Russia

St. Petersburg, Russia greeted us with a beautiful, blue sky and warm, sunny weather. For a city that only gets a few days of sun each year we were really lucky that every day was gorgeous. Our ship was parked in the Neva River about 5km from town so we did a lot of walking, which I enjoyed. The city is beautiful and very different from what I expected. The first morning I went on a bus tour of the city and to the Hermitage. The Hermitage is an enormous museum on par with the Louvre in France. Walking through every part of Hermitage would cover 27 miles! If you spent one minute looking at every piece in their collection it would take over 11 years! (These are the types of useless tidbits you pick up on guided tours). I started on a guided tour and then branched out on my own. It was amazing. There isn’t even any Russian art in it – that is all housed in the Russian Museum (which I didn’t make it to). I saw two Da Vinci’s, Michelangelo, Picasso, Monet, and much more.


The Interior of the Hermitage

I’ve always viewed Russia as a poorer country and while there are many people living in poverty I was shocked at the riches – the Hermitage, the palaces, the ornate churches, and the beautiful architecture. Although many of the places look wonderful on the outside and then when you wonder into the alleys between the buildings it is falling apart, however still beautiful in the way old brick can be.

In Russia the women are very fashionable in a 1980’s type of way and wear a lot of mini skirts and high heels. It’s rather amazing because the streets are often cobblestone or cracked up concrete. They also have these floor mats at many doorways that have holes just big enough for a high heel. Of course being less practiced at heels than the Russians, when I was leaving the ballet I got my heel stuck in one of the mat holes and then while trying to pull it out the other got stuck and then got it stuck for a third time and finally just walked out barefoot and laughing. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only American that had this problem.

The second day I spent time in St. Petersburg wondering around and visited the Church on Spilled Blood, which was incredible and is what I picture when I think of Russia.

the interior of the Church on Spilled Blood

The third night I traveled to Moscow with Semester at Sea. I was one of three trip leaders for the 93 participants. The experience was pretty crazy only because we were traveling with so many people, it was like herding cats. We had a few Russian tour guides with us – one was fabulous and the rest were only okay. Since we are not used to trains most of us didn’t sleep much on the way to Moscow. The day we spent in Moscow was very busy seeing the Kremlin and various other sights. By 11am I had probably had 30 people complain to me about something – always something I could do nothing about – the toilets, the tour guide, the bus, the heat, the itinerary, you name it people complained to me. Finally, I told them all to keep their negative thoughts to their selves that I wanted to enjoy the day and would not be able to if everyone complained to me. Well, then everyone had to come up and apologize to me which usually went something like this, “Amy, I am so sorry I was complaining to you. I didn’t realize you were getting so many complaints. It’s just that my camera ran out of batteries and I want to go back to the bus to get more. Do you know how much longer we’ll be at the Kremlin?” The whininess in their voice increasing with every word. What can you do? What I don’t understand is why would someone travel via a second class, overnight train in Russia and expect the Holiday Inn? You would think people would understand what they are getting into or at least just go with the flow, even if they have never been to Russia. Geez, very few Americans even get the privilege of traveling to Russia. The elitism of some of the students is my biggest frustration here. I think maybe some people are just never happy, no matter what they are doing or where they are. Those are the people I struggle with the most. Granted this particular trip was difficult because it was so structured. All of us were craving some free time to just wonder around Moscow. Finally, before dinner we had about 45 minutes in Red Square, which relaxed people a bit. Then we went to the Moscow circus, which was a highlight for me. It was excellent! Unfortunately, there were no trapeze flyers even though the bars were hanging. That was a disappointment, but a minor one. On the train ride home everyone slept very soundly. We were so tired after our busy day. Moscow is a beautiful city and much cleaner than St. Petersburg. I would love to go back and be able to explore more.

