Baja St. Martin

I’m not quite sure why, and it really doesn’t make any difference, but I’ve been adding quite a number of new recipients to my Food for Seniors roster. Five or six more in Stephensville and three more in Belle River.
That’s a lot for here, though it may seem not many for the other communities. There’s not much work around here lately so perhaps things are getting a bit tight at home. I’ve heard that the local shipyards are laying people off or soon may be. That’s not a good sign.
I’m just glad to be able to help a little and so thankful to the parish for trucking the boxes over here. If you haven’t noticed it, I enjoy the Food for Senior event. I get to see people I only see then. I catch up on gossip. I meet new people and that’s really the best part. Although most of the people live in three communities, I don’t think they get to see one another often so it’s sort of like “old home week” for everybody.
I’ve been watching some of the media coverage of Pope Francis’s visit to the U.S. It’s a little hard to miss, but interesting.
Then there are all the people running for president. Now that’s getting a bit tedious, if you’ll excuse me for saying so. It seems a shame to me that in order to win office, particularly a high office, it takes millions of dollars and a year plus of campaigning. That just doesn’t seem right.
I have a new puppy now. An 8-week-old lab mix who has toenails and teeth like needles. She and my elderly cat are gradually becoming comfortable with one another. Notice I didn’t say buddies. The puppy wants to play so badly, but the cat keeps a wary distance.
A few days ago, the puppy skidded around a corner in the house and literally crashed into the cat who was so startled he smacked the dog in the face which led to a lot of yelping but no damage. I had to laugh at the outraged expression on the cat’s face, though.
Again, this week there has been a lot of boat traffic on Belle River. Tugboats pushing barges loaded with all sorts of stuff. Going both north and south. The green flotons are also in abundance and very large. The same ones pass several times a day depending on the wind!
I have a plant Santa now. I got into a conversation with this gentleman in the Pierre Part library and he knew I liked plants. I’m not sure now exactly why, but he said he couldn’t keep or didn’t want to keep all the plants he had and would I like them. I of course said yes, so several times lately I have returned home from some errand to find four or five nice pots full of plants sitting in the driveway.
Most, as he had told me, are varieties of cactus and I’ve been having fun identifying them. There seem to be thousands of cactus varieties and some aren’t even cactus. (Or is it cacti?) One, called the Pencil Cactus, or Stick plant as I call it, is really a relative of the Poinsettia.
I left the pup off her retractable leash the other day and although I was watching her carefully, she still managed to topple over the seawall into the river. It was just a matter of seconds to pull her back up onto the ground. No damage at all but I’m using the leash all the time now, just in case. Like little children, puppies can move remarkably fast when they want to.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be e-mailed at lindacooke1939@gmail.com.