Joshua Tree Tortoise Telegraph, February 2016

It’s all about love - your love notes

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In this issue: The tortoise talks with America’s hairstorian, jeff hafler, and visits the beauty bubble in Joshua Tree

alentine’s Day is rolling around once again, and we wanted to let our readers send out their own love notes to those they love. Did someone send you a note? Read on and see. We didn’t correct spelling or punctuation as they’re your love notes, not our own.

Congratulations to Tanja Stuckey who was the winner of the $100 gift certificate to the 29 Palms Inn!

We wish you, our readers, lots of love this Valentine’s Day, wherever you may be, whomever you may love.

– SB

Ruben, Here is my heart, it is yours, so take it, treat it gently but please dont brake it.

It’s full of love that’s good and pure, so please keep it always so close to you.

Lorena

Roxanne You are my True Love! Thank you for happiness that you have given me.

Art

To Ben, my one and only, on Valentine’s Day: The desert had called us.

It began as a pilgrimage. We were to find Gram’s memorial and play guitar in the room where he died.

We arrived. We camped our first night.

We had never seen a sky so big or stars so bright. We were mesmerized by the Joshua Trees; their crooked profile in the night, and their raw beauty in the light of day.

It became our destiny.

Monika Calantoc of Yucca Valley sent us this photo of our snow covered hills this winter. Monika’s photos can be found on Instagram @yuccadog. Have a great hi-desert photo you’d like to share with our readers? Send it to us at: tortoisetelegraph@gmail.com.

“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard there was a lovely French restaurant here in the high desert,” says Tortoise Telegraph reader, Linda Moteferrante about La Copine, featured in our January issue. “I am so glad I made the trip to Flamingo Heights to find this little jewel. The decor is simple and light like a French café.

“I and my companions tried several dishes each exquisitely made with beautiful presentation. My favorite? Hen of the Woods. So good I made a trip back the next day to enjoy it again!

“Its flavor was rich yet subtle. The unusual mushrooms gave it a unique flavor I have not tasted before. Each ingredient complemented the other and the homemade ricotta cheese was creamy and enhanced each bite.

“I highly recommend this dish or any others they serve because each is a culinary delight. How fortunate we are to have this lovely restaurant so close to home.”

Have a great hi-desert dining experience you’d like to share with our readers? Send it to us at: tortoisetelegraph@gmail. com.

We returned over and over.

In the heat of a desert August we spent our first week of marriage in an adobe in Wonder Valley.

Wonder Valley!

Stay in touch with the Tortoise! www.jttortoisetelegraph.com

(Even the names of the towns are magic.)

Remember the first time we saw the Joshua Tree blooms? We were giddy, sniffing each burst of white bloom with delight. Giggling with joy.

But each trip would come to an end. I would cry when it was time to leave. continued on page 7

Death Valley Jim explores the legend of the butchers cave

don’t miss the 12th annual parade of homes sunday, february 14, noon - 5 p.m. a benefit for reach out morongo basin tickets include self guided tour of six hi-desert homes, lunch, live music $25 per person available at: Reach out offices twentynine palms chamber yucca valley chamber artfx & furnishings, old town yv desert trail/z-107.7 fm radio cowboy attic or call 760-361-1410 tickets available day of event at park rock cafe, joshua tree 1

Tortoise Talk

America’s Hairstorian, jeff hafler

By Steve Brown

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n downtown Joshua Tree, on the block where you can find the Joshua Tree Saloon, the Art Queen, and the World Famous Crochet Museum (thanks Shari Elf!), you can find a new roadside attraction—The Beauty Bubble Salon and Museum. It’s a small, colorful, packed homage to the history of beauty and hair styling, curated and owned by America’s hairstorian, Jeff Hafler.

I caught up with Jeff and talked a bit about his love of the history of hair and beauty, the new Beauty Bubble location and what it means, music, family, being a dad, and how he feels about the hi-desert. I highly recommend you stop by the Beauty Bubble and enjoy it, and Jeff’s stories, in person. It’s all one more reason to love Joshua Tree.

JTTT: Tell me a little bit about Jeff Hafler.

