100 Truths about me + Hawken on Anderson

Flowers at Green Gulch Organic Farm and Zen Center - Marin County, California.
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I did this silly thing on Facebook (reminds me of "slam books" we had back in the day) and thought I'd share. I think I did something similar on my blog a while back but who knows where that is or what I called it.

But first... drum roll please... I wanted to link to my latest article, this one for Miller-McCune magazine; it appeared only on their website. Miller-McCune has a print magazine plus original web content and I have now written for both. I first wrote the "Save the Birds - With Doppler Radar" piece for the print mag April/May 2011 issue, and now this came out in August online "Texas Thirst for Dams Bucks National Trend." Let me know what you think! This issue is near and dear to my heart, especially given the terrible drought we are in the middle of in Houston and other parts of Texas.

100 Truths about me (it was originally 99 but my daughter changed it to 100 so I had to also!)

1. Full name: Wendee (Wendy) Nicole Holtcamp (maiden name Finlay)
2. Nickname: Wen (Daline, etc), Wiggly and Urchin (dad), Wendelheimer (Trish)
3. Zodiac Sign: Cancer
4. Male or female: Female duh
5. Elementary school: 2 different ones in Eugene, OR (1-2), 1 in Rainier, OR (3-4), one in Carrollton TX (Dale B Davis - 5,6)
6. High School: Apple Valley High School (MN - 9th), Cy-Fair High School (Cypress TX - 10-12th)
7. College: Texas A&M, Rice University
8. Hair color: Blondeish
9. Tall or short: Shortish
11. Sweats or Jeans: Jeans
12. Phone or Camera: Phone with camera XD
13. Health freak: YES! Though I eat plenty of ice cream & desserts & queso & otherwise fattening stuff.
14. Orange or Apple: Orange if a Cutie
15. Do you have a girlfriend/ boyfriend?: Usually LOL
16. Eat or Drink: ??? What does this even mean?
17. Eye color: Hazel
18. Pepsi or Coke: Coke (but I never drink either)
19. Been in an airplane: A zillion times
20. Been in a relationship: Yes duh
21. Been in a car accident: Yes
22. Been in a fist fight: No
23. First piercing: Ears have no memory of when though
25. First award: No idea! Something in elementary school I’m sure (saved in a book cuz I’m a memory packrat)
27. First word: No idea. Probably supercalifragilisticcatchbealidocious or something. Ha ha.
29. Last person you talk to in person: The lady at Blockbuster video
30. Last person you texted: Paige LaCombe J
31. Last person you watched a movie with: Myself! Before that probably Doug
32. Last food you ate: Homemade nachos
33. Last tv show you watched: Bachelorette. I don’t have a working TV and usually never watch TV shows (I do watch movies on dvd). Got addicted to Bachelorette though at the gym! Watched the finale at Dougs in early August.
34. Last song you listened to: Lose My Soul by TobyMac (KSBJ)
35. Last thing you bought: well I RENTED a movie but bought - hmm - groceries at Target.
36. Last person you hugged: Sam and Savi before they went to Taylor and Logans to swim
37. Food: Favorite?? Um… Thai food (Panang curry).
38. Drink: I love Water and coffee, but Bittersweet’s salted caramel hot chocolate is probably my fave thing (couldn’t drink it everyday)
39. Bottoms: Jeans
40. Top: I love white bohemian blouses (paired with turquoise jewelry)
41. Animal: Mountain gorilla (the furry ones with long hair) and sloths.
42. Colors: Indigo blue and forest green
43. Movies: Romantic comedies are my favorite kind. Ice Age is a movie I can watch over and over! Cracks me up! I soooo am Sid the Sloth!
44. Favorite subject: Ecology

HAVE YOU EVER: (Put an X in the brackets if yes)
45. [X] Gotten Baptized.
46. [X] Celebrated Halloween.
47. [X]Had your heart broken...
48. [X] Went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone.
49. [ ] Had someone question your sexual orientation.
51. [X ] Got pregnant.
52. [ ] Had an abortion. (I didn’t but I also don’t think this question is any of anyone’s business so if you reply don’t answer! Sheesh)
53. [X] Did something you regret.
54. [X] Broke a promise.
55. [X] Hid a Secret.
56. [X] Pretended to be happy.
57. [X] Met someone who changed your life.
58. [X] Pretended to be sick (Who hasn't?)
59. [X] Left the country.
60. [X] Tried something you normally wouldn't have tried and liked it.
61. [X] Cried over the silliest thing.
62. [X] Ran a mile.
63. [X] Went to the beach with your best friend.
64. [X] Got into an argument with your friends.
65. [X ] Dated someone.

