COVID-19 ... Texas and Abita Springs, Louisiana, March - December 2020

During our time here, in June and July, we started taking small trips around the South, click to see photos.

And, in August, we drove for a couple of weeks to Colorado.  Click to see photos

 

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In March 2020, we went, as usual, to Austin, TX and with Jenny to a time-share on Canyon Lake in the Texas Hill Country.  She had a good birthday.  After that, we were heading, as usual, to Louisiana for Lorraine's mother's 99th birthday.  Now we are spending time during the Covid-19, in a small time share on a golf course that closed 3 years ago, deep in the forest over 5 miles north from the small town of Abita Springs.  A very extreme form of Social Distancing. In our 11 months here, we have walked 900 miles (over 1,400 kilometers) through the course and roads in the forest, in Covington, and the Mandeville waterfront on Lake Ponchartrain, as well as City Park in New Orleans.  Below are photos to show you our environment. 
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With Jenny we went to San Antonio a couple of times and shopping in the San Marcos Outlets.
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Along the roads to Canyon Lake, the Texas bluebells were sprouting out.
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On Canyon Lake, they had a nice supermarket.  There was news of maybe 2,000 cases of Covid-19 in the U.S., no need to panic (now 2.5 million).  Go to a restaurant.  Click to see a larger image.
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 In San Antonio, we took an open-top bus sightseeing trip and got off at the Mexican market for shopping and lunch.  At Canyon Lake we ate in restaurants every night.  Restaurants were still open.  Does anyone remember what restaurants used to be ?  Click for an even larger image.
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 Jenny had a good birthday.  Two days later, we were due to take her back to her home at Marbridge in Austin.  Well, they did not allow her back in ... that morning, they discovered a case of Covid-19 in San Antonio and, given that we've just been there a couple of times, they would let her back in.  Her mother lives nearby and took her in for a while.  She moved back after two months and two negative Covid-19 tests.  Click for an even larger image.
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 After a long drive from Austin to Abita Springs, we were to spend a week here, conveniently close to Slidell, where Lorraine's mother lived in a retirement home and Lorraine's brother Stuart lives, has a business and large family.  It is even closer to Mandeville, where Lorraine's brother Ralph lives, again with family.  And it is an hour from Baton Rouge, where Lorraine's son Estuardo moved 4 years ago from Guatemala, with his family and a dog, and opened a Carpet World business.

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More than 50 miles north of New Orleans, deep in forests. An EXTREME form of social distancing! Click to see a larger image.
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That's our car and Lorraine in front of our apartment.  Click to see a larger image
 
 Thanks to Lorraine's brother Stuart, we were able to return our AVIS car in March, when he lent us a car. We extended our one time-share week into 44 weeks till January 2021.  A nice apartment, nice kitchen, two bathrooms, a laundry.  Turtles, rabbits, squirrels, birds, geese, storks and snakes.  Very, very quiet. 
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This is one part of the 150 acre golf course that has been for sale for 3 years, where we walk. Click on the photo to see a larger one.
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There is a large network or roads in the forest, where we walk.
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The roads in the forest have golf-themed names, such as Tee, Green, Trap, Birdie and so on.  Lorraine is heading toward "Tee".  Click for an even larger image.
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Roads in the forest
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Walkways in the forest.  Lots of wild flowers.
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Click to see a much larger image.  Some lanes are in the forest ...
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... there is also a wildlife boardwalk over a swamp with interesting signs explaining the flora and fauna of the area.  
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On our walks in the forest, we pick wild flowers.  Click to see a larger image.
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Every couple of days we have new wild flowers from our walks. Click to see a larger image.
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On our own golf course.  Usually I hand my phone to people to take photos of us, but there is nobody here to do so. Click to see a larger image.
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On our golf course, there were two couples of geese and one single.  In April, we used to give them bread, but they have flown up North, maybe to Canada.  They did not need airplane tickets.
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Sometimes we walk on the Mandeville Lakefront, on the North shore of Lake Ponchartrain. The old oak trees are covered in Spanish moss. Click for an even larger image.
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The town closed all playgrounds, gazebos, and turned upside down dozens of park benches, just so that people ddid not congregate.
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Mandeville Lakefront, near the Causeway to New Orleans. 
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Thank goodness you can still walk.  Early on, you could not do anything else.  But from July, you are allowed again.


And so now we sometimes take drinks and our chairs and have a late afternoon private party on the Ponchartrain waterfront.  Click to see a larger photo.  You will see, on the right end, in the distance, the 24 mile Causeway that runs across the lake to New Orleans.
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As we go, we perfect the picnic, with a tablecloth, wine and cheese and sometimes caviar.  We are between footpaths, socially distanced from people who walk along the waterfront.  Some say, as they pass some distance away, "a nice setup you have there".  We do.  Click for a larger photo.
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Lorraine started house-hunting, just in case we have to stay here longer.  What would you think of this one on the Mandeville waterfront looking over Lake Ponchartrain?
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In the past month, as we walk along the course that has been closed for 3 years, we've collected lots of golf balls.  This was after we walked some 75 miles.
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This is our golf ball collection after walking some more. Mora than ten times what we walked to Santiago de Compostela in 2018.  At least I had enough time to build a page of our photos from the trip to Spain and the walk to Santiago
 

From here, we hold meetings with family and friends. 
Lorraine always told me she wanted a two month vacation somewhere.  Now she is getting it.  She was thinking Paris, Rome, Madrid ... but she got Abita Springs for nine months and more.  I have always asked her that I want to spend much more time with her.  Well, I've got my wish.   More to follow.  See photos of our summer trip to Colorado.
 

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This page was last updated on 03/08/21.