JH: I’ve been a hairdresser for 25 years. I went to beauty school in Columbus, Ohio, at the Ohio State School of Cosmetology. I worked in Columbus first, then I moved to Seattle and I lived in Seattle for a couple years and worked up there, and moved to Hollywood and did everything you could do in hair in Hollywood before we ended up moving to Wonder Valley.

JTTT: When did you move to Wonder Valley?

JH: In 2002 we got our place out in Wonder Valley and in 2004 I opened up the Wonder Valley salon, my home salon, and had that for 12 years almost exactly. And now, here in Joshua Tree.

I grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, surrounded by corn fields, soy bean fields, and then met Mikal, my partner, in Columbus in the early 90s. We’ve been together since 1999. We have an 11 year-old son named Cash we adopted when he was born and he just turned 11.

I also play music, so I’ve played music at the 29 Palms Inn for 12 years. I started doing that right when I opened the shop in Wonder Valley.

I write songs. A lot of desert inspired stuff. I do love the desert.

And I teach yoga. I got a yoga certification five years ago to teach yoga to better myself. I teach with Twentynine Palms Park & Rec Mondays at 5:30, starting again in February. I took a hiatus over the last couple months because we just did a big move. We sold our place in Wonder Valley and we both had home businesses, so that means we had to move our home and both our businesses all at once.

And we had to move them twice because we had to go into a temporary location before we were able to move permanently into our home and businesses. Mikal’s a jewelry designer, he has Mikal Winn Designs. He still has a home studio so he’s still at home with Cash, which is great. I’m super excited to be on the highway. The dream of this collection has always been to make it like an Americana roadside attraction.

JTTT: How in the world did you start collecting all of this stuff?

JH: I was a history lover who became a hairdresser. I was a history lover who didn’t have very much money. I was an avid thrift-shopper back in the day when I was a teenager. And in fact, a friend of mine gave me this antique hairdryer when I was in beauty school. This is what started the whole thing. This blue one.

After about a year I had accumulated about 20 pieces and I decided it was a super interesting history, and for the most part a history that wasn’t being preserved anywhere by anyone. So I set out really, when I was 20 years old, to open a beauty museum and I started actively looking for stuff.

When I finally moved to LA, I moved to LA in 97, that’s when E-Bay started. Then I was an avid E-Bay shopper, from the comfort of my own living room, buying antique hair stuff from upstate New York. In fact one of the oldest things I have is called the Summer Girl, it’s a kerosene heated curling iron oven that’s from 1883. It’s super interesting.

It’s just like a kerosene lamp with a big wick and you set the curling iron on top of it. I wouldn’t have found that. E-Bay was awesome at the time. I don’t really do it any more. But of course E-Bay’s not the same any more either.

I also don’t actively look as much as I used to. Especially when I moved it to

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Wonder Valley. In Wonder Valley I had a tiny home salon off my kitchen and then I had a little trailer out back and a little homestead cabin out back and those two buildings kept getting filled with things because if I see it I can’t pass it up. Then people have started giving me stuff. It’s either clients or even strangers are bringing me things that they’re donating.

Now I finally have it on the highway in the perfect roadside attraction situation in Joshua Tree. This cute little town of Joshua Tree is perfect for it. Right on Route 62, look for the bubbles on Route 62. I am going to write a jingle for the radio. The landline I got is 366-9000 (sings the numbers). Everything is just falling into place so perfectly.

I should put a bubble machine out of the front door. When I got the space initially, I was trying to visualize it, then when we got the shelves up and I started putting things out, everything fit here like it was meant to be. This is definitely where it’s supposed to be at this time.

My vision for the actual museum for the future, is one day I want it to be a proper museum. Right now it’s all on display here, but it’s not properly preserved and cataloged like a museum. Eventually that’s the goal, and I visualize a geodesic dome styled to look like a huge hairdryer. Maybe right here on the lot next door.

But it would look like the blue hairdryer on the end there, the bubble dryer. So, 25 years of collecting now at this point. I can’t even believe it’s been that long. I’ll be 44 in June.

I have to become America’s hairstorian.