CURRENTLY:
67. Eating: Nothing
68. Drinking: Water
69. Listening to: KSBJ Christian radio
70. Sitting/Laying: Lying sideways on the couch in the living room
71. Plans for today: Go to bed! LOL! It’s 1121pm. Tomorrow? Work on grant writing stuff.
72. Waiting on: you to fill out your 100 truths … :D

YOUR FUTURE
73. Want kids: I always wanted a third but somehow I think the window is disappearing. :D
74. Want to get married: I am not sure
75. Career: Enviro writer and photographer; maybe in a couple years I want to return to life as a wildlife biologist studying… mountain gorillas or bears

WHICH ONE in a significant other:
76. Lips or Eyes: Eyes
77. Shorter or taller: Taller
78. Romantic or spontaneous: Romantic
81. Hook-up or relationship: Relationship
82. Looks or personality: Both but personality is more important for sure

HAVE YOU EVER:
83. Lost glasses/contact: Like every day - ha ha.
84. Snuck out of a house: About every weekend as a kid! Sad but true.
85. Held a gun/knife for self defense: No but had a gun pulled on me (not for self defense!).
86. Killed somebody: No. duh. Like anyone would answer yes.
87. Broken someone's heart: Yes
89. Cried when someone died: Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
90. Yourself: Yes
91. Miracles: Yes
92. Love at first sight: Umm… maybe infatuation at first sight that turns into love
93. Heaven: Yes
94. Dreams coming true: Absolutely! I’m assuming we mean dreams as in aspirations not night-time dreams bc it would be really weird to be flying around on a unicorn or having magical powers or something in real life
96. Kiss on the first date: Maybe

TRUTHFULLY:
97. Is there anyone you want to be with right now: Yes (it’s a secret ha ha)
98. Do you know who your real friends are: Yes!
99. Do you believe in God: Yes
100. If you had a million dollars that you could spend on only one thing, what would you spend it on? Probably would invest it and spend the interest to form a nonprofit that could helps both the environment and the impoverished.

Last... I wanted to link to this heart-wrenchingly beautiful tribute by Paul Hawken to green biz visionary Ray Anderson. To be honest, I don't really know much about either but this is just so amazing I had to share. Memorable and inspiring quotes in this piece include:

"Before we die, may we know that to be alive is astounding, inconceivably precious, a privilege beyond reckoning. When we know and cherish this existence, the rest of our life is a shimmering field of light because we have come to recognize one unalterable truth -- that we are one with all living entities and beings, and that we are never alone." [WOW!]

"Seventeen years ago, he had a realization. At that time, Ray came home. He rediscovered a sacred earth with all its complexity, beauty, and mystery, free from the constraints of this or that ideology, free from narrow-minded thinking, and he was freed to reimagine the relationship between humanity and nature with Interface as the model."

"when we become literate in the sweet treasures of creation, there arises a sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude for one's very existence and the swirl of living beings around us."

And finally...

"For Ray, reimagining the world was a responsibility, something owed to our children's children, a gift to a future that is begging for selflessness and vision."

