Wonder Valley Get Together

Dear Wonder Valley,

Kip Fjeld and High Desert Test Sites are both BIG supporters of Wonder Valley. Kip works most Sundays and at some of the events at the Palms and this is the second Kip's Desert Book Club he's hosted out here. The first was at my house and 28 people came to discuss the book Point Last Seen with the author Hannah Nyala West. We all sat on my patio. As it got darker lightning flashed over the Coxcombs. It was a beautiful evening.

THE ASK
The message I'm getting from many of you is that you long for the days when you used to have a hopping community where everyone got together for social events. For that to happen again we all have to leave our houses and our comfort zones and go to where the people are. Next Monday night that will be the Glass Outhouse Gallery for Kip's Desert Book Club. It's not required that you read the book - J.G. Ballard's Vermilion Sands (I have an extra copy if you need it). I may find time to read it over the weekend but if not I'll just listen to other people talk about it and enjoy the potluck, the company, and the sun setting over the magical grounds of the gallery. The setting sun lights up the bottle garden in a dazzling display.

Please come. Meet your neighbors. Meet Kip and all the people who work so hard to make Wonder Valley the art and music mecca of the Morongo Basin. Be the one who makes the difference. You are needed and wanted.

Let's give a big Wonder Valley showing on Monday. Give me something great to report about at the next MAC meeting.

Monday, July 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Kip's Desert Book Club at
The Glass Outhouse Gallery
77575 Twentynine Palms Highway (at Thunder Road)
Wonder Valley, California, 92277

There will be a community potluck at this event so please bring a dish or bag of chips if you can, and something to drink for yourself.

I'll be there so you can come sit by me and I'll be bringing the two new WV postcards to pass out,  if you want to get them early, and I'll also have copies of the Wonder Valley Sand Paper so you can pick that up, too.

Kip's Desert Book Club - Vermillion Sands

From Kip:

Many thanks to Ken Sitz for suggesting the fantastic book of short stories by J.G. Ballard, Vermilion Sands, for our July 6th book club meeting. It will transport you to a futuristic desert resort community, where clouds are carved by sailplanes, sculptures sing, and mysterious women in long flowing dresses float silently in the dark. Equally impressive will be our meeting place, the Glass Outhouse gallery in Wonder Valley. Laurel and Frank are eagerly awaiting our arrival.

Drive 4 miles east of the town of 29 Palms on Highway 62 and turn right on Thunder Road, where you will see the "Book Club" sign and the gallery sign. The water tank painted to look like a giant Pepsi can is a good landmark to watch for too. If you pass the airport, turn around - you went too far.  Ladies, don't forget to wear your longest, flowiest dresses! Resort wear for gentlemen is highly recommended. I look forward to sharing this special book, and a cocktail with you on a warm summer evening.

Monday, July 6, 2015, 7 PM
The Glass Outhouse
77575 29 Palms Highway at Thunder Road
Wonder Valley, CA

This is the tenth meeting of Kip's Desert Book Club.  Learn more about this monthly gathering.

http://www.highdeserttestsites.com/news/kip039s-desert-book-club-vermilion-sands-jg-ballard
https://www.facebook.com/events/1597199283895160/

Kip's High Desert Book Club

We bought our house in Wonder Valley last August, at the worst possible time – during the height of monsoon season. It was 120 degrees the day we came to inspect the well. I almost fainted in the beating sun walking from the house to the garage. There was no air conditioning on at the time and the refrigerator was unplugged, so there was no way to cool down. Still, I could see the charm of the house and we moved heaven and earth to buy it.

Today, nine months later, I’m sitting in my airy bedroom with the windows thrown open. A cool desert breeze traces over my arms. The air is clean and fresh. A rooster crows dreamily a respectable distance away. American gold finches and tanagers play in the trees. I cannot believe my good fortune to live Wonder Valley.

Last night we hosted Kip’s Hi-Desert Book Club. Though Kip lives in Joshua Tree he sometimes works at the Palms and is no stranger to these parts. Two dozen people showed up to discuss Point Last Seen, written by Hannah Nyala, a former tracker in Joshua Tree National Park. The book is two stories interleaved: one, a story of desert tracking that spans two continents; two, a story of the domestic abuse endured and escaped by the author and her children.

We moved everyone out to the patio and discussed the book as the sun set and the moon rose. Heat lightning flashed over the Cockscombs and a warm breeze brought a promise of rain that never materialized. Jupiter and Venus winked at us over the eaves of the house.

There were quite a few people from Wonder Valley present: Mary and Laura Sibley, Bob Tellefson (the most interesting man in Wonder Valley), and the artist Jill Reinig, among others. People drove out from as far as Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley and no one got lost (as far as we know). They were all impressed by the quiet and the sweeping vistas and mused about looking for property out here.

When I get up before dawn each morning, I walk down my drive way and there’s one point where I can see no lights, just the dark mass that is the Pinto Mountains and it seems I am lost in time. It could be 1680, 1780, 1880, or today. Wonder Valley is a place where time holds a weak grasp and people are able to be, to a greater extent perhaps that other places, whoever they want to be.