I’m going to be busting out of the seams here in no time. I still have room to spare to add more pictures and little things here and there. The collection can continue to grow in that way. And I do have the outdoor area, so I can add more stuff, some outdoor artifacts back there.

JTTT: But this is also a working salon.

JH: It is. We’re going to be open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays. They’ve always said salons are like Broadway, they’re dark on Monday. That’s when I get housekeeping done. I’ve always worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and then Emily (Hunter) is here on the Fridays and Sundays when I’m not here, and I have one other chair I’ll be renting to a girl named Danielle who is moving here in March from San Diego. All the chairs are filled. We all do cuts and color, roller sets, beehives, fingerwaves.

JTTT: Anybody looking to go retro, this is the place?

JH: Absolutely. We’re going to do a sidewalk board out front. It’s going to be one of those cut-out boards with cut-outs for your face and one side is going to have hairdos from the 1950s, the pompadour and the beehive, and the other side I’m going to do hairdos from the 1890s, the Gibson Girl and the Dandy. We work mostly by appointment but you can walk in.

JTTT: Are people free to just come and look?

JH: Absolutely.

I want people to come in.

I’m setting up the retail area too, so we’ll have a little retail section.

We’re going to have a little gift shop that’s going to sell hair products, of course, and then I’m going to do a couple souvenirs. I’m going to do a t-shirt and a Beauty Bubble snow globe.

Then Mikal’s jewelry will be there. We’ll have a little display case of his jewelry here.

His stuff is amazing. He’s also a sculptor. He has an opening at La Luz De Jesus, theWacko gallery.

I want people to come in and walk around. That’s the reason I have it here. To share it.

I had it in my salon in Hollywood, the collection was half the size then, but I did have it on display when I was open there. Then I had it on display in Wonder Valley, but that was a home salon, so people weren’t just walking in there. I didn’t want people just popping by there.

But already I’ve had people come in from all over the country. People from Russia, and Japan, just in the last couple weeks. Everybody’s just digging it. I think it’s just a matter of time. It’s going to be a household name.

JTTT: It’s kind of a place out of time really, in your own time.

JH: Yeah. I just love it. I’ve been in here so happy and excited. There’s people walking down the street, there’s traffic. Wonder Valley’s pretty quiet.

JTTT: Tell me about this back room.

Musician Victoria Williams stops by the Beauty Bubble for a styling session with Emily Hunter.

JH: That room’s called the Lustre Creme Lounge. That’s home to all the hair related dolls and toys. And then the Lustre Creme ladies, celebrities, big stars from the 40s and 50s all did Lustre Creme Shampoo ads back then, and they’re all hanging in that room.

An interesting fact about that is that’s from back in the days when the studio would own all the rights to all of the celebrity’s images. When a celebrity would do an ad like that, they would make a dollar and the studio would make all the money from their image. That wouldn’t fly today.

These two perm machines that look like torture device (see photo opposite page), ones from the 30s, and the one on the right is from 1940. That one was donated by Earl Adams, he was Veronica Lake’s hairdresser in Hollywood.

I’d always wanted one of those perm machines because they’re such a significant part of hair history, and when I moved to LA I didn’t have one yet. They had listed them in the California Stylist paper that I subscribe to as a cosmetologist. Two 1940 Duart perm machines, make an offer.

I called them up and talked to Bernice first, and she said, "What does a kid like you want with these perm machines?"

I said I started a museum collection of hair and beauty artifacts to preserve the history of this business. She was so excited and thrilled. Then they had me over to their house. For me it was like meeting the president. They were Hollywood hair history and had lived through all those significant major changes of the beauty business too. The 20th century had revolutionized the beauty business with electricity and plastics and chemicals. All that stuff created the beauty industry we know today.

I’ve always said it’s a cultural history everyone can relate to. Everyone either has hair, or has had hair, or has been to a barbershop or a hair salon, or has been in their mother’s bathroom, or their grandmother’s bathroom. Everyone recognizes something from this collection from their childhood, or from a specific memory. Everyone gets a warm fuzzy feeling from the Beauty Bubble.