St. Basil in the Red Square in Moscow

Me in Red Square

Russia is an interesting country. It is an enormous country spanning 13 time zones and dwarfing the U.S. With the end of communism in 1991 the Russians have experienced so much change. Many people we talked with said they preferred communism over the current situation. I think part of this is because they do not have the infrastructure that we have in the States. There are very few roads outside of the cities, many people are very poor, and the police are corrupt and can be paid off easily. One example of their lack of infrastructure is their phone system. There are pay phones throughout the city, but you can only use a phone card from the company that owns the phone. Imagine if you had an MCI calling card, but could only find AT&T pay phones. You would be out of luck. It might not be so bad if phone cards were readily available, but no one I knew could ever figure out where the phone cards were sold. I imagine it will take at least 20 years for the infrastructure to match western Europe and the U.S.

Norway

Norway is a country that I had never considered visiting, but now that I have been here I am so glad to have come. It is gorgeous. The first day I wondered around to churches and museums with Laura, the art history professor. It was great because she would tell me the history of some of the old art work. We also saw several of Edvard Munch’s work that was great.
On day two I wanted to travel up to see some glacier mountains so I met up with Patrick, the Semester at Sea photographer and we hopped a train to a town called Flam. Once there we felt it was going to be too complicated to travel that far north so we decided to do some hiking around Flam and stay over night. We took the train back uphill and hiked down about 11km. It was gorgeous. We saw so many waterfalls I lost count. We stayed in a hotel and in the morning took a ferry to the next town over and hiked up to a waterfall and around some farmland.

The cute sheep!

One of the amazing things about Norway is their public access law. There are no trespassing laws and you can walk anywhere including on private property. We didn’t have to worry about someone calling the cops or pulling out a shotgun on us. Of course you have to be respectful and not trample their gardens, etc. We ended up talking with a couple of University students who were working in the field of the local agriculture college. They were picking weeds in a large garden. They had a great system where they would set the tractor at a very low speed, line it up on the row and then lay on this trailer designed just for this purpose. It seemed to be a very efficient system.

Just outside our hotel room

Today I walked around Bergen and visited the Fantoft Stave church that was rebuilt a few years ago. It was burned down by a satanic cult group in 1992. The original church dated back to the 11th century and so it was very sad to lose it to such an awful act of violence. It was rebuilt using the same tools and methods used back then. The unique thing about the entirely wooden church is that there are no nails. Everything is constructed to fit perfectly together without the addition of nails. In a few places where nails were necessary wooden ones were used.
On my way back to the ship I walked through the town center. There were a lot of street musicians and people selling things. I stumbled across three American Indian musicians playing in the street, quite ironic in Norway. It was especially funny to look over and see the Enthnomusicologist Professor and talk to her. Of course she was appalled.

Iceland II

From 6/28/05
Tomorrow we’ll be in Norway and then have to start paying for internet service. Semester at Sea follows the typical University model where faculty and students get more privileges than staff - in this case they get 200 minutes free internet whereas staff get only 100 minutes free until the end of the voyage in August. This was a bit of a surprise to me since we didn’t know about this ahead of time. At $.40/ minute the difference is only $40/person. I am just continually surprised what organizations do that may seem small, but communicate a clear message to their employees about how they view them. So I don’t know how much I’ll be posting between now and August, but hopefully enough to keep you all updated and entertained. Anyway, enough of my bitterness and on to the exciting things….

My third day in Iceland was rather uneventful until the evening. Reykjavík is known for their night life, so of course we had to experience it. At home my typical bedtime is 10:30pm so when the clubs at home are just picking up around 11pm I can barely stay awake. In Reykjavík no one really goes out until 1am, which is shortly after sunset. So on Saturday I went out with the other RDs around midnight. There was a dance at Café Reykjavik which was a fundraiser for the upcoming gay pride event so we went there. Well at midnight we stopped by and about three people were there, so we went to another bar called Café Solon for about an hour. When we returned to Café Reykjavik at 1am things were just starting to pick up. If I had been in the States I would have been exhausted, but since it doesn’t get dark all night the light plays tricks on your body. We stayed out until almost 4am and had a blast! I was rather fascinated by the whole thing. I barely felt tired and got up the next day at 8:30am. In fact if anything I felt energized and excited. The other different thing is that in a club in the States it is always very dark with few windows, but this place had big windows on both sides and the skylight was pouring in. The music they played was very diverse and included Dolly Parton, ABBA, Bon Jovi, rap, hard rock, and even heavy metal. It was actually a great mix with lots of American music and some Icelandic music. Everyone was dancing and seemed more carefree than in the States, less concerned about how other people were viewing them. It was quite refreshing.

