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Our visit to Vegas included a stop at the Valley of Fire.

The park mirrors the beauty of nature. 

• Variations of color. 
• Undulations of rock and sand. 
• Vegetation suited to the surroundings.

Our winter adventure in the park meant the temperatures were merely in the 20 degree Celsius range. 

Of particular note in this park?

The direct sunlight in summer months necessitates the closing of the marked pathways.  As the temperatures rise, the rocks begin to heat.  This parcel of land becomes a literal oven as the mid-day sun shines down.

Where the sun’s rays are direct and scorching, the rocks begin to cook.  Scanning the horizon you see blackened rock.  Small clusters of gravel have been turned the colour of charcoal briquettes.  The soles of you feet would be no match for the burning floor.

A dream destination and a danger trove all wrapped in one.

I do the grocery shopping.

I enjoy the rush of bargains.  Who says adrenaline is not involved in the daily pursuit of the bread of life.

Of course, for the sake of balance (bank balance), I also recognize that the brain must be employed.

But it’s those red stickers and huge posters that invite my attention.  Every once in a while (OK, maybe a bit more often), I just have to pick up that bargain. 

If the tag says 50%, my reasons for buying are easily justified.  If only 10%, then the whole grocery basket had better be included. 

Now, don’t tell me that you aren’t tempted as well.

A quick solution?  I haven’t really come up with one. 

The longer approach?  Keep constant track of the inventory of product that you usually use at home.  Know the best before dates on the inventory you have.  Become aware of regular pricing of items.  Find out the dates when the freshest produce and most product arrives in store.  Set a general monthly budget and stick to it. 

OK – but 50% off?  I feel the magnetic pull!!!

Visiting relatives. 

That’s what I told people. 

Quite literally, visiting relatives who live in Vegas.

This was my first time to Vegas.  The overblown, the understated and the cutting edge.

I’m still processing all that I saw.  And all that I heard.  The heart pounding rhythms of Cirque de Soleil shows.  The sun drenching heat of desert lands.

Vegas is bigger than life.  A tower, or two or five or ten reaching far into the sky.  Death defying trapeze acts.  Casino bells and whistles amidst studious faces attempting to defy the odds.

My thoughts are summed up in a phrase that I heard constantly playing in my ears – “This is Vegas.”

Vegas is a core, a strip of urban property literally called the Vegas Strip.  That property is surrounded by the normal, the hum drum, the sub-urb.  The daily life of the suburbs seldom touches the Strip.  But the Strip seems to flow underneath the floating connections of each day. 

I wonder. . .

Is this desert oasis a crafted mirage or a portent of the future?

Book publishing is changing.

We used to enjoy the feel of paper, the smell of ink and the portability of the printed page. 

Now we feel the plastic, smell the electronics and carry our page on a screen.

With the advent of new technology and a new perspective on reading, more and more books are being distributed free.

With that reality in front of authors, a number of writers are going to patronage or sponsorship in writing books.

Patronage – an  investor chooses to pay you to write on a topic of their choice, or allows you to write on topics you suggest with which they agree.

Sponsorship – an investor receives a prospectus of what you will write and decides this is a worthwhile venture.

Both models dispense with royalties.  You receive your payment upfront.  Then the book is released free of charge.

Advantage – if you self publish, you are not stuck with bills and books when your work of art does not sell. 

Disadvantage – if you have a run away best-seller, you don’t get additional monies after the act of publication.

A new model? 

In one sense, this has been around for centuries.  Patrons of the arts allowed artists to freely create art.  They would be commissioned for a work of art, paid on salary, or convinced by an artist of the worth of their art.

With “gofundme” campaigns and other avenues of fundraising, we may be headed back to the future.

The new angle? 

The works of art are freely distributed for the widest public – using ebook formats as well as printed copies (although these are optional).  Once they leave the artist’s hands they are gone, not to the retailer, or the publisher, or to the patron, or to the sponsor, but to the public.