Chat about whatever you like: the weather, good stuff, bad stuff, family or pets! Showing 10,551-10,600 of 26,036

[Vicki]

I think so, too. And quite exciting to track their journey. :)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Vicki wrote: "The weather here today has been divine. Windows and doors open all day. No air con. And the birds are singing again. :)"

And we got your heat today:( Hotter than yesterday...thank goodness for air conditioning:)

Our beautiful twin grand-daughters turned 4 today - I can't believe where the time has gone!

[Vicki]

A big happy birthday to your granddaughters. They grow up so fast.

Stay cool and send that heat on its way. I hope you're nowhere near the fires flaring in NSW.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Thanks Vicki:) No fortunately not. I thought we (NSW) might miss out this time after the terrible October we had....

[Vicki]

And here I thought we were in for a mild summer. Fingers crossed the new fires are kept under control with no further loss of life or properly.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Vicki wrote: "And here I thought we were in for a mild summer. Fingers crossed the new fires are kept under control with no further loss of life or properly."

Agreed! It's already been way too bad:(

[Leonie]

Is this the point where I say that I'm in Canada, enjoying the chill of a Vancouver day, before we head up to snowy Whistler?

[Dale]

Alex wrote
'Enjoy the Adelaide Writers Festival and your holidays. I can't help but think sometimes that the closest we have to culture up here in Coffs Harbour is in the yoghurt fridge at the supermarket :)'


Had a chuckle at this Alex.

[B the BookAddict]

Leonie wrote: "Is this the point where I say that I'm in Canada, enjoying the chill of a Vancouver day, before we head up to snowy Whistler?"

You show off:) Are you going skiing?

[Leonie]

Yes we are! Am writing this from the bus (has wifi) on our way to Whistler. Lovely mountain views even from Vancouver.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Leonie wrote: "Is this the point where I say that I'm in Canada, enjoying the chill of a Vancouver day, before we head up to snowy Whistler?"

Good for you!!! Yes, we are all envious - well, I am, that's for sure! Have a wonderful time Leonie:) Think of us occasionally;)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Leonie wrote: "Yes we are! Am writing this from the bus (has wifi) on our way to Whistler. Lovely mountain views even from Vancouver."

Oh lovely! I hope you will share some of your photos with us when you get back? :)

[Sally906]

Leonie wrote: "Is this the point where I say that I'm in Canada, enjoying the chill of a Vancouver day, before we head up to snowy Whistler?"

LOL - hope you get snow down your neck :)

So jealous! I love snow :)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Sally906 wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Is this the point where I say that I'm in Canada, enjoying the chill of a Vancouver day, before we head up to snowy Whistler?"

LOL - hope you get snow down your neck :)

So jealous!..."

Haha! She probably won't mind if she does Sally:)

[Samantha]

I would love to visit Canada one day :)
Hope you all have had a wonderful day. The weather is being kinder to us here in Melbourne this week. Now I just wish that sleep wouldn't evade me!

[Elaine]

Samantha wrote: "I would love to visit Canada one day :)
Hope you all have had a wonderful day. The weather is being kinder to us here in Melbourne this week. Now I just wish that sleep wouldn't evade me!"

Thanks Samantha. Hope your day was lovely too. As a fellow Melburnian I must admit this cooler weather is a welcome relief. Much easier to function. Hope you have a goodnight's sleep.

[Angela]

Agreed fellow Melbournites!! Lovely being as to sleep and think straight again :-)

[Leonie]

Michael wrote: "Am majorly jealous Leonie. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures. :)"

The skiing was fantastic today... :)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Leonie wrote: "Michael wrote: "Am majorly jealous Leonie. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures. :)"

The skiing was fantastic today... :)"

Oh shoosh!!! lol

Here we are sweltering in the humidity:(

Enjoy Leonie, hope you're having a ball!

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

Mum is having a pretty crap couple of days - broke one of her teeth yesterday and has a horrible reaction to one of her drugs today.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Liam wrote: "Mum is having a pretty crap couple of days - broke one of her teeth yesterday and has a horrible reaction to one of her drugs today."

Oh dear, your poor Mum Liam:( I hope she will be ok.

[Natty]

One of my favorite things for this time of the year and living in the country... Seeing all the wildlife out and about... I always get excited when I see echidna waddling along side the road...sooo cute!!! :)

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

Less adorable, I clipped a wombat today. Was doing about 80, it shuffled out in front of me and juuust got across and I hit it with the very front-left corner of the car. HE spun around two or three times, sat there for a moment, got up and trundled off.

Wombats are nature's tanks.

[Kathryn]

Good news about the wombat, Liam. And how was the corner of your car?

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

Yeah fine, hit the plasticy bumper bit so I just knocked it back into shape.

[Kathryn]

That's good to hear :-)

[Natty]

Yep not so much my favorite part, they very unpredictable.. I'm lucky to not have a run in with a hairy wombat, only a couple close calls with Skippy's relatives....
And a cheeky koala that decided he would sit in the middle of road and determined that I shall not pass..

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

I hit a couple of kangaroos in my last car, had a few near-misses in this one. Trying to keep it relatively dent-free.