My final day in Iceland involved a trip to the infamous Blue Lagoon. It is basically a section of a river that has been converted to a large hot tub heated by a geothermal power plant. It didn’t really seem like my thing, but everyone was raving about it so I decided to go check it out. Well, it was overrated, but still enjoyable. Here is a photo…

Iceland is a gorgeous country with friendly, proud locals. I am so glad I went and I would definitely go back. I have a feeling the Glacier lagoon (see previous post) is an experience that will be hard to top in any country.

Iceland

My experience with Iceland started the night before we arrived in the country. The sun set at 12:15am and the skies were clear. I think the entire ship was outside watching it set. There was this wonderful energy and sense of excitement and awe amongst everyone and you can see why. Check out the pictures.


The sunset at 12:15am


a student watching the sunset


The student life staff just before the sunset. It was cold and windy outside, but we were all so happy!


I went to bed after that so that I could get up a few hours later at 2:55am to see the sunrise. When my alarm went off I peeked my head out the window and decided to go back to sleep since it was 3am after all and getting up after two hours of sleep seemed a little absurd to me. However, as I rolled over to go back to sleep I moved my pillow and it knocked a glass of water off the nightstand into my bed. I leaped up to get a towel and try to dry the mess. Of course at that point I was awake so I put on my jacket and shoes, grabbed my camera and headed outside. The minute I stepped outside I was so glad I spilled that water. I was awestruck. The sun was rising over Iceland and was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. The photos I took barely look real; they look like paintings. I was thinking I’d be the only one crazy enough to be awake at that hour but there were at least 30 students outside watching it and many that never even went to bed. They said it never got dark and had remained pink and orange all night long. Again, there was this intense energy amongst everyone that was awake – adrenaline, awe, inspiration. It was worth getting up for. I stayed outside for about 25 minutes then went back to bed and unfortunately didn’t hear my alarm a few hours later and was awoken when the Assistant Dean announced that we all had to meet with the US Embassy folks in 15 minutes. I took the fastest shower of my life and made it on time. During our briefing I learned that Iceland is the second safest country in the world (not sure which is #1) and much safer than the U.S. The entire country has about as many people as the Greater Madison area and the capitol Reykjavik has about 115,000 people.


The sunrise at 3am



The sunrise over Iceland

In the morning I wondered around Reykavik with two other resident directors. We visited Hallgrimskirkja, a 75m church that can be seen from anywhere in Reykavik and the National Museum. We went back to the boat for dinner since an average dinner in Iceland is about $40 without drinks. It is a very expensive country with a high standard of living and not the place to go shopping. Everything here is very clean and there is virtually no air pollution in the entire city. They use natural geothermal heat from steam that rises out of the ground and do not rely on coal or fossil fuels for their energy.


Hallgrimskirkja

My second day in Iceland was awesome! I joined an organized tour to travel east of Reyjkavik to see the largest glacier in Iceland called Jokalsárlón. A few years ago the tongue of the glacier traveled down about 2km to the ocean and has been breaking apart ever since. This Glacier Lagoon is where the glacier tongue was and now pieces of the glacier that are slowly breaking off and melting. Like most of the geology of Iceland it is a very active location. Iceland is such a young island (geologically speaking) that it is still forming and has many active volcanos, earthquakes, etc. Consequently, the landscape looks magical.


Our first stop on the tour



The south coast of Iceland



Glacier lagoon with the Jokalsárlón Glacier in the background

We had time to walk around for about 45 minutes. I wondered off and as I was coming back I was walking along the shore looking at the rocks and was apart from other people. Next thing I know I looked up and there was a seal who popped out of the water and was looking at me. I stopped and as I started taking pictures the seal flipped up his tail and was fluttering along as if to show off or flirt with me. It was so awesome! We were just starring at each other and then some other people walked up and he swam away. My friend Laura (who is the art history teacher) came running up and says “Oh my gosh Amy, that was so cool! That seal was checking you out!” It was a neat moment.