Amen!

learning to kitesurf (sort of)

kite ~ sun ~ sky ~ moon ~ love
Copyright (c) 2011 Wendee Holtcamp
I had the most amazing Saturday. It was the quintessentially perfect day - sunshine, friends, beach, relaxation, love, laughter, food, fun. Me, D, my friend Stef and her hub Ro and their daughter went to Stewart Beach in Galveston and they brought along their two kites because a new hobby of their is kitesurfing. Kitesurfing is a sport where (as far as I'm gathering) you fly a kite to move you on a board in the water. But first you have to learn to steer the kite and the best way to do that is on land. This is not as easy as it sounds, but on the other hand it's not as hard either. I watched Stef and Ro, and the wind would pick them and drag them across the sand. This scared the bejesus out of me. I almost didn't try. I encouraged (forced) Doug to try (ha ha), and then I said ok, it didn't kill you, so now I'll try. And I LOVED it! Now R&S may not have loved how many times I crashed the kite into, er, the car, the sand dunes, etc etc, but... I had so much fun! Ro had a kite that is about 3 or 4 times as large and he takes it on the water with a board. At the end of the day, we went to eat at Yaga's on the Strand and then went to the candy store across the street. It didn't even clear up until about 12:30pm, so we went to the beach with a leap of faith it would clear up and both of us said a prayer and wha-la it cleared up!
This is Stef showing me how to steer the ropes to keep the kite in the air.
I am flying the kite here and S&R are telling me kind of what to do to keep it airborne.
This is D trying it out.
This pic cracks me up! It looks like Ro is being held up by the federales at the border! But really he is holding up the strings since I crashed the kite in the dunes. Oops.
This is the coolest Hipstamatic iphone camera app that Stef has on her phone. I love it! I want to see if they have something similar for the Android. I was reading The Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I love that book!
Peace out man!
We got a couple of her daughter's Barbies and I call this the bitch slap Barbie shot. OK just call me weird, but I was cracking myself up anyway!
Another shot of the cat-fighting Barbies.
I love this photo so much. Stef is just having so much fun. she was actually showing her daughter how to steer the kite, and I wish I'd caught her daughter's face and Stef's in the same shot together but alas I didnt!
D&I at the beach.
Another shot of the kite and moon in the late afternoon sun. OK there's not too much of a dune here, but there was a small one. what can I say? It's Galveston. It was actually not a bad looking beach, just flat.

West Texas Adventures ahead!

A Cholla cactus in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas.
All photos below from West Texas copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I fly from Houston tomorrow morning to the booming town of... Midland, Texas! Well I'm not sure how hopping the place really is, but I can say that when my friend Laurie & I drive west from there to our actual destination in West Texas, we will be laughing it up and enjoying the West Texas mountain scenery and desert oases. Laurie was my companion on my last trip to West Texas when I was researching the Top of Texas cover story for Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, which covered the best vantage points from various parts of the Lone Star State! I had so much fun on that trip! Laurie & I hiked up Guadalupe Mountain, the tallest peak in Texas, and had quite the experience as I blogged about in "Wendee Holtcamp EXPOSED!" (There are some fantastic shots in that blog post, if I do say so myself - and not of ME - Ha - of the gorgeous scenery of West Texas!)

Laurie is such a fun person and I love her laugh and I am very much looking forward to this trip. I'm off to report three different stories, and love traveling on a magazine's budget and not my own penny! :) Here's our tentative itinerary.

Saturday after we arrive, we will drive out to Alpine, Texas which is about 3 hours west of Midland where we'll drop in on the Shooting West Texas photography symposium at Ross University (I asked the guy in charge for directions, and a physical address, and he said good luck with that, West of the Pecos!)

Realistically, we will probably only arrive for the book signing part around 5pm, but my friend Laurence Parent, a truly phenomenal photographer, will be there, as will Texas Parks & Wildlife official photographer Earl Nottingham, who has shot for several of my articles for the magazine but I've never met him in person. After the book signing, we are going to dinner somewhere in Alpine. Wyman Meinzer was the keynote speaker but he spoke today not tomorrow. I met him when we both gave guest talks at the University of North Texas Nature Writing Conference in 2007.

After dinner, we'll head to the McDonald Observatory for their Saturday evening "star party." I covered this in my Top of Texas article so Laurie & I visited before but it's awesome! We were there in November last time, and the constellations I learned I still vividly remember now. They have benches outside, and several telescopes and they have a guide who teaches visitors about what to expect in the night sky after dark. Astronomers come here from around the world to study the stars, as it has several powerful telescopes (not for your average visitors - for scientists). Last time we actually stayed overnight at the lodge there.

