Dede Sophie

If you’re gearing up to travel and you haven’t visited the southwestern region of the U.S., it might be a good time to consider it. Whether you’re picking one spot, or you’d like to take a long-distance motorcycle trip or road trip, the southwestern part of the country has amazing scenery unlike anything else in the world. The following are some scenic places in the southwest you might think about adding to your itinerary. Antelope Canyon Antelope Canyon is in Arizona. You can walk through the sandstone walls of the canyon, which were formed by erosion from flash flooding primarily. The slot canyon includes five sections that are on the Navajo Reservation. These include Upper Antelope Canyon, Rattle Snake Canyon, Owl Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Mountain Sheep Canyon. Antelope Canyon is one of the most popular spots in the country for photographers, thanks to the stunning orange and red tones. There are unlimited lighting changes and angles, so you can get images that no one...

A scheme to provide licensed hauliers with support for their increased energy costs has been approved by the Cabinet, writes Brian Byrne. Under the initiative, the Licensed Haulage Support Scheme 2023 will target higher levels of support at smaller operators that are facing increased operating and fuel costs.  A graduated payment basis will see €1,200 each provided for the first five vehicles on a licence, €700 for vehicles six to 20, and €200 for each vehicle thereafter. The scheme will be administered by the Department of Transport and will cover eligible heavy goods vehicles authorised on the licence of a current road haulage operator as of 15 December 2022.  

Readers, please join me welcoming Gary Stelzer , author of The Cost of Dreams who’s guest blogging here today! In this book, Gary, a retired Midwest physician, draws upon an ordeal of one of his most memorable patients for a novel that’s both a powerful, compelling page-turner and a poignant illumination of a woman’s-and a people’s-struggle to survive. Flora Enriquez trusts that she has found safe haven for her young family in the remote U.S. Southwest, after fleeing the murderous environs of Central America where her parents were slain in a civil war. Only to find that all of her life’s greatest challenges, by far, still lie before her. DREAMS  A book reviewer asked me yesterday if the title of my first novel had always been THE COST OF DREAMS. I answered, “no.” I had called an earlier, much longer, and terribly flawed draft THE DISAPPEARED ONE. A potent and intriguing enough title I think, and not at all a bad fit for the later manuscript. But I mad...