Blogs from Covington, Louisiana, United States, North America

Hi again -- Following are photos taken at Gnomewood Farm, which is owned and run by Noel, a good friend of mine for some 25 years, and her sister Renee. It's located in Covington, LA, almost directly across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, a little beyond where you get off the bridge. Sandy and I spent one of our photo days there. Noel and Renee have been raising alpacas for a couple of decades (give or take) and currently have 21. As you can see, they've just been sheared, a procedure that takes place around Easter each year. The fleece then goes to an alpaca co-op and results, for Gnomewood at least, in clothing -- mostly scarves, socks and yarn -- which they are able to sell. I got several pairs of these delicious feeling socks, ... read more

Living in Abita Springs, Louisiana The time has come to get back on the road but I really wanted to add a look at the area to my travel blog. I arrived back in Texas just after 1 p.m. today; it felt a bit empty, I have done the drive so many times—but with a big difference I was always coming home to Wally. I have stayed at the Abita Springs RV Resort for the past six months while I worked in the tax office of H&R Block in the small city of Covington, Louisiana, which is just six miles away. I have always enjoyed doing tax prep work, meeting and getting to know the clients as well as making friends with my fellow workers. The money will come in very handy too with the price ... read more

Sunday 17th July - Gators in Honey Island Swamp Intended going swimming but Rory has developed a rash which could be chicken pox so we stayed clear of the pool. Set off to do a midday swamp tour but did not arrive until almost 12:30. Reserved seats for the 2:30 tour and went into Slidell for something to eat. Found a restaurant. I asked the 'meet and greet' lady if I could see the menu, explaining I'm vegetarian. She then admitted she did not know what vegetarians eat. The menu was seafood extraordinaire, ribs, chicken, steak etc. We could have organised a salad but did not. Instead we went to Pizza Hut where we had a delicious olive Strip'N'Dipper - a rectangular pizza cut into 16 fingers accompanied by three dips. It was lovely even if ... read more