This time, we will be staying at El Oso Flojo Lodge in Balmorhea Saturday and Sunday(the rooms look pretty nice), and then at the San Solomon Court lodge at Balmorhea State Park on Monday night. Balmorhea State Park is renowned for being an "oasis in the desert" (the Chihuahuan Desert as a matter of fact) with a gorgeous, clear, blue cold spring that you can swim, snorkel and even scuba dive in. I'm actually thinking about diving if I can swing it! Just got off the the phone with Neta, owner of the Toyahvale Desert Oasis and Funky Li'l Dive Shop.

Sunday, a guide from Davis Mountains Education Center (DMEC) is taking us birding in Balmorhea State Park and nearby Lake Balmorhea. We also may go to the Madera Canyon Trail, a property owned by The Nature Conservancy in the Davis Mountains. After that, we'll head to Balmorhea State Park's San Solomon spring to swim, snorkel or dive and lounge about until that evening when Jenny from the DMEC Lodge is making us yummy fish tacos for dinner! They have lodging and food but we're not staying there. Maybe next time!

Monday, we're headed to Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area to traipse around looking for bighorn sheep! I am doing one travel article, and one piece on bighorn sheep. They reintroduced bighorns here in West Texas, after they were basically exterminated from the state many years ago, and they've been going great guns ever since. After a day hiking if we're not completely about to collapse, we're going to drive around some of the scenic routes (it's part of the Texas Mountain Trail) and maybe even get a massage if we can find a good spa!

Tuesday, we're meeting up with Beth Nobles, Director of the Texas Mountain Trail program of the Texas Heritage Trails Association. We met her last time we visited too. We don't leave until around 6pm, and this day is kind of flexible and we may head back to Midland and go to the Museum of the Southwest or we may go to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis although that's the opposite direction of Midland!

It's my son's 14th birthday and I'm about to take him out to the Happy Buddha Japanese steakhouse - one of his faves - then over to his dad's. I'll post some pics from the road if I can!

Wow!

Somewhere in the Texas Hill Country...
Copyright (c) 2005 Wendee Holtcamp

Wow! It's been a fantastic day. Just one of those days where I could really see God at work in my life and like a lot of things are coming together. I can't explain it, totally, but things I've been praying about for a long time are coming to fruition. Subtle things, things within my heart and soul, things of God, things of grace, things of love, things of friendships. When connecting with an old friend from college recently, I told him the last 20 years in a nutshell: life has been both incredibly hard and painful, and amazingly spectacular. The paradox is that without one we can't really see or feel the other so well. At any rate, I'll be glad to put my 30s behind me later this year, and move into a hopefully better decade. The 30s were not the best, but many good things took place during those years at the same time.

In the past few days, I connected with a really neat woman, a new friend, which is always so good for the soul! I also participated in something at our church called theophostic prayer. The concept is simple: expose the lies we believe in and that keep us stuck. Interestingly, it's kind of controversial in some evangelical circles. Lucky for me, I'm not what you would call an "evangelical." It is offered though my pretty traditional Lutheran church and seems pretty normal and legit to me. I have read about it and now participated in it and found it very healing. I will keep going for several times more. It's sort of a guided visualization/prayer session over some issue going on in your life currently as well as how it connects back to your past memories. It's such a blessing to have these opportunities for spiritual and emotional growth, and the women who are sharing their time and their hearts leading these ministries to help people voluntarily- it's really quite amazing. To God be the glory!

At any rate I'm super psyched about tomorrow, and next week! Tomorrow is a long-planned but never-seeming-to-happen get together with my best friend Daline (who I met at Texas A&M years ago)! For Christmas she got me this "groupon" to Naked Body and Bath. Get your mind out of the gutter, already! That does sound kind of kinky though I must say, especially when combined with the word groupon. At any rate, it's not! Naked Body and Bath is a place in Rice Village in Houston where you can make your own perfume and potions and lotions. The groupon is just a gift certificate and to tell you the truth I had no idea what the heck "groupon" meant until today. I thought it meant coupon that you do with a group (hence, Daline and I). But I think - and I have to ask her - that its rather through this Groupon website where through group purchasing rates online you get good deals on various stuff.

