Baja St. Martin

Things are quiet in Belle River these days. I suspect that will change over the holiday weekend. At least, the river level is low so the expected boat traffic won’t be a problem. When the water is up, the boat wakes splash over my seawall and generally cause a mess to my flower beds and yard. Not to mention the pounding my dock receives. I’m sure there will be lots of water traffic and the usual crazy driving.
So many people pull their kids on rafts and floats, with everyone in the boat looking backward. And far too many drive too close to the docks, not even considering the possibility of objects just below the water surface especially close to the bank. It hasn’t happened in a while, thank goodness, but in the years living here I’ve seen some pretty nasty accidents and some downright stupid things.
I watched a small boat make a sharp turn once and the outboard motor on the back fell off. People fished for that for days and I believe one local fellow finally snagged it. I’ve seen two boats run into one another when nobody in either was looking ahead. I watched once as a boat simply turned too sharply and went under. Once a guy who was a bit on the chubby side fell off his jet ski midstream, couldn’t get back on and swam to our dock where we helped pull him out.
When we lived on a houseboat in Belle River, it was not uncommon for water skiers to try and come as close to our house as possible so they could spray water on the front windows. It never happened but I prayed that no one would hit our house and wind up splattered all over the front. They thought it was funny, of course.
It seems that every place in southeast Louisiana is getting rain except Belle River. The sky gets ominously dark, the wind blows, it thunders and sometimes lightning, maybe a few sprinkles come down and that’s it. The ground is terribly dry. And I wonder why the mowers don’t take advantage of this drought to cut the grass on the back side of the levee. The weeds are well up to my knees. When my dog is ahead of me I can just see the top of her back above the vegetation.
I had a small pile of black cane-field dirt left and with the past two somewhat cooler days, I’ve been moving the dirt into my two garden boxes getting ready to plant some fall crops. I seem to be a one-wheelbarrow person lately. I fill one wheelbarrow, dump the contents into my garden and then have to sit for a while to cool off and get my breath. So pitiful! I mention this to my oncologist on our six-month visits and she says, “Well, there aren’t many mid-70s women out shoveling dirt,” which makes me feel a little bit better. Not much, but some.
We all know how much Grover Angelle cared for his wife, Shirley, how he took care of her when she was ill, how happy they were for 47 years. But life goes on and we should all be happy to learn that Grover has a new special friend whose name, believe it or not, is also Shirley. Grover is like a young boy again, babbling about dancing, and going out to parties. I haven’t met her, but the new Shirley must be a pretty nice person and we wish the two of them lots of happiness for as long as they want. I do believe that life is too short to spend it in sadness. I don’t think our loved ones would want that.
Anyway folks. The next distribution date is Sept. 25. Please, please mark your calendars!

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