I did reach that moment where I felt like, what have I done? This is a lot of stuff.

I estimate there is probably 3,000 pieces. That’s a rough estimate. It could be more.

JTTT: Tell me a little about your music.

JH: I’m a self taught guitar player. I had never picked up a guitar until I moved to the desert. That was 2002. I probably started playing the guitar in late 2002, early 2003.

My father and brother are both guitar players. Jamie, my brother, is brilliant. I called Jamie up and said what advice could you give someone who wants to play guitar and is trying to teach themself? And his advice was if it sounds right, it is. There’s no rule.

After a year I had a handful of songs, so I called Jane Smith vfrom the Inn to see if I could come down and start playing some music there. She continued page 8

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The Legend of Butchers Cave

Story & Photos

by Death Valley Jim

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he desert is full of mystery, myth, legend, and secrets. I focus a majority of my time on factual based locations, however a good legend never hurt anyone. Butchers Cave is everything that legends are made of.

The Butchers Cave story is as follows: In the 1920s the cave was discovered with 50 bighorn sheep skulls stacked inside. An anthropologist studied the cave and its contents, concluding that the cave was used by a local Native American tribe for butchering bighorn sheep. It is unknown when the anthropologist performed the study, and there are no public documents supporting it. This short yet intriguing legend goes on to state that once the land became part of Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936, the skulls were removed by the Park Service, with the exception of one badly eroded horn.

Butchers Cave is located on the secluded, and stunningly beautiful, Queen Mountain. A short hike up the mountain’s saddle from the parking area at the end of O’Dell Road, then meandering a series of washes, a maze of sand and boulders. This is far from the beaten path of the standard tourist thoroughfare.

The maze of washes on Queen Mountain can make the Butchers Cave difficult to find, maybe a myth in and of itself. But it does exist, and it is grand. The cave is located in a recession above a wash, guarded by several large boulders, a variety of cactus, and jagged yucca.

When I visited, I found the single remaining eroded sheep horn, it looked like old rotten wood, along with it, a pile of small animal bones and pottery sherds.

I scoured the cave for additional clues, coming up with nothing else of interest. I doubt the pile of bones and pottery sherds had been there for long, leading me to believe that the cave had been “salted,” more than likely not intentionally, but rather by someone who found them nearby, and decided to place them here for safe keeping.

There have been other accounts of the cave, making it into a horror story, a place devoid of life….filled with an evil presence. Tales of dreadfully eerie unsettling silence. Accusations of sacrifices, and other evil deeds performed by the Native American population that once called the area home. I would have hoped that we’ve learned at this point that Native Americans were not the savage beasts that many of our ancestors made them out to be. If anything, they were the exact opposite, having more respect for the land, plants, and animals than most people today.

The underlying and unanswered question is why is there no scientific documentation of Butchers Cave? Surely if an anthropologist had actually studied the cave there would be an archaeological record. If the National Park did indeed remove the skulls, what was the purpose, what did they do with them.

Why didn’t they keep records of these events?

I do believe that the Butchers Cave was once used by the Native people, there is evidence of their presence at several locations on Queen Mountain in the form of pictographs, and camp sites. But was there ever 50 bighorn sheep skulls stacked inside? Was it a sacrificial site, or the “cave of the butcher?”

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I doubt it.

Jim has spent nearly a decade documenting the hidden treasures of the American Deserts, with a focus on Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve. He is most widely known for his two book series, “Secret Places in the Mojave Desert” and “Hidden Joshua Tree.”

His specialties include Native American history, archaeological, historic site documentation, and natural wonders. He is well versed in, and active in the environmental preservation of the desert, including having been a consultant to the BLM for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), and a spokesperson for Campaign for the California Desert.

In the backcountry Jim is a minimalist, hiker/backpacker, and an avid supporter of Leave No Trace ethics.

For more odd, interesting, historic and prehistoric places in Joshua Tree and the surrounding area visit the author, Death Valley Jim online at www.deathvalleyjim. com, and pick up his book series “Hidden Joshua Tree” and “Secrets Places in the Mojave Desert.”