[Dale]

The dangers of living in our wonderful country. Glad it wasn't more serious for you or the wombat. We encounter our share of roos and rabbits.

[Natty]

Woohoo! The rains are here.... So lovely to have an actual change in weather.... Perfect reading weather :)

[Dale]

Isn't that any weather Nat?

[Natty]

Well yes you're right Dale, but for me there is just something a little extra about a heavy downpour and not able to do anything else but read... Haha

[★ Jess]

Going to Sydney tomorrow :)

[Sally906]

Bit of a rant going to happen here - I just pre-ordered a book and went to add it to my pre-ordered shelf when i noticed someone had given it 5 stars. She hasn't read the book but she is totally unapologetic and says it deserves 5 stars because she just knows she is going to love it!!!

I hate that.

Really hate it!!!

Dare I say that Amazon has the right idea when it prevents people from leaving a review if the book is not yet released!

[Kathryn]

It seems a bit silly, I agree, Sally. But even if GR changed to prevent people leaving ratings before release, it doesn't mean that people won't rate a book prior to reading it - they may not be able to read it for several months after publication and yet still "know" that they're going to love it!

[Dale]

Sally906 wrote: "Bit of a rant going to happen here - I just pre-ordered a book and went to add it to my pre-ordered shelf when i noticed someone had given it 5 stars. She hasn't read the book but she is totally un..."

The exception is if she has read an advance review copy but to say you know you're going to love it without having read the books strikes me as silly. Even favourite authors who we love will have some books we are not going to like as much.

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

Sally906 wrote: "Bit of a rant going to happen here - I just pre-ordered a book and went to add it to my pre-ordered shelf when i noticed someone had given it 5 stars. She hasn't read the book but she is totally un..."

Ugh, I can't stand that.

The worst offender by far is The Casual Vacancy - take a vague look through the 5-star ratings, about 70% of them are from before the book came out with people fangirling out going "OH my god J.K. Rowling is writing a new book IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING".

[★ Jess]

I can forgive reviews before the book is released, discussing how excited you are, as long as there is no rating attached. That really bothers me.

[Kathryn]

Liam wrote: "The worst offender by far is The Casual Vacancy - take a vague look through the 5-star ratings, about 70% of them are from before the book came out with people fangirling out going "OH my god J.K. Rowling is writing a new book IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING"...."

And isn't it funny - in my opinion, The Casual Vacancy WAS amazingly written, with J.K. Rowling able to draw out my empathy for the least likeable characters. But if you thought it would be amazing because of Harry Potter, and gave it 5 stars based on that, I would not be surprised if you were disappointed as the two types of books are almost polar opposites...

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

I remember reading one review of it which was 5 stars - from before it came out, the person being all OMG J.K. ROWLING OMG

And then they actually read it and were like "I didn't really like it that much, but I love J.K. Rowling so I'm gonna leave the rating."

THAT RUNS COMPLETELY COUNTER TO THE POINT OF A RATING SYSTEM. JESUS.

[Kathryn]

Yeah. Pointless! If you were rating the author…maybe, but you aren't!!

[Kathryn]

Still - the rating system as a whole is a bit pointless anyway. What I like, you might hate and vice versa. Where I think it's useful is when I'm comparing books with someone else - if they've given similar ratings to mine for our common "read" books, I'm going to look more closely at the books they've rated highly and that I haven't read. Likewise with friends whose taste I respect - if they like a book, that might sway me to read it.

And I don't think I'm friends with anyone who would rate books prior to release just because they like the author! Or leave a 5 star rating up after reading and not enjoying the book just because of the author!

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

I like ratings on the whole, especially when there's a lot of them, since typically a great book won't have a hundred thousand 1-star rating, and a crap book won't have a hundred thousand 5-stars. It's good as a general "Am I going to want to gouge my eyes out an kill myself while reading this" gauge.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Sally906 wrote: "Bit of a rant going to happen here - I just pre-ordered a book and went to add it to my pre-ordered shelf when i noticed someone had given it 5 stars. She hasn't read the book but she is totally un..."

There are also people who rate a book 1 star and it's not even released yet! There's an ongoing discussion about it in the Feedback group, and the PTB say it's a person's choice! So basically the rating system is worthless on GR!!

I hate it too, it frustrates and annoys me like mad!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I was recently talking to someone about this issue, and she said people rate a book 1 star before publication because they DON'T LIKE THE COVER!

[Kathryn]

Oh, please! Surely not, Brenda! All the more reason to only pay attention to the ratings from people you trust!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Kathryn wrote: "Oh, please! Surely not, Brenda! All the more reason to only pay attention to the ratings from people you trust!"

Definitely Kathryn! It was for a book I was beta reading (so not even finished let alone published). When I asked about it, I was told a "person" had rated it 1 star and stated she didn't like the cover!

[Samantha]

hmmm what happened to don't judge a book by it's cover?

I don't think you can realistically rate a book before you have read it.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Samantha wrote: "hmmm what happened to don't judge a book by it's cover?

I don't think you can realistically rate a book before you have read it."

You most definitely cannot!

[Liam || Books 'n Beards]

Samantha wrote: "hmmm what happened to don't judge a book by it's cover?"

That being said a cover is usually what makes me pick up a book in the first place. :P