I’m so delighted to now enjoy conversations with Mr. Huet Hebert and Ms. Pat Dore Belaire, both Baja St. Martin column readers. I look forward to hearing from both. When I said I didn’t want to get ‘tons’ of mail I did not mean these two and I wouldn’t mind more, just not ‘tons.’
Anyway, it is beautiful here this morning. It got so cool last night I turned off my AC, opened windows and actually pulled up a light blanket. I guess because I’m old I get cold easily so the house is great until about noon and then it starts getting warm. My sister in Michigan says it’s in the 40s there and she had to have her furnace tuned up. A daughter in Tennessee said it was quite cool there also. It is dry, though. Not a drop of rain for days. My grass is sort of crunchy.
The first Bingo for Seniors with the new hostess went well. People are so nice and helpful. I used the spinner device to call numbers (I was subbing just for one day) and it occasionally rolled out a ball which bounced across the table and onto the floor. Little by little, the regular players plus new ones are coming back after the short disruption. Next game is Sept. 16 at 10 am as always. I think there will be a bigger crowd. I’ m sorry the couple who ran the games for so many years are not doing so anymore, because they did a wonderful job. But life goes on.
I often meet a young teacher friend as we exercise our dogs and the last time we somehow got on the subject of libraries, more to the point, the lack of libraries in schools. I don’t know if this is common but in Assumption Parish where I taught, none of the schools have functioning school libraries. My friend tells me the students don’t even know how to read very fluently anymore. They all have Chrome books but apparently it is not common to read aloud. I suppose that’s inevitable. Books—real books are terribly important to me but I know that’s because I’m old. I do read on my computer and my phone but I most enjoy holding a book to read. I like to hold one, turn pages, and I love bookmarks. Silly, I suppose. I have quite an extensive personal library which I cherish but I realize that when I’m gone who will want those books? The complete works of O. Henry, all of Shakespeare, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a thirty year old copy of Alice in Wonderland, copies of the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I recently read a book published in l935 and I was flabbergasted that a library even had one copy still! My children are readers to some extent but they are not going to want my books!
Almost forgot to mention. Take this with a grain of salt perhaps, but when I was at the Belle River landing the other day two men unloaded their truck with fishing gear and headed out to the floating dock. As they passed I said “Good luck,” The one man said “I caught a shark yesterday!” Of course I asked and he said it was about 2 feet long. I didn’t question further since I didn’t want to start up a conversation with strangers, but the guy seemed pretty certain and added that he was seeing other salt water fish in the spillway. I really don’t know if the man really caught a shark, if he knew what a shark looked like, but I guess it’s possible. I’ve heard of sharks being found in fresh water rivers but not often. Anyway, give it some thought before dangling your feet in the water!
Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lindacooke1939@ gmail.com.
KC donation - St. Martin de Tours Rev. Father Jason Vidrine (center) accepts a donation from St. Martinville Knights of Columbus Council 1276 Grand Night Bailey Poirier, right, for $1,800 that was raised from the recent shrimp boil. George Choplin was project chairman. The donation will be used to purchase a defibrillator. (Submitted)