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Hi-Desert Happenings Theatres Theatre 29 73637 Sullivan Road, Twentynine Palms The Sunshine Boys, through February 13. The Little Mermaid, March 11-April 9. Tickets and information are available at www.theatre29.org, or call (760)361-4151.

Groves Cabin Theatre 8758 Desert Willow Trail, Morongo Valley The Sea Horse, by Edward J. Moore, directed by Abe Daniels. February 13-March 20. Information is available at www.grovescabintheatre.org, or call (760)365-4523 for tickets.

Hi-Desert Cultural Center 61231 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree The Spitfire Grill, The Musical. Directed by Howard Shangraw. February 12-20. Tickets and information are available at www.hidesertculturalcenter.org or (760)366-3777.

Art & Special Exhibits 29 Palms Art Gallery 74055 Cottonwood Drive, Twentynine Palms (760)367-7819, www.29palmsartgallery.com James O’Keefe (painting), Suzanne Ross (mixed media), Guild members. February 3-28. Upcoming art classes: Indigenous Art Gallery, talk by James O’Keefe, 5:30-8:30 p.m., February 18 (adults).

29 Palms Inn 73950 Inn Avenue, Twentynine Palms (760)367-3505, www.29palmsinn.com Showing the works of Sharon Davis and Mike Fagan.

29 Palms Visitor Center& Art Gallery 73484 29 Palms Hwy., Twentynine Palms A Walk in the Park: Celebrating 80 Years of Joshua Tree National Monument/Park and 100 Years of the National Park Service, through March 25.

Gallery 62 - New location!

61607 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree, www.hwy62arttours.org/gallery62.php Group show artist reception, February 13, 6-8 p.m.

Taylor Junction 61732 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree. (760)974-9165.

JTAG (Joshua Tree Art Gallery) February group show opens February 13, reception 6-8 p.m.

61607 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree. (760)366-3636, www.joshuatreeartgallery.com Hi-Desert Nature Museum Yucca Valley Community Center, 57116 29 Palms Hwy., Yucca Valley (760)369-7212, www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org Pollinators: Keeping Company with Flowers, January 7 - February 20.

Art Colony of Morongo Valley Covington Park, 11165 Vale Drive, Morongo Valley.

(760)792-1238, www.artcolonyofmorongovalley.com February featured artist: Dennis Hofelich. 52nd Anniversary of the Art Colony of Morongo Valley, February 13, noon to 3 p.m.

Music 29 Palms Inn 73950 Inn Avenue, Twentynine Palms (760)367-3505, www.29palmsinn.com Live music nightly (see schedule this page).

Pappy & Harriets Pioneertown Palace 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown (760)365-5956, www.pappyandharriets.com Live music Thursdays-Mondays. Regularly scheduled: Ted Quinn’s open mic on Mondays, The Shadow Mountain Band opening for other acts most Saturdays, The Hot Fudge Sunday Band, most Sundays. For complete calendar: www.pappyandharriets.com.

Joshua Tree Saloon 61835 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree, (760)366-2250, www.thejoshuatreesaloon.com The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre with Mojave Sky, February 13, 8 p.m..

Regularly scheduled: Open Jam Tuesdays with Ted Quinn, karaoke Wednesday and Friday nights, live music Saturday nights, Punk Rock Thursday, second Thursdays.

Beatnik Lounge 61597 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree. (760)475-4860 Dandy Brown, February 14, 6 p.m.

Online music: www.RadioFreeJoshuaTree.org Health & Healing, Desert Living Beatnik Lounge 61597 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree. (760)475-4860 Tibetan Meditation with Sunny, Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.

Joshua Tree Retreat Center/Institute of Mentalphysics 59700 29 Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree, (760)365-8371 Intro to Tibetan Spiritual Breath. Tuesdays, 6:30-8 p.m., Lotus Meditation Building. Donation: $5.

Improves subtle energies of the body by understanding breath and the natural relationship to healing.

Rainbow Stew 55509 29 Palms Hwy., Old Town Yucca Valley (760)418-5170, www.rainbowstew4u.com Moon Powered Magic with Claudia Thompson. Five Saturday Playshops, January 30 - March 26, series: $175, per class: $49. Thompson is the world’s leading authority on Moon Powered Astrology and Moon Powered Beauty.