The curious seal

After wandering around for a bit we got to go out on a Duck boat. These are old boats from the Vietnam war that can drive on land and float on the water. Those of you in Wisconsin know exactly what I am talking about!


me on the Duck boat

On the long ride home we stopped at another beautiful water fall and a few of us walked behind it.


The beautiful waterfall from behind

On the way home Laura and I were talking about the amazing things we had seen and the energy we felt. I was commenting about the Icelandic artists she talked about in her class and how you can really understand their inspirations and why they paint the way they do after seeing the beautiful land. She agreed, but said that nature always trumps art. It’s true. Nothing can compare to seeing the real thing.

We finally got home after the 16 hour tour. It was so much fun I didn’t even feel tired. As soon as I got to my room I downloaded my photos because I was so excited. I didn’t even sit down. I just love the immediate satisfaction of digital! Later Laura and I compared photos and I finally forced myself to go to bed at 1am. I was so energized and it was still light out, but I knew I needed to sleep. I love Iceland and hope I get to come back soon and go backpacking for several days so I can really spend time in the wilderness here.

Slow internet

The students and senior passengers arrived on the 18th and we had a day of meetings and orientation for them before classes began. Even though I have been getting eight hours of sleep each night I still feel very tired. I’ve been sleeping well each night so I am not sure why I feel so tired. Three times between Halifax and Iceland we will lose an hour of time each day as we adjust our clocks back. That certainly is not going to help. Finally, last night I slept in a bit and feel better. Caffeine of course always helps!

Yesterday some people spotted whales and dolphins and I was so disappointed I didn't get to see them. I told everyone to call me in my cabin any time of the day so I could see them. The captain said we would see more as we get closer to Iceland. Today we are fairly close to Greenland, althougth too far to see land. Since yesterday there have been some gulls flying alongside the ship. We've also seen a few other ships either freighters or fishing boats.

We've been going a little slower than usual in the last few days in order to avoid a storm and thankfully it has worked so far. This morning there was a man-overboard drill for the crew and we are still stopped for that drill.

The internet connection on the ship is extremely slow. The connection is basically the equivalent of a DSL connection at a home, but with many, many people using it at the same time. So posting on my blog is very slow and will be less frequent than I had hoped. I’ll post again after I get to Iceland!

Halifax, Nova Scotia

written 06-17-05:

Thursday we hung out in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was cold, dreary and lightly raining all day and I didn’t even mind. I was glad to be able to walk around on solid ground. Nova Scotia is a cute town and I managed to get some groceries, do my laundry, and get my photos from scuba diving developed. We also visited Pier 21, which is Canada’s equivalent to Ellis Island. It opened after Ellis Island closed from 1928-1971. We went on a tour and saw a great video.


The view of Halifax and the Citadel from the waterfront.


Me - enjoying a little rain in Halifax

We had a delicious dinner and another Resident Director (RD) and her partner ordered lobster .


Erin and Gina and their lobster

Rough Seas

written 06-15-05:

Today was a little nuts on board the ship. The ocean was getting pretty choppy and wavy and by 2:30pm I was feeling pretty bad. I found some relief by laying flat on my back. My theory is that while laying on my back my stomach doesn’t have anywhere to go to do flip-flops. I finally decided to take some seasickness drugs, Meclazine. They have a bin of it on the ship, free for the taking. It takes about an hour to kick-in so I had a rough time for a bit there. A couple of times I was afraid I was going to have to run for the toilet, but I was lucky, luckier than some. Before today I was feeling rather proud of my lack of seasickness, but the weather today humbled me quickly. In addition to the seasickness drugs, going outside helped tremendously. I went out to the aft deck (that’s the back – just think ass) and watched the waves. Here are two pictures I took from the same spot as the ship went up and down.





