"Profile"      Hi, my name is Isla, and I am a graduate student at Texas Woman’s University. I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Music Education from Abilene Christian University in 2014, and now I am studying Library Science. I live with my husband of two years. We love traveling, scuba diving and sailing when we get the opportunity. After I graduate with my master’s degree, I will be pursuing a career in the education industry or possibly staying with The Houston Post forever. I must say, I am curious to see how big this company will grow. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has sponsored me with a subscription. I’d also like to thank those who read my daily blog. I appreciate all of the support and promise not to ever take it for granted. “Thank You So Much!”

I taught myself how to sail. I bought a cheap, 12’ Craigslist sailboat, followed the manual (from the 70’s) to set it up, and went out on the water! I had no motor, just the wind to pull me along. I dropped the swing keel (the piece on the bottom of the boat that sticks down into the water) and used the tiller to steer myself out onto the lake. Too bad there wasn't a lick of wind that day.      The second time my husband, Sean, and I went out, the wind was strong, and I wasn’t sure we would even be able to launch. We were trying to get on the lake from the north side of the lake, but the wind was coming in strong from the south, and I couldn’t get out far enough to catch the wind. After an hour and a half of fighting the waves, we gave up and went home feeling beaten.      Over the summer we learned how to use our little boat, Nazaza, until we felt it was time to upgrade to a bigger boat. That’s when we moved back to Houston. One day, on the way home, I spotted an old beaten up sailboat sitting in the driveway of a little one-story house. We looked at it- it was perfect! Except it was full of water and weeds and looked like it hadn’t been sailed in a quarter of a century.      We knocked on the front door, and I asked the old man who answered if he would consider selling us his boat. He laughed and said, “If you can get it out of the driveway, you can HAVE it!”      I recruited my father, a skilled sailor, mechanic, electrician, boat builder, and captain, to help us. We saved the little sailboat from decaying in the driveway and brought it home to renovate.      The first day, I spent four hours in the sun scooping out mud, leaves, and plants from the inside of the boat. I also had to suction out the murky water. When I first looked in that boat, it looked like it was more likely to have sea serpent eggs in it than a passenger. After it was thoroughly cleaned, we replaced the hardware and rotten wood, repaired the damage to the cockpit as best we could, replaced the lines and the rigging, and painted everything inside and out. After a year she was ready to get on the water.      The first sail with Sean and my dad went perfectly. We put her (Elsa is what we named her) in the water and sailed her over to the dock slip at our house. The second time we went out, it was just Sean and me, and it felt like our first sail all over again. This sailboat was 6 feet longer, higher out of the water, and had two sails instead of one. We also had to maneuver it in and out of our marina. We were in real waters now, not just some 5' deep lake in North Texas. At least we had a motor this time.      I steered with the tiller and the motor while Sean untied the lines and shoved off. The little motor pushed us as best it could, but the wind kept sending us backwards toward the pilings. I pulled hard on the tiller, trying to turn us around before we hit the dock when- CRAAAAACK!! The tiller snapped off in my hand. I sat there, dumbfounded, with a chunk of wood in my hand as we drifted toward the dock. I looked at Sean and said, “Yeah, we’re done.” I steered us manually (my arm in the water turning the rudder) back to the dock.      We left the dock that day the same as we had left the lake last summer-defeated.      Later we found our resolve, replaced the tiller with a wheelbarrow handle and went back on the water! Sean and I sailed little Elsa back and forth across the lake at sunset, watching the sky turn from orange to pink and to purple, knowing there would be many more beautiful sails to come.

Even though I have the opposite of a green thumb, this year I planted organic cucumbers to see if they would grow. It wasn’t too hard to do. I bought a pot about a foot and a half in diameter, some organic mulch, and planted seven seeds throughout the pot. Within two days, cute little sprouts popped up! It was so exciting. My plan wasn’t to grow enough food to feed my husband and I through the winter, but some cucumbers for our salads would be deliciously wonderful. I am succeeding with that plan. There are still a few more months to go, but the start so far has been fantastic. If this experiment becomes a gardening success story, then I’m sure I’ll be loading up the pot again. I might even take a gardening course next semester to see if I can make this stick.

One of my favorite things is strolling through a library. I like finding those quiet nooks where I can feel the silence pressing in. The books seem to whisper from their shelves, each one full of possibilities. Who do I want to be today? A Viking crossing the North Sea? An Egyptian Pharaoh defending her land from invaders? I can be all of them if I open a book and fall into its pages. I can be anyone I want to be and for as long as I like.

Animated movies are my favorite. There are many companies who have done animation. Some examples: Disney/Pixar (Frozen, Little Mermaid, etc.), Don Bluth (Anastasia, Thumbelina, etc.), and Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo, etc.). The difference between their animation styles is amazing. Imagine a girl picking a comb up from a table. If Disney animated it, the girl would reach over and pick up the comb.      If Don Bluth animated it, the girl would nervously run her fingers over her hair, smooth down her dress, and then pick up the object, turning it over in her hand to look at the details.      If Hayao Miyazaki animated the scene, the girl might reach over, push some other items aside, accidentally knocking a mirror off of the table. She would then pick the comb up, and touch it delicately to feel the details.      All styles get the point across, but all in a different way. I’ve been fascinated by these differences for many years. I anticipate the new releases as they come out. I have quite an extensive collection of old and new animated film movies, but as with any favorite hobby, I never have enough. I like to rummage through old shops and book stores looking for something I’ve never seen before. On occasion, I hit the jackpot.      Next time you watch an animated film, try thinking about the differences I listed earlier in this article. You might find such difference intriguing.