Sky’s the Limit Observatory & Nature Center 9697 Utah Trail, Twentynine Palms. www.skysthelimit29.org Regularly scheduled Saturday evening night sky events, free for the public. Check website for upcoming events. Contribute to replacing their solar power system stolen by thieves at the site: www. gofundme.com/stlpowerfund.

Want to be included in our calendar listings? Send your event info to us at: publisher@sunrunnersw.com.

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love notes, continued...

California, I would tell you, is my God. And then, it was time. What kind of man leaves a secure job, a full bank account, friends, family, comfort, SAFETY, and starts all over in the middle of the California wilderness, rebuilding a desert fixer upper he has never seen?

You did it because you love me. This adventure, this risk, has been fueled by your love for me. Undying and brave and true.

On that little couch, in the cold dark New England city where we lived, I would lay for hours and cry for the desert.

My heart feeling as if it was breaking.

You saved me from all of that.

My love for you is bigger than that desert sky, the vastness of this desert place. You are my heart, and my soul. You have made my dreams come true.

From, Melissa

Bearman, From the moment we met virtually my heart knew-my mind yearned, my soul felt complete. I never wonder if you love me—only that if I can remain worthy of this love. We have been through so much in eighteen years, and yet... you and I have never waivered. The laughter we share, the sorrow we bear, the moments together and appart. No man has ever loved me the way you do... When I look into your eyes I can see into your heart and soul. I am so happy to have this wonderful exciting love! Thank you.

– Cotton Candy

Just when your life seems Lost and insane What a wonder the universe can give When you’re ready to leave it all A girl…

A woman unlike those who came before Not blonde not tall

To: Kerri C. "YER STOOPIT! XOXOXO Love you! -T"

But one to adore On first sight On first sound of her New Jersey sass Her face the face of a Streisand or a Midler

Dina, your love is a breath of fresh air I inhale daily making life so sweet, the love I’ve always dreamed of. I want to enjoy life with you forever. I’ve found a treasure, someone so beautiful and loving who makes everyday a joy. I look forward to each and everyday and the experiences it will bring. Reaching new heights with you, your love and caring are more than I deserve. Trying to give more than I receive is impossible but I love every moment trying to, with that I offer this poem, Feeling Love.

A cute little Jew Who on this great L.A. Olympic day Rescued my ass And gave me a new reason to live And love Again

Feeling Love

To my Bearski, my Janet

Love, L O V E, is a word.

Happy 31st anniversary

Untold emotions accompany.

And happy Valentines day

Feelings of euphoria envelope,

- Eddie

Can’t pinpoint, just is.

A bond, a friendship, a sharing.

Giving, taking…..a whole pair.

Understanding…..comradery personified,

Scott, you filled the cracks in my broken heart and made me feel so loved. When you cracked that mike, I was the only one you were talking to. Seven years have flown by and STILL.....always, Roxy

Nurturing, captivating the harmony.

Love found is bliss.

Treasure life’s gift.

Sharing one’s essence, The ultimate outpouring.

George, Over 20 years ago we jumped on this crazy train and what a ride it’s been!

Thanks for two decades of love, two beautiful children, and infinite memories.

Since our time is full of busy tasks, I wrote you this little poem for Valentine’s Day...

Encountered you’ll be overcome.

Engulfed in the aura.

Roses are red

Enjoy to the utmost,

Our hair is gray

The give, the take, the sharing.

Let’s stay in bed

– Herman

And sleep all day Here’s to many more years of new adventures!

Dearest Apple,

Love,

I am so happy we fell in love in Joshua Tree.

Tanya

Forever yours, HiDesert Ace Thanks to all our readers who submitted their love notes for this issue. Please remember, you can always send us your hi-desert photos, news, event information, and your favorite dining, lodging, shopping, hiking, and attraction photos and comments. Please send them to tortoisetelegraph@gmail.com.