I am feeling much better now and the waves are already calming. Tomorrow we will be in Halifax and I will be glad to get on some solid ground for a bit and walk around. As well as do some laundry and get a few small things I forgot. Then, on Friday the students arrive and we begin our voyage to Iceland. I am hoping to go hiking while in Iceland. Getting exercise aboard the ship is a challenge. I ran on the treadmill once and after about 25 minutes I was very pleased at my distance until I realized the machine was in kilometers not miles – ugh! There are so many little things to decipher when traveling abroad that you would never think about. Of course, in rough seas running on a treadmill isn’t an option.

Here I am – day two of the Semester at Sea voyage. It’s fabulous! The mv Explorer is a gorgeous ship! Everything is new and clean and well designed. I am so happy to be here. I think this all really hit me when I walked in my room for the first time and saw how wonderful it was. I was expecting something small and dark and cluttered feeling and it is the complete opposite. There is a big window, beautiful furnishings, clean carpet and a well-designed layout. See the pictures below.


My room


My room from the other angle


My bathroom

The ship is huge. There are seven decks and it is the fastest oceanliner in the world. Semester at Sea bought the ship from a Greek cruise company called Royal Olympic Cruises when they went bankrupt and their ship was arrested a couple years ago. They contracted a German company to build this ship and the sister ship the Voyager about 5 years ago and bankrolled everything into the ships figuring that since they were so fast it would be an excellent draw for new customers. Well, shortly after the ships were built the World Trade Centers were attacked and international travel really decreased. Originally there were casinos and other aspects that screamed “cruise ship” so Semester at Sea has been converting it to a college campus during the past two years. They acquired the ship 12 days before the initial voyage and worked very hard doing some initial conversions. This is the fourth voyage and they are still making small changes. Since the end of the Spring semester the ship was dry docked in The Bahamas undergoing repairs. The Bahamas has the largest repair shipyard in the world and do many large ships. It’s hard to imagine this ship being dry-docked on land. There is still a crew of people with an Italian company working on the ship from The Bahamas to Halifax making more changes. However, it looks so great you would never know anything needed to be done.


The mv Explorer docked in The Bahamas - notice the person walking on the left for size comparison.


A view of the moon from the ship - taken shortly after we set sail at 10pm

Many of you asked about seasickness and I haven’t felt anything yet. We have enjoyed very calm seas that look like a lake. There is a gentle sway to the ship and I find myself walking down the hallways in a zigzag. I am walking straight but since the ship is moving side to side my path moves sideways too. However, I find myself unconsciously correcting this more and more as I get used to the ship. I hope when I get to land I don’t continue to correct myself and have it look like a zigzag! There are a few people that have felt some mild seasickness, but there is a bin of seasickness drugs for everyone to take and no one seems to be affected too much. I will be curious to see what happens as the weather changes over time.


The view from the back of the ship - the weather has been great!

I am enjoying meeting so many new people here. Everyone is friendly and interested in meeting everyone else and a community is already starting to develop. It’s neat. The crew, staff, and faculty are from all over the world – Greece, Sweden, The Philippines, Belgium, and many more. So far we have just had orientation meetings and learned about the ship, how things work, who does what, etc. We had a lifeboat drill today and will have several more throughout the trip. It’s a very organized process. Everyone is assigned a lifeboat as labeled in your room and on your lifejacket. When the alarm sounds you have to put on your lifejacket and long pants and a jacket and report outside to your muster station, the place in front of your lifeboat.

Tonight we are cleaning and organizing the Student Life office and hopefully I will get to bed early. I got nearly eight hours of sleep last night, but I feel tired. I hope you all are doing well!

The Bahamas

I arrived in Freeport, Bahamas yesterday at noon. Here is the view from the plane. It was gorgeous, although a bit stormy.


The weather was a bit stormy so I wasn't able to go scuba diving. Instead I met another Semester at Sea Resident Director and we hung out on the beach. It started raining so we went swimming in the pool. The beach was beautiful - clear water, soft sand, gentle waves.


The beautiful beach!


Parts of the beach were rocky with neat plant life.

This morning a group of us are hoping to go snorkeling, but it depends on the weather. There is blue sky now, but it is still early. We get on the ship this afternoon so this will be my last free internet connection. I am looking forward to unpacking and getting settled on the ship. I have so much stuff! One bag weighs 62 lbs. and the other is probably around 40lbs. I tried to pack light and took out a few things at the last minute. Although one of the women I am sharing a room with brought 14 pairs of underwear (and that was after she whittled it down) so I don't think I have that much.

