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

Tandem Kayak Roll

I am guiding in the Apostle Islands this summer on Lake Superior. During a staff training overnight trip another guide and I successfully rolled a tandem kayak. It was a first for both of us. Here's the video...

Snowshoeing at Andrew's Lake

Today I went snowshoeing at Andrew's Lake with a few friends and four dogs. It was a gorgeous day - classic Colorado, blue-sky day! We hiked for about 4 hours and had a great time. Here are some highlights.

Crossing the bridge over Andrew's Lake

View of Engineer Mountain

My favorite of the day!

Windblown snow on the side of a ridge

Around mid-day we came upon this snowcave/igloo (which I later learned is actually called a quinzhee) and realized it was built by the Adventure Education Mountaineering class. They were out for the weekend. Inside was their sleeping bags and to the left (not pictured) was a bench they built out of snow including shelves to store their pots & pans. Quite fancy! Most of our group decided that as cool as the quinzhee was, we'll stick to the summer camping.

Quinzhee built by Adv Ed Mountaineering class

On Monday at work I told Tim that we saw his class's quinzhee. He said it was so strong that five guys were all standing on top of it jumping and it didn't fall through. Impressive!

Crystal & Mark running through the thick snow

On the way back it was mostly downhill and running through the thick untracked snow is a lot of fun. Crystal particularly loved it!

Snowshoeing in the fog

This afternoon I drove up to Coal Bank Pass and went snowshoeing for a bit. Once I got up there it was really foggy and gray - very cool looking. Here are a few of the photos I took.

The snow depth marker - 5 feet deep!

A view on the drive home

You'd think these were taken with black and white film! Even in the fog it's so gorgeous here!

I learned to knit!

In October I took a knitting class at our local shop called Yarn. We learned to make hats. My first attempt was too large and as soon as I put it on it fell to my chin, so I ripped it out and redid it (i love that about knitting). The second attempt looked all wonky so I ripped that out and finally got it on the third attempt. By then I had learned to switch colors so I made it striped. Then made a second (or fourth) one for Julie.

My knit hat on left and the one I made for Julie on the right

I wanted to learn to knit because it's portable artwork. You can take it anywhere, even backpacking!

Now I am working on a scarf and then some felted knit Christmas stockings for 2009.

Grand Gulch Backpacking Trip, Sept 18-24

Since we were all a bit cold in the evenings on the backpacking trip around Engineer Mountain we decided to head to the desert in Utah and hike Grand Gulch Canyon. It was gorgeous!!

At the trailhead - the "before" photo

Ancient Pueblo handprints

Our campsite the first night

There were no bugs so we were able to use these open floor tent/tarps that are much lighter and cooler than regular tents.

the rock

Excited about the second day

Mid-way through the second day at the top of a dried up waterfall

Crossing the dried stream bed

View from our campsite as the sun was setting

Same photo - just goofing around in Photoshop

Ancient pueblo pictographs at the Green Mask spot, near our campsite

The Green Mask site with various drawings including some indicating "springs"

The Green Mask site with the two headless Basketmaker figures on the left

Taking a siesta during a day hike along a side canyon

View from our campsite

Making pizza

Animal tracks seen on the last day - coyote?

day hike

Canyon walls


Canyon walls -
you can see how the river has wound around and carved out the walls over the years


Canyon walls and blue sky

Ancient corncob from the Pueblo people - ruins in the background

Pueblo ruins

Gorgeous canyon walls

The trip was beautiful! The biggest challenge was having to carry a lot of water in the heat. I seem to have an higher tolerance for heat than most (and conversely a lower tolerance for cold) so the heat didn't bother me much. I hope to go back soon.