Setting Sail

We made it! We set sail last Wednesday night the 12th at 8pm. We were supposed to leave earlier, but the closing of the Atlanta airport caused many students to be delayed to the ship. Because of the high number who would have missed the ship, the captain delayed our departure as well. (Has anyone else been thinking that Atlanta needs to invest in some additional snow plows?) Anyway, when we left there were about 100 parents and ISE staff on shore waving us off. Students were yelling their last “I love yous” to the parents and a few tears were falling. It was a neat moment. It’ll be even more emotional when we pull into San Diego at the end. More on that in April.

The faculty and staff were on the ship from Jan 9-11 for faculty/staff training. We were busy getting ready for the students so didn’t have much time to get off the ship and see the Bahamas. It was a fast training. Last time I sailed the training was 5 days and this time around I didn’t feel as prepared when the students arrived. I believe the change was entirely financial, but it’s definitely made it a little tougher for us.

MV Explorer docked in the Bahamas

During the four days we were docked at Nassau we saw new cruise ship neighbors each day, mostly Carnival ships with rock climbing walls and water slides and dwarfing our 7 story, 600 foot vessel. The cruise ships would arrive in the morning and leave at dusk. It’s really impossible to see The Bahamas or any country in eight hours. I couldn’t help but wonder, “what’s the point?” It reminds me that we are definitely not on a cruise we are on a voyage, and for that I am very thankful.

our home for the next four months

Planning, sorting, organizing, and packing

We left for our big Semester at Sea trip around the world a week ago! The first week has been great! Of course we are both very excited and for Christmas I got the book Creative Camera and that made me even more excited. Playing with new photography ideas, further exploring Miksang photography, and being in new places to inspire are some of the things I'm looking forward to during this voyage.

Months ago when we were invited on this voyage around the world the preparations began. We had to figure out what to do with our house, where to store our cars, who would take care of our dog, and figure out how we could make this trip as economical as possible. We suspended our cell phone service, cancelled our home phone, downgraded our car insurance, bought foreign currency for 10 different countries, bought visas for 4 countries, and set up a packing station in the spare bedroom so we could pack over time.

In the couple weeks before we left I found myself going back and forth between being really excited about the trip and being bummed with all the packing, sorting, organizing, and planning that goes into it. Of course it's worth it, but it was really draining.

There were piles of stuff getting organized in most every room in the house. The office/spare bedroom has bins where we've placed various things we collected during the last month - shampoo, the mosquito head net, the new super tiny, lightweight sleeping bag (called the Atom - isn't that a great name?), Malaria medicine, flashlight, tent, binoculars, etc. I realized why more people don’t travel around the world. The logistics can be overwhelming! Fortunately, we made it and now that I’m here looking out at the ocean I can barely remember the stress of that week. The highlight was hanging out with some close friends at the Harmony a couple nights before we left. It was a great time and a much needed break. I realized how much would miss my close friends while we are gone. We love you!

the bins that we used to stay organized while we packed

A few days before we left we laid out all the clothes and started weeding through what to put back. The guideline we heard was to layout everything you want to take and then put half of it back. Good advice. It's so hard to decide what to bring because you don't know what situations will come up and what you'll need to wear. Plus, the more clothes I bring the fewer toys I can bring like fun camera gear and art supplies.

sorting all our clothes

When all the packing was done we each had a large duffle and a small duffle to check and two carry-ons. We booked our flights with Southwest so our bags could fly free. No need to pay those silly extra fees.

our luggage for the next four months

When we told people about our journey around the world we experienced a wide range of reactions and got lots of questions. I wish I had written them all down, because some of them were pretty funny. Here were the most common ones.

What are you doing with your house?

Fortunately, a friend of ours is living in our house and paying us a small bit of rent. It was a challenge to find someone for the short time, especially because we wanted to leave most of our stuff in the house. We needed someone we could trust and who wouldn’t need us to move everything out. Although we still had to empty our dressers and bedroom closet, move two couches, and remove a lot of stuff out of the kitchen. The good thing is that all this packing has led to a garbage bag full of clothes and other things that are heading for the thrift store or perhaps the next garage sale. We have too much stuff. I know I'll feel that even more when we get back, after living in a tiny room and meeting people who live with much less than we do. We also have a great next door neighbor who is always willing to help and keep an eye on things.

What about your dog?