Before I left Madison, WI my partner shaved my head. It's one-inch long and you really can't even tell. I wanted to bring clippers instead of trying to get a haircut in Poland or Russia. Who knows what it would look like when you can't communicate what you want. Although it could have been an interesting cultural experience I think I'd rather do other things. I don't have any photos at the minute, but I will soon.

I am off to eat breakfast, go snorkeling, and board the ship!

My 30th Birthday!

I was in Orlando for two days visiting my family and celebrated my 30th birthday with them. It was so great to see my family! Here are photos from the party...


My mom made this boat the center piece for my upcoming Semester at Sea trip.


My cake - my mom ordered this - isn't she great!



My mom (left) and cousins


My cousins

It was a great party and a reminder of how special family is.

Summer Travels

I am getting ready to embark on my summer travels with Semester at Sea. This summer I will be a Resident Director about the MV Explorer and traveling through Europe and Russia. I leave for Orlando, FL on Thursday to see my family and then on Saturday I fly to the Bahamas to board the shop on Sunday. I am so excited!! eeeekkk!! But also a bit nervous and even sad to be leaving for the summer. Madison, WI is such a great place to be over the summer and more than anything I will miss my partner until she joins me for the last three countries.

Here is my itinierary:

1. The Bahamas - June 12 (staff training begins)
2. Nova Scotia - June 17 (pick up the students)
3. Reykavik, Iceland - June 23 to June 26
4. Bergen, Norway - June 29 to July 2
5. St. Petersburg, Russia - July 6 to July 10
6. Gdansk, Poland - July 13 to July 16
7. Antwerp, Belgium - July 20 to July 23
8. London, England - July 25 to July 29 - (Sarah joins me!)
9. Dublin, Ireland - July 31 to August 3 - (meeting Mom & Art)
10. Bilbao, Spain - August 6 to August 10 - (Sarah departs)
11. Ft. Lauderale, Fl - August 21

I'll be 30 on Friday and get to celebrate with my family in Orlando - a rare treat. I am really looking forward to it. I am excited about being 30!

Throughout the summer I'll be posting photos and pictures from my journey. More to come soon!!

Photo Class Shoot

I just finished a 6 week Beginner's Photo class at the local community college. I'm really excited about some of the pictures from the class. Below are several flower photos I took.

This one was taken of some flowers in a neighbors yard.

Red Tulips



We met last Saturday at 5:30am at the Monona Terrace to take photos. The next three are photos from that morning.


A photo my teacher, Daryl Sherman, took of me while I was photographing the flowers

This is the one I was taking when Daryl took the photo of me

Red tulip from above

Also taken that same day.

White Tulips

It was actually a lot of fun, even though it was a 5:30am. It makes me want to get up that early again and go out. I'll add more photos later!

Pea Pod Playtime

I just finished a new quilt to be part of a MCFA show called Improvisations. The show will hang in the new Overture Center in Madison, WI. It was also selected to be on the cover of the show's postcard. My piece started out as a sketch in a very boring staff meeting with two white, male, "higher-ups" talking. They started out saying they came to our staff meeting because they wanted to hear our opinions and then proceeded to talk for 45 minutes! Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating. Of course, the good part is that I made this neat sketch and turned it into a quilt. Therefore, it was quite a productive meeting for me!


Initial sketch of Pea Pod Playtime

Lately, I have really enjoyed painting on cavas and using that as quilts, of course inspired by my class at Arrowmont. So the painting below is the background - acrylic on canvas.


Painted background of Pea Pod Playtime

Finally, I stitched with purple, blue, and green threads - three shades of each color to get the whisical pea pod shapes.



Pea Pod Playtime

My only complaint of the whole quilt is the dang binding. I hate bindings! I wanted the binding to turn over to the back so you didn't see it. It works OK, but the corners aren't sharp and I think it looked better before it was bound. I need to figure out a better way to do this. Any ideas?

