Baja St. Martin

This morning it was incredibly beautiful outside. I took my latest book, a cup of coffee, and sat on my front deck for over an hour enjoying the cool breeze. Sadly, by 8:45 a.m. the slight wind shifted to the south and it began to get warm. But how heavenly it was for a little while.
My faithful cat, whom I seldom mention but who is my devoted shadow, sat under my chair now and then moving just enough so I could scratch his head. Months ago I brought home a tiny, stray kitten and hoped the little one and my big, old cat would become friends. It didn’t happen and I had to find a home for the little kitty. Since then, my old cat has become the most loving, affectionate creature, following me everywhere, sitting on my lap (something he never did before), sleeping on the bed with me.
Leroy Gros of Gros’ Marina in Four-mile Bayou came to the house the other day and said his business was doing well. He said he had helped Jason Bailey a little with his efforts to get a houseboat docking business started at the old T-Man Bailey place. Leroy spoke well of Mr. Bailey. Neither of us had heard anything more about the new business.
Leroy did say the Four-mile Bayou road is now paved to within three miles of his place. I didn’t ask him, but wonder why the parish is paving the road in small pieces like this.
Oh, and Leroy said there will be a benefit for Don Rich as Gros’ Marina on Sept. 21. I don’t know who is sponsoring the fund-raiser, but it is for Don Rich himself to help with expenses for his wife’s surgery. I certainly know how hospital expenses mount up.
The main Assumption Parish Library in the town of Napoleonville currently has a photo exhibit of the Angola Prison Farms. Several pamphlets on the history of Angola were available, plus a subscription flyer for the prison paper, The Angolite. The paper has won lots of awards. Several of my Friends of the Library friends and I have talked about visiting Angola and maybe we’ll actually do it soon. I believe the Angola Rodeo takes place on Sundays in October and the gift shop is said to be quite a place.
I feel really ignorant to admit this, but I guess I didn’t even know that Angola Prison is really Louisiana State Penitentiary. The Angola name is the one you hear commonly but I think that came from the place in Africa where many slaves came from. I read somewhere (Wikipedia?) that Angola can hold 5,210 inmates and that 72 percent of them are serving life sentences! About 900 inmates work the farms which produce over a million pounds of produce yearly.
When I was very young, my dad was the superintendent of the school system in Southern Michigan Prison in my hometown of Jackson for a few years. I can vaguely recall one of the inmate students sending home with my Dad, for me, a big bird cage containing two canaries along with a letter telling me how to care for the birds. Seems the guy had killed a bunch of women and was in prison for life, but raised birds as a prison hobby. I’ll have to dig around and see where that letter is. SMP of Jackson was once the largest walled prison in the U.S. or something like that.
I’ve had lots of pets in my life, but that was the only time I ever had birds. I’m not crazy about creatures in cages!

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lcooke9417@bellsouth.net.