now click on the header of each thread. My mouse goes automatically right and I have to restrain it left. LOL.

Felt strange reporting a suspicious car but it's been there for about a month and is collecting dirt, not registered anymore and it has no hub caps.

Belated congratulations Dot. My younger sister just had her second baby. It was two and a half months premmie but both Mum and bub - Jazmine Jayde are doing well. I'm so excited and can't wait to see my newest niece but I've still got another five weeks in isolation before I get out of hospital and bub's very weak at present as well so... still a new life is always a joy :)

Well how's this.......my grandson, as part of a class project is today going to read one of MY poems LOL! & being the thinking male he is, has picked one of the most soppiest, sookiest, tear jerking poems I have written, why?...because his teacher is female as are most of his class, hahahaha!!..I recon he'll do just great (-:

LOL nice grandson. Gotta ask him how that went!

Speaking of schools...I go tomorrow early in the morning just for a look over and see how things are done. I think afterwards I'll come home and take a snooze or if not so sleepy get my haircut!!

lolol..yes lets teach the children all about good beers!J/K One child I know the parents from working with them at the animation company..small world!

I feel a bit nervous actually.But I'll be more nervous following Monday when I really start.

Jan wrote: "Congrats Dot!! How many grandies altogether?

Just the two so far Jan. The oldest two kids are only 27 yo (my DD, hubby's DS)..... We have 7 kids altogether with the youngest still in Primary School so I'm sure we can look forward to many more grandkids in the future. We have another one due in June.

I've been busy with work and the kids schools for the past couple of weeks. I am employed as a casual and not usually this busy. I can't help wonder how those of you who have kids, work full time and read, manage to fit it all in. What's the secret? ;o)

I did post this on the 'Northern Territory' page, but, thought I would share it here, this is one I wrote after watching a doco to do with Napolean & also featured on one of his lower ranked officers. This was also my 1st attempt at one of the Petrarchan forms, it still amazes me where & how insperation comes from.

Sonnet no. 6.


Visions of love lost

My arms outstretched again my dearest love,
I’m watching as your dress glides on the grass,
Your vibrant beauty no one can surpass,
with fragrant skin as soft as Turtle doves.
You lift the bonnet from your hair of red,
then hand in hand we kiss beneath the Yew,
your angel voice speaks of arrangements new,
for soon, as wife you’ll share my modest bed.
Your tears of fear they stain your perfect face,
though, to this fight we knew I had to go,
we tremble as we hold each other tight.
Your visions fade now from this barren place,
your loved betrothed dies in cold Russian snow
as Bonaparte, retreats with closing night.

David J Delaney
06/01/2010 ©

*Phew* Home sweet home!

Booktopia is having ANOTHER sale but this time it's for their Birthday! They are 7 years old :D

They have over 2,700 titles under $10!!!

This sale ends soon. So please get in early as stocks will run out.

For those who don't get the email follow this link- http://www.booktopia.com.au/birthday-...

Thanks for the link Laura! BTW I read in a book magazine today that Booktopia hasmade the BRW (business review weekly) Fast 100 List for the second time in 2010, moving up 18 places from 2009 to a rank of 59th. They must be doing something right! Nice to see at least one Aussie bookseller doing well.
http://www.brw.com.au/lists/fast

Oh sweet, that's really nice to know BT is doing really well :D!! I love when websites put in their site they got reported in BRW as it makes me trust them more.

-

Dang...I just got home but there was a horrible accident on the highway :( Thankfully, I was just near a turn off to go onto a dirt road so I took that instead of waiting forever to get home. I just hope no-one was killed :/

Laura wrote: "Booktopia is having ANOTHER sale but this time it's for their Birthday! They are 7 years old :D

They have over 2,700 titles under $10!!!

This sale ends soon. So please get in early as stocks ..."

Oh no! I dont know whether to be happy or sad - depends on bank account status, and book shelve's ability to hold any more books. The postie said to me this morning, as he delivered the latest of my online purchases- "You sure do like books." If only he knew.

My youngest daughter started TAFE this week for the lead in course for Vet Nursing. I'm learning more than I thought I'd ever need to know about the care of animals, but it's really interesting. Maybe that just because I'm a nurse?

This is more for the NSW members :-o)

As this is the Soapbox I thought I’d let you know that my son has offered to buy me one for my birthday.
I had a letter published in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday - copied below - I am not sure if he agrees or not, but he is due for a BBQ (his sister's birthday) on Sunday so I'll find out :-o)
The first line is the Herald's title line - not mine.

Voters beware: landslides can cause a lot of damage

I will be happy to see the back of this Labor government, but I hope we voters do not create more problems for NSW.
If the polls are correct and we end up with 80 Coalition seats and 13 Labor in the lower house, I would not feel confident that Labor members and independents would have the ability or numbers to ''keep the bastards honest''.
Too large a majority for any party may do more damage to NSW than the incompetents that we hope to be rid of next month.

i dunno how many ppl here own cats? But it's worth noting a way to get some free food from Whiskers. If you join their 'cat club' every so often you'll get two pouches of cat food for free.

So far I've gotten about 4 of these packages soo 8 pouches of kitty food for free :D If you join you won't get spammed with emails from them..Occasionally they'll email.

I don't mind it! I've got two cats so two pouches equals 2 free meals :D

Laura wrote: "i dunno how many ppl here own cats? But it's worth noting a way to get some free food from Whiskers. If you join their 'cat club' every so often you'll get two pouches of cat food for free.

So far..."

Laura - lucky you! Our cat is SO fussy. He won't even look at the Whiskas brand of anything. Eats nothing but Friskies and kangaroo mince. (Sorry anyone who doesn't like to hear of kangaroos being shot. I don't either but the RSPCA has imposed humane rules on their hunting, as they did on wild pigs.) And I'm not a vegetarian myself...