The show will be hanging this summer. I think July to September at the Overture Center. Stop by if you're in Madison!

PAQA Songs

PAQA is this amazing group of art quilters and I have the distinct privilege of being a member. The group is so inspiring I was driven to write songs - something I very rarely do. I had my singing debut at the April PAQA retreat and another performance may follow at the June PAQA meeting. As requested by Mrs. Mel I've posted the words below.

First the wonderful sing-a-longs
Words by Amy Climer and Pat Kroth
April 2005

(sung to the tune Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Fuse, fuse, fuse your quilt
Never have to sew
PAQA here, PAQA there
It’s the way to go

Stitch, stitch, stitch your dress
Hem up every seam
Add some beads, embellish it
The crowd will really scream

Dye, dye, dye your cloth
Rinse it, wash it clean
Stamp it, foil it, try some paint
You’ll be an art cloth queen

(sung to the tune Take Me Out to the Ballgame)

Take me out to PAQA
Take me there with a thread
Buy me some fabric and I don’t know what
We’ll make something that will kick your butt

For it’s press, press, press with fusing
If we have to stitch it’s a bitch
For it’s dye, cut, fuse if you choose
We’re at PAQA again

The PAQAette
Words by Amy Climer
April 2005
Follows the tune The Gambler By Kenny Rogers

On a cool spring morning
In a car bound for Rosemont
I met up with a quilter
We were both too tired to speak
So we took turns a starring out the windshield of her van
But boredom overtook us and she began to speak
She said gal I’ve made my life quilting lots of stitches and choosing the colors to make them look just right.
So if you don’t mind me saying you could use a little guidance
for a piece of your dyed fabric I can give you some advice
So I handed her my stash and she chose my best piece
Then she bummed a cookie
And asked me for some tea
The morn got deathly quiet
Her face lost all expression
Said if you’re going to play the game gal you gotta learn to play it right

REFRAIN:
You got to know when to fuse ‘em
know when to stitch ‘em
Know when to walk away
Know when to stay
You never count your stitches when you’re quilting at your table
There’ll be time enough for counting when the ribbon’s won

Now every quilter knows that the secret to survival is knowing what to throw ‘way and knowing what to keep
‘Cause every quilts a winner
And every quilts a loser
The best you can hope for is an oooo at PAQA
So when she finished speaking she turned back to the window
Drank her last tea and faded back to silence
In somewhere in the dawn the quilter she broke even
And in her final words I found an ace I could keep

REPEAT REFRAIN

You got to know when to fuse ‘em (when to fuse ‘em)
know when to stitch ‘em (when to stitch ‘em)
Know when to walk away
Know when to stay
You never count your stitches when you’re quilting at your table
There’ll be time enough for counting when the quilt has sold.

REPEAT REFRAIN

The PAQA Rap
By Amy Climer
April 2005
Rapped to the tune Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys

This is about the people in PAQA and my initial experiences joining the group.

Now here’s a little story I got to tell about a few iron maidens you know so well. It started way back in history about four years ago in Chicago I-L.
I had a little need for something new
Just me and my quilts were feeling kind of blue
Using bright colors, original designs
Turning heads of blue hairs ‘cause I wasn’t their kind.
One sunny September day, driving in the car with Zoelzer-Levine
Heading to PAQA and the Fine Line Scene
I was feeling unsure like an amateur
Looking for a for a few, I ran into a crew
They called themselves PAQA and they know how to fuse

(beat box)

They told a little story, it sounded well rehearsed
When the gals get together it’s like a sunburst
Roberta calls to order, Judy takes the money
Melody’s up front making it funny
She was a founding member
Welcomed me in
Told me how it works
and this is what she said…

Now my name is MJ and I got a license to fuse
I think you know what time it is
It’s time for you to choose
No what do we have here, a newbie cavalier
I run this place, you understand
I make myself clear
We stepped into the wind, she had a look I had a grin
You think this story is over, but it’s ready to begin

(beat box)

