Lesbians of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Outings and Events
| | NOTE: This newsletter may be cut short by your email program. There is a link at the bottom of screen to view the full newsletter or click here. View as Webpage | | | | |
A roller-coaster of a week. We were scheduled to close escrow on the sale of our house on Tuesday and take possession of our new place in Sahara Park by Saturday. We even built in a day’s grace, just in case.
Late Monday night, our agent messaged to say the escrow company still hadn’t received the buyers’ loan documents, and closing might be delayed by a day. We shared our concerns with the agent and notified the gentlemen we are buying from. They were frustrated but understanding.
Tuesday brought more messages and more problems. Escrow finally received the loan documents Wednesday morning, only for us to learn the buyers were out of town and their power of attorney had to sign. That power of attorney lives in Ohio, and a wet signature is required. No DocuSign, only couriers. The earliest possible closing date is now January 5.
The men we are buying from are forced to wait as well, rescheduling moving trucks and delaying their own plans. They are relocating near San Luis Obispo, and the purchase of their new home now has to be pushed back, a ripple effect spreading outward from one failure to the next.
No one apologizes. No one takes ownership. No one offers compensation or even a gesture toward repair. I understand that mistakes happen, but what feels so discouraging is the normalization of spin and the absence of responsibility. We are told this is not unusual, that these things happen, and we are expected to understand, adjust, and forgive.
What’s missing is any attempt to make it right. No hand reached out to ask how to help. No acknowledgment of the real cost, emotional or otherwise, borne by individuals who do not have teams of lawyers or endless flexibility. It’s a week that leaves us both feeling hollowed out and gutted, not just by the delay, but by how easily accountability disappears when it matters most.
It will pass, most things do but the bitter taste in our mouth will linger for quite awhile.
| |
| |
My book Travels Into Discomfort is available on Amazon.
It is a travel adventure in its prose and a journey to the heart in its poetry.
Travels Into Discomfort
"you will wake up one morning and know peace.
the day will be bright again.
the wind will play with your hair,
and life will feel like a gentle kiss.
your heart will be filled with hope,
and your world will be filled with happiness.
each moment will be a chance to breathe,
to dream, to smile without reason,
and to simply be alive.
you’ll find joy in the things
like the warmth of the sun on your face
and the sound of birds singing.
you will learn to live here and now
and be grateful for each day.
you will wake up one morning,
and you will be ready.
ready to heal, ready to laugh, to dance, to learn,
and ready to live your beautiful life." Hannah Shebar .. LETTERS YOU WILL NEVER READ
| | |
Barbara Carpenter Realtor
Shann Carr
Comedian, Event Producer, Realtor, A Lesbian Concierge In The Desert
Andrea Voras, Gerontologist Dementia Specialist Life Aging Life Care Manager
Constance Clare-Newman, Somatic Work for Pain Relief and Stress Reduction
Corlyce Photography
Chris Ann Kallgren Realtor
Sunny Designs-Website & Graphic Design & Video
Rice Notary
Nancy Minger - Massage Therapist
Poochsitter
Motivation Changes — Life Coaching - Dr Ann Sarah Engel, MSW, PhD
| | |
For more information about pickleball, including lessons, leagues, and other lesbians playing pickleball - contact Mary Barsaleau.
Mary is a registered Pickleball Ambassador.
| | Seeking Classical Musicians | | |
New Book -Smartass: Memoir of a Mouthy Girl
New Book - Show Her The Money
New Book - The Worst Kind of Girl, a novel by Susan Rukeyser
| |
- Cork Women's Fun Weekend
- AdventureWomen: organizes exceptional women’s only travel groups spots around the globe.
- Trafalgar: offers women-only guided vacations to various destinations, with local female guides and experts.
- Road Scholar: provides educational and cultural trips for women of all ages and interests.
- Adventures in Good Company: creates active and adventurous trips for women who love the outdoors.