Our animals are so spoiled. Dog is 12 and 1/2 and cat only four years old, in his prime. But our kids thought we were mad last year when we our 50th wedding anniversary came up. They wanted to give us a holiday, but we refused to go away together. One of us would need to be at home with the pets! (Pussycat is shy of strangers, even the family, who don't live in the same town.)

Hubby had a perfectly good time fishing with our boys, and our daughter took me whale watching a few months later. And the old pup and the puss were happy not to be fed and looked after by strangers.

It's a weird world and we now count as weird people!

Monya (aka Mary)

Carmel wrote: "Maggie wrote: "My youngest daughter started TAFE this week for the lead in course for Vet Nursing. I'm learning more than I thought I'd ever need to know about the care of animals, but it's really ..."

It is great to see them take the next step, but the angst at times..... Surely we were never like that???

Laura wrote: "i dunno how many ppl here own cats? But it's worth noting a way to get some free food from Whiskers. If you join their 'cat club' every so often you'll get two pouches of cat food for free.

So far..."

Thanks for the tip. Will check it out.

New Technologies are turning the publishing world upside down

Borders/Angus&Robertson: the first to fall victim to the internet

This week we heard the news that Angus & Robertson have gone into receivership, a victim to new technology. My gut feeling is that what's happened to Borders/A&R is only the tip of the iceberg.

Prediction
The impact of the internet on traditional publishers and book-sellers will be of similar magnitude to Caxton's press which wiped out the illuminated book industry.

Pincer Manouevre
Book-sellers are being attacked on two fronts -
e-books
on-line shopping.

Since my daughter, late thirties bought a Kindle, she has given up buying books. At a third of the cost of a paperback, she is reading more than ever. But it's not just Generation X & Y that are eschewing book stores.

Yesterday, during our lunch break, I helped a female teacher, (well past retirement age), to down load 'Loeb's Life of the Caesars Vol 2'." Now, as you can tell from the title, it's not the sort of book that you're likely to find in your local book store, so my friend was delighted to learn that she would receive the book in just 7 days. What a huge saving in time and frustration. But on top of that, by using Book Depository, she paid just $25.95 as opposed to $45.00 and there was no freight charge. I won't be surprised if she buys all her text books online from now on.

More and more book sellers and book stores will go the way of Borders/A&R - it's regrettable but that's the price we pay for progress. The printing press put a handful of monks out of business and an army of printers were made redundant when offset printing replaced lino-type so, inevitably there will be causalities as on-line shopping and e-books becomes the norm. But life is always moving forward, always changing. Trying to stem online shopping and e-books is as useless as trying to halt a volcano with a stop sign.

http://annmasseyauthor.net/
http://thebiocideconspiracy.com

Ann we're chatting about pBooks and eBooks and bookstores in our Book Related Banter folder. You're welcome to join the discussion there: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

don't look now but... The Hoff is on Chanel ten. I know either Gail or Mandy likes him :)

S'not me!!!

@Monya- Ahhh...don't worry. I've got one super fussy cat and the other will eat anything. So, having fussy pets is pretty understandable to me..lol

It's a bit of a shame when animals don't really like anyone else cept your the ppl who live in your own house but that I can also understand. My oldest cat is really odd with people, my youngest just stays away unless you have food..LOL

We used to put the cats in a 'holiday house' when we'd take trips to melb and such but my oldest cat has kindey probs and needs to have his meds twice a day. I don't really trust anyone else to do it. So when my family had to leave the house (wooden floors being redone) I actually stayed at home and used my window to get out LOL It worked out well but I only had a microwave but still, I'd rather microwave some food for a few days and know my pet was getting his meds correctly.

AH the things we'll do for our pets,hey!? Hehehehe

@Carmel- *head hurts from that joke* lol

Hahaha...Maybe. But no drinks on Sunday for me. Except I tried mead this afternoon for the first time, took a tiny sip and spat it out..lol I didn't enjoy that :s

This video: http://vimeo.com/18280328

Is really rather amazing..It's called UNDERCITY..All about New York urban exploration and seeing what most will never see in a life time or will go and explore for themselves.

Laura - thank you! I no longer feel we're at all odd! And gosh, I'd like to be able to get in and out of windows still.

Hubby won't hear of leaving our cat in a cattery. "He'd think we've given him away!" He would too. He doesn't even like us making minor changes around the house and yard. Has to inspect them for a few days before they're accepted!

The old dog we used to be able to leave with our No.2 son, he's very fond of their dog. He'd be okay, but it's 50km away and we're so old just a drive that distance knocks us for six. Honestly, getting old would be great if it weren't for the pain. Anyway, pup is keeping pretty well for 12 1/2. He eats like a horse and looks for more, and I treat his arthritis with glucosamine and fish oil in his food. (Glucosamine isn't a strictly human medication, thank goodness.) And did you know that a vet told us MediPulv, a dry antibiotic from the chemist, is the only "human" medication you can put on animals' infections?

Thanks for trusting me with your, er, secret. You know, like they say on the travel shows on T.V., watched by millions, "This place is Australia's best kept secret..."

Monya (aka Mary)

Carmel & Laura - we saw a real cat burglar on the news some days ago. A big cat in California (where else?), part Siamese by the look of him, goes out at night and brings home anything in the neighbourhood he finds lying around loose. Balls, toys, anything he can drag along - they had a night-film of him doing it! - and he particularly likes swimsuits left out to dry...

At least it's a nice neighbourhood and if anyone is missing something they know exactly where to go to collect it!

Monya (aka Mary)