Baja St. Martin

I have finally put my kayak into the river and twice this past week have paddled to the bridge and back. The Sunday paddle was especially nice with lots of acquaintances on their docks and decks, all waving and saying hello. The river-eye view of places is sort of like taking an Amtrak trip (one that doesn’t crash), where the train goes through all the ‘back yards’ of towns. You see all sorts of stuff not visible from the road, going at a slow speed. I promise I’m discreet when paddling because a kayak doesn’t make any noise and I often come close to people who don’t know I’m there.

I also ran into an alligator, but he/she was more startled than me. Nevertheless, it banged into the bow of the kayak, giving me a jolt.

I pressure washed my front deck, walkway and dock this weekend. A friend loaned me his washer and even his grandson to help. It was actually kind of a fun job, seeing all that gunk just stripped off the boards. My arms are a bit tired today from holding the wand and the trigger. I suppose my water bill will be enormous but I’m guessing it will be cheaper than a new deck. And safer. The walkway is in the deep shade of a cypress tree and the boards become treacherous with mold and slime. Now they’re clean and all I have to do is apply water sealant. Plus repair a few boards which were revealed to be in bad shape!

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, the recreation district now has a roadside, portable sign at the Belle River center, so we will now be posting recreation board meeting dates, Food for Seniors dates(you have those pink cards, folks, but sometimes forget to look at them) , soon to announce future COA activities. The building is now available to rent for parties, showers, meetings, whatever –just contact me (lindacooke1939@gmail.com) or Charlotte Ratcliff at cbratcliff@gmail.com and we’ll give you the requirements.

I will be enjoying a few days in the French Quarter next week with a daughter and son-in-law-, our annual outing and th is time to celebrate my birthday. We will be enjoying a performance of Damn Yankees at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall one night. Last year we saw Cabaret and before that Phantom of the Opera. The cast of t hese shows is part professional and part amateur, but they are really well done. My family and I are taking the St. Charles street trolley tour this visit, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, but always put off for other activities.

This morning it was rumbling and grumbling out with thunder so once again I postponed sealing my deck. Now the sun is shining and the skies are clear but it’s kind of late to start work now. The lumber is still damp from yesterday’s rain anyway. Apparently a lot of people are getting a lot of rain, just not us.

Food for Seniors will be on Thursday, June 25, usual places, usual times. I will have it announced on the portable sign in Belle River. Also, on July 8, I am inviting all Baja seniors to come to the Belle River center for a meeting. Although it may be a while before we have all the Council on Aging services for our area, I want to start holding activities for the seniors of the area. I’m inviting the seniors to come on that day at 10 am and tell me what kind of activities they’d like to have. Bingo, Pokeno, exercise, sewing, whatever our seniors are interested in and we’ll make plans to do as much as we can here in Belle River. We’ll be giving out invitational flyers at the Food for Senior distribution, but you can start planning now and share the invite with senior friends.