Jake, our adorable floppy-eared Doberman is staying at Julie’s brother’s house. They also have a dog named Maggie so this was an especially generous offer he and his family made to us. Before we left we needed to make sure the dogs would get along. Therefore, Maggie visited Jake for an afternoon and Jake spent a long Thanksgiving weekend at their house. All went well. Then, the day before we left the country we almost had a crisis. We dropped Jake off at their house on Thursday night in Milwaukee. We flew out Friday morning to Orlando to attend my cousin Mark’s wedding on Saturday evening. On Saturday afternoon Julie called her brother to find out how things were going with Jake. The two dogs had gotten in a fight! Jake attacked Maggie and latched on to her ear and wouldn’t let go then did the same thing to her tail. Fortunately, no blood was shed or physical damage was caused, but Maggie was really nervous after that. We were nervous that we would need to find a new place for Jake to stay and made a few calls. However, Julie’s brother and his family decided it was a fluke and really wanted to keep Jake. He’s a very sweet, calm dog and it sounded like Maggie provoked him. We were incredibly relieved, but our blood pressure did go up for a few hours. Thank you Mark and Kristi!

Be careful of pirates.

Some people say it in jest, but some are very serious. Really? First of all, how does one recognize a pirate? Do I look for an eye patch, a Jolly Roger tattoo, and a wooden leg? Then, what would I do? For those of you who are genuinely worried about this Julie’s dad had a great point. Pirates wouldn’t attack a cruise-type ship like ours with 1000 people because it’s too many people to manage. There’s not really any precious cargo and it would extremely difficult for them to keep that many people captive without some people thwarting their efforts. We also are not sailing in those areas where the pirates have been attacking. So rest assured, we aren’t going to get attacked by pirates. Argh!

Caving in Popp's Cave

A couple weeks ago three of us, Julie, Kate, and me, drove out to Richland Center to check out Popp's Cave. I'd been there before, but it had been a few years and Kate had never been caving I was eager to show her how cool it was.

a drip in a small pool

cool formations

We wondered around the cave for a few hours, took lots of photos, explored various openings, and ended the day with a trip to the infamous Mud Room.

me, Kate, and Julie after venturing into the Mud Room

We also saw lots of bats, probably 50. In the past I've only seen one bat so it was neat to see so many. We were careful not to touch them or shine our lights on them too long. We didn't want to disturb their slumber.

the bats all huddled together

Julie crawling through a tunnel

I'll be back at Popp's Cave next month with a group of Madison College students. It's going to be great muddy fun!

Get an email when new post is added

Great news! If you would like to get an email when I add a new post to this blog you can. Just enter your email address on the sidebar to the right. You'll be sent a confirmation email to verify. Then, wa-la! You'll get an email anytime I post.

Enjoy!

New Photography at Manna Cafe

I have a photography show up at Manna Cafe through the month of October. It's all new work from 2010 including prints from Alaska and some Miksang style work.

Here are two in the show:

Row Boat, Harbor Cove, Alaska

Jellyfish Dance, Harbor Cove, Alaska

Let me know what you think of the show!

I'm going around the world!!

Eeek! I have some very exciting news and now I can make it public. My partner and I both get to travel around the world next year! We'll be working for Semester at Sea for four months and traveling to 11 countries. Some of you may remember that I worked for them in 2005 and, in fact, was the whole reason I started this blog. Scroll back to those early posts to read all about that voyage.

view from ship of sunset near Russia, 2005

If you are not familiar with Semester at Sea, let me fill you in. Basically, they have taken a cruise ship and converted it to a college campus complete with a library, computer labs, student union, classrooms, faculty, staff, deans, etc. While we are at sea, classes are in session and things move along like any college (well sort of), but then when we are in port (usually 2-6 days) everyone is free to travel and explore on their own. There are some optional coordinated field trips so you can be a part of a group if you'd like, but most of the time we get to explore on our own. It's all very cool. There will be about 800 students and an assortment of faculty and staff.

During the voyage I'll be a Living Learning Coordinator and also the Career Development Specialist for the students. We leave in early January and return at the end of April. Here is our itinerary:

• Nassau, Bahamas
• Roseau, Dominica
• Manaus, Brazil
• Takoradi, Ghana
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Singapore
• Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong/Shanghai, China
• Kobe/Yokohama, Japan
• Hilo, Hawaii
• San Diego, CA USA

If you've been to any of these places and have travel advice I'd love to hear suggestions. Personal stories are always better than travel guides. If you'll be in any of these places let us know - perhaps we can meet up (hey, you never know).