- Intrepid Travel’s Women’s Expeditions: explores local cultures and traditions from a female perspective, with female leaders and hosts.
| | |
Willa Cather was unique because she wrote women as fully realized human beings, complex in thought, capable of courage, and guided by intellect as much as feeling. In an era that often flattened women into symbols of virtue or sacrifice, her stories gave them interior lives shaped by ambition, doubt, discipline, and moral strength. Her heroines think deeply, choose deliberately, and endure with a quiet authority that does not ask for permission or applause. Set against the wide American landscape, these women are not diminished by their circumstances but enlarged by them, their inner lives as vast as the plains they inhabit. Cather’s restrained, luminous prose made space for women to be serious artists, resilient pioneers, and independent minds, affirming that a woman’s life could be both inwardly rich and outwardly formidable
Willa Cather and Edith Lewis - The Lesbian History Trail of Mount Desert Island
"Many of those who have explored the career of iconic Nebraskan writer Willa Cather have mentioned that she was guarded about the personal details of her life. While this careful privacy may have been at least partially cultivated in order to hide her lesbian identity, Willa’s loving partnership with writer and editor Edith Lewis was an open secret to all who knew them. The two lived and worked together for four decades during which Edith’s editorial skills exerted an important influence on Willa’s writing. Their relationship unfolded in New York, in the women’s community of Whale Cove on Canada’s Grand Manan Island, and, for the last four summers of Willa’s life, in Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island. Cementing their lifelong connection, Willa and Edith are buried together in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, another of the couple’s beloved getaway spots."
| | Email me at gabriolakim@gmail.com if you want something posted on the bulletin board, or an event promoted. | |
Special Thanks to Frontrunners for their ongoing support of LPSCV
Palm Springs Front Runners & Walkers is a running and walking club for members and friends of the LGBTQ+ community in the Coachella Valley. We are a local chapter of International Front Runners, an informal network of LGBTQ+ running groups around the world. Membership is open to everyone without regard to ability, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. Join for daily runs and walks! Palm Springs Front Runners & Walkers - Home
| | |
Hi! Ronni Sanlo's new play A Piece of Thread will be performed at the Revolution Stage Company’s 10-minute Play Festival on January 10th and 11th. Other Coachella Valley playwrights will also showcase their 10-minute plays. My play is in Group 2. Tickets are at https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/revolution-stage-company/689034a802ebd00ffa9fd83c
We are a talented community - Ronni Sanlo, Michelle Babitz and Robin Trigg, and Kirsten Fatland all have plays in this Festival
GROUP TWO is performed Saturday @ 7:30pm & Sunday @ 2pm
1, A PIECE OF THREAD by Ronni Sanlo
2. CORN NUTS by George Kralemann
3. YOU DONE GOOD by Drew Sachs
4. A BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER by Patricia West-Del Ruth
INTERMISSION
5 SARDINE CITY - Written and performed by Gary Powers
6 AT HOME WITH ROSE AND GEORGE by Roy Bouchet
7 BEHIND THE MASK - A JOURNEY TO THE SOUL OF AUTISM
by Michelle Babitz and Robin Trigg
8. I SCREAM YOU SCREAM by Greg Brisendine
GROUP ONE is performed Saturday @ 1:30pm and Sunday @ 5 pm
1 WOKE by Warren De Lange
2 UTOPIAN DREAMS by Bedjou Jean
3 DINNER AT HOME by David M Hamlin
4 THE ZULU SOCIAL PLEASURE CLUB by Gary Powers
INTERMISSION
5 DR. BEVIN by Mark Madama
6 GRAVITY by Barbara Fast
7 PRODIGAL SON by Kirsten Fatland
8 THIRTEEN YEARS by Kim Ferse
| |
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Fire
A subtle and beautifully performed portrayal of female desire as resistance to Hindu patriarchy, Fire proved controversial in its time, sparking threats to the director, film team, and distributors.
FIRE | Palm Springs International Film Festival
|
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Jimpa
When her non-binary teen reveals they want to move in with their gay grandfather (John Lithgow) in Amsterdam, Hannah (Olivia Colman) ruminates on her own upbringing in this moving and uncompromisingly modern portrait of a nontraditional family.
JIMPA | Palm Springs International Film Festival
|
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Little Sister
A French-Algerian lesbian teen’s journey of faith and desire unfolds in director Hafsia Herzi’s sensitive coming-of-age drama. Winner: Queer Palm, Best Actress, Cannes.
THE LITTLE SISTER | Palm Springs International Film Festival
|
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Minoc - South Korean
Middle-aged lesbian Manok returns to her hometown only to discover that its mayor is her ex-husband. Putting her fierceness to good use, Manok decides to run against him in the next election.
MANOK | Palm Springs International Film Festival
| | |
Keeping California Native
Thursday, January 8, 2026 • 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Mizell Center
480 S Sunrise Way
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Join Dr. James Danoff-Burg, Vice President of Conservation at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens for a discussion of lessons learned about urban habitat creation and wildlands enrichment projects in Southern California.
