Baja St. Martin

Although it still gets pretty warm by mid to late afternoons, I think I can reasonably say the weather is getting a little bit cooler. I became enthused by a particularly cool evening and planted some fall vegetables which are not exactly thriving in the heat, but with lots of pampering and frequent watering, they are not dying.
I attended a retired teacher’s luncheon the other day and the main topic of discussion was the impending change to our insurance plan. As a retiree with Medicare, I’ve so far never had to suffer any horrible changes, but apparently this time I will. Or at least some things will change. I will try to attend an explanatory meeting but for some reason the closest to me will be in Baton Rouge, not in Napoleonville as in the past.
I’ve recently been asked to tutor a 6th grade boy in math and now I’m faced with a slight dilemma. Any of the public school math up through 8th grade is no problem, or has not been. But the parent in this case is really worried because the Common Core math approach is apparently more than she can handle and the boy is failing. I don’t want to take on a student if my method (the old one) will be so different from what he is being taught in school that he is put at a disadvantage. A teacher friend has referred me to a website explaining, actually showing, how math is now being taught. Another friend tells me to go to YouTube where I can see a lesson being taught.
Now, isn’t this a kick? I’m a college graduate with 21 years of teaching experience, and I have to visit YouTube to figure out how to teach 6th grade math? Well, who knows, maybe when I do both things, I’ll find the new way is much better than the old. D’ya think?
A hardware store in the neighboring town of Paincourtville is just now selling the Pro-Drive motors with boats and trailers. An employee tells me they will also provide mechanic service. Lots of local fishermen have the Pro-Drives already but I think they had to go somewhere to the western part of the state to get them and I’ve not heard of any maintenance service around here until this one. It should be a good addition to this store’s business, assuming there are many more fishermen who want to buy a Pro-Drive motor.
My daughter and son-in-law from Florida came for a short visit and for a treat I rented a cottage up river for them and of course, I spent the night with them, too. It’s a nice place – two bedrooms, living room/kitchen, enclosed porch, big covered dock on the river. We had a good time.
The highlight of the visit was probably our visit to Duffy’s gas station in Pierre Part where the alligator hunters (“Swamp People”) unload their daily catch of ’gators. The number one swamp person is a former student of mine and I’m a good friend of his mom and dad, so it was like an old-home week reunion. My daughter and son-in-law got lots of hugs and a great picture with Troy Landry in front of an 11-foot-plus alligator they’d just off-loaded. It was huge.
We visited for quite a while, reminiscing about the old days. I often tell people, if the Landry family is very rich now, they have earned every penny. I can recall when Mom Myrtle, who is a tiny thing, would hoist a 40- or 50-pound box of frozen bait fish on her shoulder and dump it in a fisherman’s boat. She did this from dawn to dark, seven days a week when the business was new. The whole family worked hard and deserve every benefit they now have.

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