During the voyage I'll be posting stories, updates, and photos here on this blog. To get an email when I've posted you can "follow" the blog by joining on the right.

Bon voyage!! (well, not until January)

Join my newsletter!

I'm starting a newsletter related to creativity, leadership, teambuilding - all things I'm passionate about. It's related to my business Climer Consulting - which continues to grow and gain speed.

I'm inviting you all to join my newsletter. To join click on this link and add your email address. Or you can just email me directly. You can unsubscribe or change your address at any time.

The first one is coming out in a couple of days!

Book review - Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Recently, a colleague of mine was bemoaning about how new pop culture business books come out and everyone thinks they are these brilliant insights into life, when in actuality they are just the same stuff presented in a different way. She's right. She was particularly talking about the book Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I was curious so I picked it up from the library. I was happily surprised with the book. It's a great book about an incredibly dysfunctional executive team and how they turn themselves around. I loved that it was written as fiction with a message - a leadership fable. I learn really well through stories so this worked for me. It's a short book, quick read, and great stuff.

As my friend said, there isn't anything new in this book, but the concepts are presented in a unique way that really make sense. It helps put the concept of teambuilding and the value of a team into a more concrete, graspable format. As Lencioni says, "...genuine teamwork in most organizations remains as elusive as it has ever been." I couldn't agree more. The more I work with different types of groups the more I see the behaviors outlined in Lencioni's book.

The book is less than $6 at half.com. What would happen if your whole team read this book then committed to doing the tough work to become a real team? I can imagine amazing results!

Join me - Door County Sea Kayak Symposium

Only six weeks left until the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium! If you are a kayaker or want to learn to kayak this 3-day event is a ton of fun. I'm inviting you all to join me and 30 other instructors July 9-11 for a great weekend of paddling in Door County Wisconsin. The weekend involves land and water classes, kayak tours, slide shows, and some of the best kayak instructors from the region and the U.S. The fee includes dinner, which is served under a huge tent and usually involves a slide show of the day. You'll meet many other paddlers while paddling in beautiful, clear water. (If you are from Madison this is a nice change.) This will be my third year teaching at the symposium and it's a great experience - relaxing and engaging.


Check out the website at www.everyonepaddles.com for details about class choices, cost, photos from previous years. There is a limit of 200 paddlers and it's nearing capacity so sign-up soon!

Hope to see y'all on the water!

LeaderShape 2010

I just finished leading a LeaderShape session with Georgia Southern University students. It was a great week! I co-led with Khadish Franklin, a PhD student at University of Maryland. We had a blast!

In case you aren't familiar with this amazing program...LeaderShape is a 6-day leadership program designed to help college students become amazing future leaders with a strong emphasis on living and leading with integrity. It's an intense, rewarding week that leads to profound change for many of the students.

I am honored to be a part of LeaderShape as one of their Lead Facilitators. I get to help young adults build their leadership skills and develop a deeper understanding of themselves, a truly rewarding task.

Thanks to all the students and the other faculty who made the week so great!

In Our Heads Art Show

In Our Heads - reception March 6, 2010

Joint show with Amy Climer, Julie Koenke, Amy Mietzel, and Jo Jensen.

Dates: March 1-8, 2010, Artist reception Saturday, March 6, 5-8pm. Come visit!

Location: Commonwealth Gallery, 3rd floor of the Madison Enterprise Center, 100 South Baldwin St, Madison, WI 53703

view map

Come visit us at the reception! We'd love to see you!

Climer Consulting is open!

It's official! My new consulting business is open! A few months ago I opened the doors of Climer Consulting, my consulting and training business and I am proud to say it is growing and gaining speed. Through the business I primarily focus on the human elements of organizations and groups. I facilitate programs around teambuilding, leadership development, creativity, and strategic planning. I also consult on topics such as experiential education and program design, leadership development programs, and creativity. I'm putting my expertise to work and it feels great!

To learn more, visit my new website at www.climerconsulting.com.

I welcome your thoughts, feedback, and questions!

My etsy.com store is open!

Last week I opened my etsy.com store and the sales have started!
Below are images of a few items in the store.

detail of "Untitled No. 1"

detail of "Twenty-two"

"Martini"

kids tie dye t-shirt

detail of hand dyed silk scarf

At the store you can buy my fiber art, tie-dyed kids t-shirts and onsies, silk scarves, hand-dyed fabric, and more. If you've never been to etsy.com it's a great source for all sorts of art and hand-made items. It's easy to buy and if you are in the Madison area you have the option to pick up your items and avoid shipping charges. The address for my store is www.aeclimer.etsy.com. Enjoy!