Also we are going to do FREE HUGS! Remember Doug and I did this the last two Christmases in a row - 08 and 09. I've always had to rope my friends, kids, and Doug into this crazi-fun-ness but Daline is totally into it too so it will be fun to have two hug-a-holics hugging away!

Next week I'm heading to San Antonio for an article I'm writing on, as mentioned. And the kids are excited about getting to go somewhere new and different, rather than just sitting at home on spring break. I asked each where they want to go or one thing they want to do, and Sam wants to see the Alamo, and Savi just wants to take pictures (with my camera, of course...). I'm VERY Happy that both kids actually want to go, because sometimes I want to bring them places and they just whine and complain! OK Savi isn't too excited about the couple hour hike in Government Canyon, but I am! Anyway, we each get our favorite things to do, so it all balances out. And let me just take this opportunity to say that I am so incredibly proud of my two amazing children. They are both so smart, so hard-working and responsible, so kind-spirited, and I just can see the true light of Jesus Christ in their lives. That means more to me than anything and I hope they know that!

Anyway, while in San Antonio, we will stay at the gorgeous Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk. There's a new mile-plus "Museum Reach" stretch of the Riverwalk that has some green development that I may check out (and am trying to sell a second travel piece on). We're going to go on a riverboat cruise thing. Not sure what else! Another bohemian adventure coming up ahead!

Camping & tubing the San Marcos River

Sam fishing at Onion Creek in McKinney Falls State Park where we camped this past weekend. We fished a bit on Sunday morning and he caught one largemouth bass and let it go. It was about a foot long. Sam had hoped to do more fishing and to fish in a clear stream like the San Marcos (where we tubed the day before) but I didn't realize Onion Creek wasn't a clear stream like the San Marcos, Comal etc. Next time!

This past weekend I took Sam, his friend Brent, and Doug to the Texas Hill Country to camp and to tube down the San Marcos River. I hadn't gone tubing since I was in high school which was waaaay too many years ago. I had only tubed down the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers, both of which are nearby so this was a nice new adventure. There has been a major drought in the area, so the water level is low, and the flow was slow, but a big surprise awaited us at the end of the 40 minute or so float... a set of 3 created rapids, and drops, which were sooo much fun! You could go as many times as you wanted. When we got to the end, we went down the rapids with and without tubes several times, and then after a while, we took the water taxi back to the beginning where we floated one more time down. It was absolutely perfect tubing weather - nice and hot - which is good because the water is chilly especially at first! It's certainly not near as cold as, say, California's Merced River in Yosemite or any glacial fed lake so I told Sam to buck up and jump in! Once you're in it felt great.

After we floated down twice, we dried off and went to eat at the San Marcos River Grill & Pub, which sits on the river right overlooking the rapids. I'd smelled the burgers while tubing on the rapids and it made me hungry for burgers!! We sat down in the open bar area overlooking the river and the service was sooooo slow, and I had to basically get everything myself (literally the bartender was the only waitstaff for about 25 people)... BUT the food was great! Then we headed back to the park and crashed. Oh Sam made a small campfire and Brent & Sam made S'mores but I wasn't even hungry anymore. In the morn we went fishing a bit and then headed home. The kids had a great time tubing!! It was to celebrate Sam's 13th birthday which was a couple weeks ago.

Tomorrow I leave for Bozeman, Montana - I can't wait! Oh, we used a waterproof camera to take some tubing pics and I'm going to pick it up later from the photo place so hopefully I'll upload a couple of them too. Your good thoughts and prayers are much appreciated for me while I travel and WRITE my book the next weeks!

A view of the falls at the park.
Sam hooked a turtle, and Doug removed the hook and we let it go!

Sam Brent & Doug fishing Onion Creek
Sam fishing on the bank of Onion Creek Sunday morn, near some large bald cypress trees.
Another view of the falls on Onion Creek.
Sam and his daddy at his 13th birthday party last weekend.
The boys celebrate winning the fort building contest! That's Sam on the far left - you can barely see his face but it's proof he does smile in real life! (he almost never smiles for photos!)