In an area with an ever-increasing population and developed footprint, the rugged but delicate native California flora and ecosystems are constantly under threat. We are loving our wildlands to death. Come and hear how some novel and innovative approaches to how we can reverse this trend by planting native, creating natural ecosystems in urban areas, enriching and restoring wild spaces, and tending to our biologically diverse California Deserts. We can reverse the decline when working together. This presentation is co-sponsored by Oswit Land Trust, and the Palm Springs Public Library and will be held at the Mizell Center.
To RSVP for either talk, please email DavidP@OswitLandTrust.org
| | |
Saving the Mojave Desert Tortoise
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 • 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Desert Hot Springs Health and Wellness Center
11750 Cholla Dr.
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
Join Oswit Land Trust, Ron Berger, President of The Desert Tortoise Conservancy, and Sarah Bliss, Director of Community Conservation Initiatives with the Mojave Desert Land Trust for a discussion on saving the Mojave Desert Tortoise.
The Mojave Desert Tortoise is California’s State Reptile. It and its ancestors roamed these lands even before the Jurassic Era, surviving the dinosaurs, asteroids, ice ages, and all manner of climate events. And yet, their populations in much of their range in our state have declined by upwards of 90% in recent years. This community presentation will explore the factors driving their rapid decline and, most importantly, what residents of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties—can do to help protect and restore desert tortoise habitat.
To RSVP for either talk, please email DavidP@OswitLandTrust.org
| | |
OPEN REHEARSAL - January 13 for Coachella Acappella
If you love to sing with women, want to challenge yourself and make new friends, please join us for our "Guest Night” on Tuesday, January 13, at 6 pm at Rancho Mirage High School choral room. You will learn about our unique style of 4-part a cappella harmony, and try us on for size. No commitment. Ability to read music is NOT required. CoachellaAcappella.com
Questions? Contact Carla Clements 303-478-9692 or drcjclements@msn.com.
| |
BAM is back (Zoom Book and Movie) discussion group
BAM 2.0 starts on Monday, October 13th at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time. We are a book and movie club that has been meeting online since 2020. We have a new format coming back from our summer break this year. All participants have the opportunity to select a book or movie for the group and to lead the discussion the month the group reads or views their selection.
We next meet on January 12 at 5:30 to discuss the book Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs.
For questions about BAM and to request a link for the October meeting, please get in touch with Flynn Sylvest at flynnsylvest@gmail.com. Thank you!
| | |
Gennine Francis will be performing at The Roost on Saturday from 6–9 pm. Reservations can be made online at: ticketbud.com.
Leanna Rogers and Miguel will be performing at the V Lounge on Monday from 5–8 pm. $5 cover charge. Leanna and The Free Agents are performing on Fridays from 6–8 pm at Hyatt, Palm Springs.
Patrice Morris will be performing on Thursdays, October 16–December 11 at 6 pm at The Roost. Reservations can be made online at: ticketbud.com.
Marisa Corvo performs at The Roost on Wednesday, November 19; December 10 from 6:30–9 p.m. Tickets at ticketbud.com.
| | |
Lesbians Embracing Aging (LEA)
Lesbians Embracing Aging (LEA)
If you are an older lesbian and would like to connect with others, please consider joining
LEA. You can start by signing up for our monthly newsletter and then, if you’d like to
connect more often, join our private Facebook group which is about connection and
conversation, support and community – a place to lend a helping hand and uplift each
other when needed.
To sign up for the newsletter let us know here: leaofcoachellavalley@gmail.com
To sign up for the Facebook group (please note: all applicants must answer brief
questions and agree to group rules) let us know here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1842826446542272
To attend the monthly LEA Zoom meeting mark your calendar for the second
Monday of each month at 11: 00 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82977588013?pwd=urfkjO44hhwpBbKU1OIZDnPfJlbg0R.1#
success
To read LEA’s mission https://www.trianglecaremanagement.org/embracing-aging-
| | |
Easy/Moderate/Difficult Hikes
Hiking season has started.
I hike Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Sign up below to receive hiking information
New hikers must register and sign a waiver.
| |
|
2026 Walks
Friday 8am
Meeting Spot: Michael S. Wolfson Park, at the Butler/Abrams Trail access. 70001 Frank Sinatra Dr, Rancho Mirage,
Dogs are welcome on leash.
Walk description
- Route: Butler/Abrams Trail – Rancho Mirage
- Length: 2.5 miles
- Type: In and out
- Elevation gain: 45 ft
- Time: About 1 hour
- Difficulty: Easy
Along the way, we will:
- Visit the resident goats, so feel free to bring apples and carrots for treats.
- Walk past “Terra,” a striking rammed-earth compound created as a tribute to Mother Earth.