Swimming with the Manatees

Julie and I went to Florida over Christmas to see my family. One of the highlights was swimming with the manatees at Crystal River Springs. The water coming from the spring is 72 degrees year round. In the winter the rivers and oceans drop below 72 degrees so the manatees come to the spring where it's warmer. It's super cool to swim with them.

Here we are just about to get in

Setting out

The adult manatees seem rather indifferent to the people, but the babies come right up to you and love to get petted.

Young manatee with another snorkeler

This baby was coming right up to me. It clearly wanted to get petted. I was trying to take it's photo and had to keep backing up in order to get it in focus. Their skin is really rough and covered in barnacles.

Young manatee

Getting a breath

Julie swimming along

Manatees are pretty slow moving animals. They primarily use their tales, but also have fins on the side to help propel a bit, especially if they are going slower or turning.


The water from the springs is crystal clear, but b/c there were a lot of people some of the silt on the bottom got stirred up.


Boats are one of the major dangers to manatees. The one below had part of his tail cut off, likely from a boat propeller. Most manatees have some physical scars from boats, either missing parts of tails or big scars on their backs.

Manatee with part of tail missing

The weather was about 50 degrees and overcast. The water was 72 degrees, which fortunately was warmer than the air, but we were pretty chilled after swimming.

Julie and my dad on the way back to the dock

In order to protect the manatees boats must maintain idle speed or slow speed in the entire area around Crystal River Springs. Here's a sign stating the law.

No wake zone

Pelican

It was a super fun day, although a bit chilly. Next time we'll bring the full wet suit instead of just shorts and a Hydrosilk top. I hope we can go back next year!

Winter Storm

We had lots of snow yesterday. The whole city shut down, in fact most of the state shut down. The governor ordered all UW schools to close and even the Madison military base closed, per military orders. We got about 16 inches in 24 hours. That is a lot of snow to deal with!

Our next door neighbor's tree split in half in the middle of the night. It missed Julie's car by about 2 inches. Julie and I started shoveling about 8:30am and finished around 12:30pm. We were so tired. My shoulder was really sore so I took an afternoon nap. :)

The neighbors contemplating how to cut the tree up

The tree after being stacked and piled

The neighborhood the day after the storm.

Today the sun was out and it was beautiful out, but soooo cold, probably 10 degrees.

A beautiful tree in the snow.

New photos on my website!

My photography website is updated with new photos! There are about 70 new photos and info about purchasing prints - framed or unframed. These make great gifts and there is still time to get them for Christmas.

The link to the gallery is:
http://amyclimer.com/photo/gallery.html

Enjoy!

Madison Area Open Art Studios

You are invited to our Art Studio for an Open House next weekend. Here are the details:
Amy Climer's photography and fiber art
Julie Koenke's mixed media art

Madison area Open Art Studios
October 17 -18, 11am to 5pm
49 Lansing St. Madison, WI 53714 map
Refreshments provided

This is a super fun event where ~130 artists open their studios up to the public. The Open Art Studio website has an interactive map, photos of each artist's work, and other details. Many of us will be doing demonstrations and/or have hands-on art opportunities. It's the debut of my photography!

Feel free to stop in, just say hello and join us for a snack. It would be great to see you!

You can see our art on our websites:
Amy - www.amyclimer.com
Julie - www.juliekoenke.com

Paddling the Wisconsin River

This past weekend Julie and I paddled the Wisconsin River from Spring Green to Muscoda. It was a wonderful, mellow weekend.

We got a late start on Saturday and didn't get to Spring Green until 2pm! I did the shuttle which meant driving our car to Muscoda and biking back to Spring Green. It was 22 miles and I was reminded that I'm out of biking shape! Next time I'm limiting the bike shuttle to 13-14 miles, otherwise we take two cars! I was so tired before we even got on the water. We finally got on at about 5:30pm. Our friends Jerry, Greta, and Lan Lan were in Spring Green for the weekend and had come to the boat launch/beach to swim. It was fun to run into them and they offered to take my bike back to Madison for me so I didn't have to leave it locked up at the boat launch. That was super nice of them.