Now PAQA’s got skills and you need a few
You got two choices of what you can do
It’s not a tough decision as you can see
You can show your quilts or be absentee
I said I’ll show my quilts if you promise not to tease
I’m new at this it makes me weak in the knees
I did it once; I did it twice, now I do it every time fortunately
I’m on the run I need a heat gun and right about now it’s time to have some fun.
Amy Climer that is my name and I’ll take you trapeze flying if that is your game
We rode for 2 hours ‘til we hit the spot
The stitchers were networking and no one was lost
This gal was starring like she knew who we were
We took an empty spot next to her in a chair
Levine said – yippee-yo, you know this gal
I said I didn’t but I knew she did
The gal said get ready ‘cause this might be funny
My name’s Wasilowski and I like to get money
Pulled out the tune and aimed real high
Belted out notes that started to fly
Smiles grew big and no one ran for the door
She said Paqaderms weren’t dinosaurs
I’m Frieda Anderson I got a dog George
Wake you in the morning, but I won’t make porridge
Bryer-Fallert was with it ‘cause she’s the ace
Her classiness gives PAQA a little bit of grace
Her art is amazing winning big shows
And she shares everything she that she knows
MJ makes us laugh, Wasilowski can sing
In my life PAQA adds that little bit of zing

(beat box)

PAQA Retreat - 2005

On Tuesday, April 12 - I went to the PAQA workshop with Keiko Goke in Racine, WI. We stayed at a retreat center on Lake Michigan. The workshop was pretty good, but the best part was hanging out with everyone afterwards.


Here we are working hard!

After dinner Melody showed us a hilarious slide show of her and Laura's trip to Japan. The we had a concert and sang the songs Pat and I wrote on the way home from Rosemont (see previous post). First we sang "Ode to Laura" and crowned her queen for all the hard work she did for the retreat and PAQA.


The Queen of PAQA - Laura Wasilowski!

Then we had a few sing-a-longs, Laura and I sang "Oh Frieda", I risked everyone's ears with my horrible singing voice for a rendition of "The PAQAette" (sung to the tune of The Gambler by Kenny Rogers), and finally conlcuded with "The PAQA Rap" accompanied by DJ MJ (rapped to the tune of Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys).



Melody and Amy rapping


"oh my gosh, this is so funny!"



It's too long to memorize!

Oh yeah!

Words to all the songs will be posted soon for your own singing enjoyment.

Rosemont

Yesterday, I had a fabulous day traveling to Rosemont, IL with Pat Kroth and hanging out at the Chicago Spring International Quilt Festival. We spent the morning looking at the quilts and the afternoon going to a couple vendors, basically stocking up on Superior thread - our favorite, well next to the beautiful hand-dyed thread of Laura Wasilowski. We had a pictures taken at the HP booth and printed on fabric then I sat in Laura's booth while she had her picture taken. We made our way to the PAQA 10th anniversary meeting. It was great. Wendy passed out flowers to all the great people that keep PAQA going. Laura sang a song and Melody MC-ed and made us all laugh.

On the way home Pat and I wrote songs to various tunes that we'll sing at the Keiko workshop. When I got home I was so energized from writing songs, that I spent the next two hours writing a rap song about my experience in PAQA. It's to the tune of Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys. I mention several other PAQAderms in it ("PAQAderms" is even in the rap). I felt like I was in 8th grade again when my best friend and I were hired to write a rap song for her mom's friend's husband's 40th birthday. We were paid $40. I wish I still had a tape of that. Of course, by the end of our rapping career we were so burned out that we stopped listening to rap and started listening to heavy metal. Who would guess that today I like country music?

I am looking forward to the Keiko retreat and rapping for everyone. I'll tell you how it goes!

Moolaade

Last night I saw the film Moolaade, which was part of the Wisconsin Film Festival. The film was about female circumcision in West Africa. Despite it's difficult subject it was a great film and had a liberating ending. The movie took place in Burkina Faso, a country where Hollis Chatelain a fellow art quilter lived for many years. Many of the images from her quilts were in the movie, such as a mosque with an ostrich egg on top of it, vibrant, colorful fabric, and happy, beautiful people. It was so neat to see where she lived, since her experiences are reflected in her quilts. I highly recommend the film if you have a chance to see it.