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said, yes, absolutely, we need music on Sunday. You can start on Sunday. She hadn’t even heard me. It took me about a month to really work up the courage to go do that. I was going to call her to say I’ll start next Sunday and she called me for a hair appointment. I had just recently opened the salon out there.

I started there that Sunday, and I’ve played there ever since.

When Jamie came, moved out about nine years ago, and Mikal’s brother Caleb is also a musician, he moved out in the last several years, so we all play together now. Our band is called the Wonder People. We released a CD in 2007.

JTTT: What do you like about living in the desert?

JH: We had a friend, Jack Pearson, who lived in Wonder Valley. We had a mutual friend. She brought us out to his house for a weekend, from LA. We loved it. We felt like, it was awe inspiring really. Who knew there were dirt roads and all this open space still in California, so close to LA? We really just fell in love with it. We’d both grown up rural in Ohio, so we weren’t afraid to live in the country. And Mikal’s business had just taken off, and he sold an order of belt buckles to a department store in Japan, so for the first time in our lives we had a little chunk of money we could consider buying some real estate, but not enough to buy in LA. We didn’t want to buy in LA.

We set our sights on the desert because the real estate was so cheap. We got a 10 acre ranch out there in Wonder Valley for like $50,000 at the time. A big house, trees, a well and everything. So we really just loved it.

I’ve always said there’s a magic in the desert. It exists in the city, but not to the extent you get here. There’s no blocks here. I’ve always said, that creative energy, that creative flow you get, is in the wind. Out here if you tap into it, that creative energy is easily tappable out here in the desert.

JTTT: What’s it like being a parent?

JH: Oh my God, I love it. It’s the hardest job in the world, but it’s the most gratifying.

It’s something I would definitely not ever change.

We have only one son. I’ll tell you what, my mother raised four kids on her own and I can’t even imagine. It’s hard enough to raise one child with a partner now, let alone having four and raising them on your own. Obviously, times are different, but it’s super gratifying, and you get to be a kid again in a lot of ways.

He’s doing great. He’s a little football player. Flag football. I’m not letting him play tackle football. He’s an athlete. I’ve always said we were raising our body guard.

We’ve known he’s going to be very big and tall. He’s 11 and he’s just about as tall as I am.

He’s probably about 5’8”, fifth grade. Smart. We consider ourselves lucky.

Both of our brothers moved here. Mikal’s parents moved permanently to 29 Palms eight years ago now, so we have full time grandparents here. My mother and her husband have a cabin in the hi-desert, so we get them two months out of the year too.

Mikal’s best friend moved here from Ohio. We’ve had this whole renaissance of people coming to the desert following us here.

I’m so glad we landed where we did. Joshua Tree couldn’t be more perfect for the Beauty Bubble. And it wasn’t the initial thought. I was initially thinking of opening up in 29 Palms, but I just couldn’t find the right location there. Then this location fell in my lap.

It’s part of that magic in the desert. Tap into that energy and if you believe in any kind of manifestation or creation, putting those positive thoughts out there, it’s going to come back to you. I do feel like that happened with this space. It really did fall in my lap.

It was perfect timing.

Read the extended interview with additional photos online at www.jttortoisetelegraph.com.

You can read digital editions of the Tortoise Telegraph online as well.

Editor/Publisher/telegraph operator: Steve Brown Adventures Editor: Death Valley Jim Photos by: Steve Brown, Death Valley Jim, monika calantoc Submit story ideas, photos for consideration, dining/shopping/lodging/favorite places and event photos to: tortoisetelegraph@gmail.com advertising inquiries: sunrunnerads@gmail.com or 760-820-1222 see the advertising page at www.jttortoisetelegraph.com for pricing and specs. distribution inquiries: tortoisetelegraph@gmail.com join the tortoise telegraph online at: www.jttortoisetelegraph.com, on facebook at: www.facebook.com/jttortoisetelegraph on instagram at: www.instagram.com/jttortoisetelegraph join the sun runner, the journal of the real desert, online at: www.sunrunnersw.com on facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheSunRunner join southwest stories with steve brown online at: www.southweststories.us on facebook at: www.facebook.com/RealDesert thanks for joining us!

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