The "Cat Ladies of SXM" Story

It was an ordinary day. We just got back from "Les Exotiques" after buying two small ceramic plates which were painted by the owner and artist Marie Moine. Her gallery is in Oyster Pond which in on the east side of St. Martin, right near the border that separates French St. Martin from Dutch Sint Maarten. She has a rather unique collection of plates and glasses which she paints and fires in her shop. As we were looking around her shop "The Princess" arrived at the front door. She is a small, but beautiful cat. Marie is one of a few ladies on the island that rescue and shelter animals. She is doing her part to try to stop the huge stray dog and cat population from growing. She has cats all over her property and you can tell the way she talks about all of them, how much she loves animals. A few day ago we stopped at a shopping area called Paradise View to try to select something for our granddaughters as a gift from our trip. We met a woman who was selling flavored rum from several local rum places. Bernadine Ali is a beautiful woman who just oozes love for the cats who line the shelves of her rum shack along with the Ma DouDou, Guavaberry and Pere Labat rum. We got to meet "Summer" and "Autumn", two of her rescues. She has the cats and dogs spayed or neutered and keeps them with her ever growing collection. The animals are all gorgeous, well-behaved and fortunately, well fed. And, they are all up for adoption to the right home. We gave adonation to help with her work. Her work is endless. Dogs roam the streets and beaches looking for food and many dogs and cats walk through restaurants and bars looking for hand-outs as well. St. Martin is no different than any other country. We all have pet and animal population problems and they will never go away. But, at least there are people who care about the unwanted and homeless pets and are trying to do something to help them. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are Marie Moine in her shop, Bernadine getting ready to give me samples of all her rums, cats lining the shelves in her shop, and Summer and Autumn resting on the floor.