'Terra' Is a $4.9M Compound Created as a 'Tribute to Mother Earth'
| | |
Movie Meetup
Wednesday - Mary Pickford Theater
Movie Meetups will start soon.!
| | |
This Week's Recommendation
Animal Control on Netflix
Animal Control is a sly, warmhearted comedy that finds humor in the unruliest corners of human nature by way of its four legged co stars. The series thrives on its ensemble, especially Joel McHale’s dry, self aware lead, whose wit cuts just enough to reveal the softer truths underneath. What makes the show stand out is its gentle understanding that people, like animals, are complicated, instinct driven, and often doing the best they can with limited tools. Each episode balances sharp jokes with unexpected empathy, turning workplace chaos into something oddly comforting. It is funny without being cruel, smart without showing off, and leaves you with the sense that even the messiest situations can be handled with a little patience, humor, and care
| | |
PALS no-cost seminars provide up-to-date info and resources to own your
future, engage in essential conversations and take action because it’s never too soon to start planning ahea
For program updates and to sign up for upcoming PALS Seminars, Death Cafes and PALS Circles, please visit palsinthedesert.com.
| | |
PALS Death Cafe at 2 pm on the 1st Thurs each month provides a group
led and safe space to have open conversations about death and dying without taboo.
For program updates and to sign up for upcoming PALS Seminars, Death Cafes and PALS Circles, please visit palsinthedesert.com.
| | |
.PALS CIRCLE for an hour of connection, support and friendship among
LGBTQ+ seniors and allies. No formal topic — just fun conversation and
camaraderie each Monday from 6:00 to 7:00 PM on ZOOM.
For program updates and to sign up for upcoming PALS Seminars, Death Cafes and PALS Circles, please visit palsinthedesert.com.
| |
Evening Chat Group
Evening Chat Group 5pm to 6:30pm PST Every Thursday (new day of week)
Join us for a lively Zoom chat, catch up with friends, and make new ones! Open to Lesbians in and out of the Coachella Valley — California — all 50 States — and beyond. Please email JayneStrelecki@gmail.com to receive the weekly invite & reminder with Zoom meeting ID and Passcode. Bring a friend! A different host each week!
| | |
1st and 3rd Fridays are Wine Down Friday’s with Guest Speakers 5PM-6:30P. 600 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs.
Network, share info about your business/upcoming event or just drop-by to unwind and make new friends!
| | |
|
Gay Country Western Dancing - Saturday Nights
Join the Dance Ranch for a great night of country western dancing, including two-step, waltz, shadow, East and West Coast swing, and line dances.
It all happens at Step By Step
933 Crossley Road, Palm Springs.
Admission is $5
Lesson is at 7pm. Dancing from 7:30-9:30pm
Dance Ranch Palm Springs is a country western dance group serving the LGBTQ+ community and its friends. Country dancers of all levels are welcome!
Learn more about Dance Ranch and find out what they’re teaching at danceranchps.org.
| |
Sunniva Sorby (fellow hiker and Palm Springs snowbird) joins Wild Women Expeditions as their Polar Ambassador representing adventures across Svalbard, the Canadian Arctic, and Antarctica.
To kick things off, I’ll be joining their Svalbard voyage from June 15–25, 2026, and I’d like to extend a heartfelt invitation to all women to join us on this incredible journey. Right now, Wild Women Expeditions is offering a 20% promotion until the end of October — it’s a rare opportunity to be part of something transformative. – click here for more details
Having traveled much of my life, I know that how, and with whom we travel matters more than ever. That’s why I’m proud to align with a company like Wild Women Expeditions, where we share core values of:
Women’s empowerment
Female leadership / Elevating one another
Giving back and adding value to every place/community we visit
Together, we’ll have a ton of fun and experience the raw beauty of Svalbard, connect deeply with nature, and contribute to a legacy of women supporting women at the ends of the Earth.
I hope to see some of you on deck in Svalbard this June.
Sunniva Sorby
Polar Explorer | Citizen Scientist | Polar Ambassador for Wild Women Expeditions
** By the way Bellsund is on the itinerary and weather permitting we’ll explore the area around Bamsebu ( yup that teeny trappers hut I spent 19 months in) which is steeped in history and rich with wildlife and wildflowers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join me in Svalbard, Norway June 15-25th 2026
with Wild Women Expeditions!
** TEDx Talk in Victoria - 14 mins
** Check out our Monthly Event Series
with Exploring by the Seat of your pants!
Author.Explorer.Activist.Educator
www.sunnivasorby.com
| | | | |