Somehow we managed to paddle to the Lone Rock bridge by 7pm. 8 miles in 1.5 hours. That seemed fast even with the current, but it was a nice surprise to see the bridge. We camped a bit beyond it just as the sun was setting. Below is a photo of Julie paddling up to our campsite. Once in camp, Julie made some delicious chicken quesadillas for dinner and fueled us up for the next day.

sunset on Saturday night

We woke up to rain falling on Sunday morning and we waited for a lull around 8:30am to get up. Our timing was perfect. We were on the water at about 9:45am right when it started raining again. Paddling in the rain is much better than trying to pack up in the rain. With a paddling jacket and a brimmed hat you can barely tell it's raining on the water. Kayaking is a water sport after all, which means you're gonna get wet anyway!

We took a loungy break on a sandbar over the lunch hour and decided we much prefer outdoor vacations to city vacations. We were in Chicago a couple weeks ago and while that is fun, it's not rejuvinating like being outside is.

After lunch Julie learned to tow. Really it was just my excuse to get towed. hee-hee.

Julie practicing towing me

We finally mossied into Muscoda by 3pm. A great weekend!! Over the weekend we saw several bald eagles including one feeding it's babies in the nest. We also saw Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, turtles, a few minnows, and people tubing, canoes overflowing with garbage bags of gear, but mostly people just out having fun like us. On Wisconsin!

The Latest Updates

My posts have been random lately so here is a real update of what's happening in my world...

I had a wonderful year teaching Adventure Education at Fort Lewis College. My colleagues, my students, the location was all fantastic. But, Julie (my partner) wasn't able to find a job in Durango. It's a small town and the economy forced the college into a hiring freeze and the school district was laying people off. It wasn't looking too good. And, she has a great job in Madison that she was hesitant to leave. Anyway, so after a year I bid farewell to my friends in Durango and loaded the U-Haul to head back to the midwest. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunitiy to teach a summer course there in the future or help out with some half semester courses. It's a great program!

This summer I am guiding sea kayaking trips in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. I work for Living Adventures out of Bayfield, WI. It's a great company and I love the people I work with. It's been a lot of fun and Lake Superior is gorgeous!! It's the largest lake in the world and almost more like an ocean without tides. The water is crystal clear and there are tons of wildlife. Nearly everyday I see bald eagles and loons. The other day we saw a bear crossing the road. I saw a baby and mama skunk one day, a baby loon sitting on the mama's back two days in a row, and two bald eagles locking talons in mid-air one day. All super cool!

Also, I am working for the Madison School District's ropes course this summer a bit leading team building and rock climbing trips. This may become a more permanant job in the fall - I hope so, just waiting to learn about some funding.

My experience at Fort Lewis has motivated me to go back to school to get my PhD. I loved teaching at FLC and I know it's somewhat rare that I had that opportunity w/o a PhD. Getting a PhD will give me more opportunities to teach at the college level. So, I am starting with two classes in Education this fall at UW Madison. I've connected with one of the faculty there who I think will be a good fit as an advisor for me. There's quite a bit of flexibility in the program and at this point I am planning to study creativity in adults, something that's fascinated me for years.

I am also prepping for the Madison area Open Art Studios in October. It'll be the third year I'm exhibiting, but this year instead of fiber art I am doing photography. It'll be my first photography show and I am very excited. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about my photography and look forward to seeing what happens. If you are in Madison add it to your calendar - Oct. 17-18. My website has some photography, but hasn't been updated to the latest - soon enough though. There's also a lot on this blog.

I am taking my new kayak out to Cherokee Marsh now. Hopefully, I'll have some new photos for ya soon!

Summer Flowers

During my week of LeaderShape at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM I met a wonderful new friend and fellow photographer Dave Blandford. He's inspired me to get the camera back in my hands. (I haven't been that excited about photography lately - having a bit of a dry spell).

Yesterday and today I wandered around the neighborhood taking photos of flowers. There are some great gardeners around here, especially my next door neighbor. it was a little breezy which made it challenging since the flowers were swaying. Many were out of focus, but here are some of the highlights.

Lily 1:
1/200 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 190mm

Lily 2:

1/250 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 190mm

Coneflower:
1/1000s at f/5.6, ISO 250, 190mm

Dandelion:
1/250s at f/11, ISO 250, 190mm

Mourning Dove:
1/250 at f/6.3, ISO 100, 300mm

I'd love some feedback if you have any! What do you like? What can make them better?
Thanks y'all!
-a