Pictures From Jan-Jul 2023 - It's All About Having Fun!!

Sunday, August 2, 2026

Saturday 8-1-26 Happy August, Cultural Activities Center & More


 Awesome Day



We had an awesome day. 

It was cooler than it's been. We had overcast skies, which kept the temperature down. The morning temperature was 80 degrees and the high was 93 degrees.

Larry continued working on our movies. He also worked on the Jukebox program Jukecab.

When I woke up I made pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast around 9:30 we went to town. The yearly Comic Con started today at 10:00 am at Cadence Bank Center (Bell Expo Center). There was a car show going on in the parking lot. We were going to go to it but it was too busy. The parking lot was almost full and there was a line of vehicles to get in the parking lot. The police directed traffic in the parking lot on horse back. This was cool to see. The line to attend Comic Con was going around the entrance building. We decided to continue driving down the road. 

Larry read, that there was something going on at the Cultural Activities Center for kids. So we went there instead. We didn't do the kids event but we walked through the Saulsbury Gallery and Howard Gallery. We also walked down the halls, where they had 3-D Art from Saul Silverstein Themed Summer Camp. The Saulsbury Gallery had art by Iwona Janskowski called Western Spirit and Healing Hearts mural. The Howard Gallery had Fun Art exhibits by Theresa Bayer, Kevin Middleton and Svetlana Novikova. The hallway had art from summer camp.  We enjoyed looking at the art exhibits.



Flowers in front of the entrance of the Cultural Activities Center






No Rules by Iwona  Janskowski Embroidery on Burlap






3-D Art from Shel Silverstein






Left to Right: Cool Run, Morning Thunder, Western Green and Working Time by Iwona  Janskowski






Leaf Peeper and Puzzled by Theresa Bayer






Under the Sea by Kevin Middleton (Austin Fun Art Artist)






We're All In Together by Kevin Middleton





Cats n Dogs by Kevin Middleton






Boots by Svetlana Novikova




After visiting the Cultural Activities Center we drove to the Railroad and Heritage Museum in downtown Temple. We walked round downtown for a bit . We walked around the museum complex. We saw the splash pad, which was a fountain and a couple of kids were playing on the splash pad. In front of the Railroad and Heritage Museum the electrical boxes had beautiful art on them, there was a small train engine and a sculpture of a mother and little girl. While we were walking around an Amtrak train had dropped a few passengers off and was pulling out. I took pictures and waved at the passengers and workers as the train pulled away. We walked around Fred Springer Park, where we saw families playing on the train and the playground. We had a wonderful walk around downtown Temple.


 

Butterfly train in Fred Springer Park





Playground





Family playing on the train in Santa Fe Kid's Stop






Central Texas Area Model Railroaders Museum





Amtrak train waiting to leave





Art on one of the electrical boxes






The splash pad






The sculpture in front of the Railroad and Heritage Museum






Railroad & Heritage Museum train



Before leaving downtown Temple Larry ordered a pizza from Little Caesar's. He decided to order a specialty pizza because he wanted a freshly baked pizza. He order the Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pepperoni pizza. We arrived early to pick up our pizza so we using Little Caesar's application we tracked our pizza. When the pizza was ready Larry went inside and got it. When we got home we had a couple of pieces of the pizza for lunch. It had a smoky flavor to it and was delicious.




Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza




After lunch he went back to working with Jukecab and his movies project. I worked out for an hour and a half.

I worked out for 30 minutes with the Wii Fit. I did the routine the Wii Fit Plus picked for me of 12 exercise for 26 minutes and four times Perfect 10 to make the 30 minutes. The exercises were two exercises from the Aerobics (Advance Step and Hula Hoop), four exercises from the Strength Training (Balance Bridge 10 reps, Lungs 10 reps, Sideways Leg-Lift 10 reps and Single-Leg Twist 10 reps), one exercise from Training Plus (Obstacle Course) and five exercises from Yoga (Chair, Downward Facing Dog, Half-Moon, Palm Tree and Sun Salutation). I had a great workout.




Aerobics (Advance Step and Hula Hoop)





Strength Training (Balance Bridge, Lungs 
Sideways Leg-Lift and Single-Leg Twist 10 reps)







Training Plus (Obstacle Course and Perfect 10)



 

   Yoga (Chair, Downward Facing Dog, Half-Moon, Palm Tree and Sun Salutation)
 
    
 
       
I worked out with Gold's Gym for 30 minutes. I did my own routine. I did two exercises from the Advance Lesson menu, which were Warm Up for 8 minutes with Left And Right Step Combo and Weaving Combo for 21 minutes. I had a great workout.




Left and Right Step Combo and Weaving Combo




I worked out with the Synth Riders for 30 minutes with four songs two times. The songs were Galaxy Joyride, Space Rock, Star Fighter and Vampirevania. While doing Galaxy Joyride I earned a new high score, Space Rock I earned two outstanding scores and Vampirevania I earned one outstanding score. I had a great workout. 




Galaxy Joyride





Space Rock





Star Fighter





Vampirevania




I played one game of Monster Manor on Bounce Arcade. While playing the game I earned a bronze trophy by earning the Skelton Key, I Awoken the Manor, I Stunned the Manor, Banister Buster and Midnight Madness (Jack-O-Lanterns). I had fun playing the games for 15 minutes.



Monster Manor




I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 36 minutes and 35 seconds to complete, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I played eight games of pinball. I played four on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Dr. No, Godzilla and The Goonies. While playing Dr. No I became high score #3. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Bay Watch, Fish Tales, JP Viper Night Drivin' and Star Fox. I had fun playing pinball even when I didn't get on the board.




Batman Forever (Mini)





Dr. No (Mini)





Godzilla (Mini)





The Goonies (Mini)




Bay Watch (Big)





Fish Tales (Big)





JP Viper Night Drivin' (Big)





Star Fox (Big)



We watched out YouTube videos. I worked on Horse of Iron puzzle a little bit.
 
In the evening we watched the next super hero movie, which was Iron Man 3 from our movies collection. When Larry went to bed I watched Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from our movies collection. I ended up doing 5,000 steps.

We had a fun day.

 



Saturday, August 1, 2026

Friday 7-31-26 Dancing, Projects, Lunch & More


It's Friday let's celebrated with a dance


Today was a hot day with the high of 101 degrees and the morning temperature of 75 degrees. Even though it was another 100 degree day we had a great day.




The temperature at our house at 3:00 pm



We started the day out by going to Aldi to do a little grocery shopping. We arrived at Aldi a couple minutes before 9:00 am so we had to wait with a few other people. Aldi doesn't open until 9:00 am. The doors were opened by a couple of friendly employees with big smiles. We bought the items we like at Aldi and items you can only get at Aldi such as Pork Burnt Ends and Italian Trio (Genoa salami, pepperoni and provolone cheese). After doing our grocery shopping we went home.



Grocery shopping


When we got home Larry did a truck project. Every once in awhile the transmission doesn't seem to engage correctly. We seldom drive the truck and he thinks one of the valves in the transmission might be getting sticky so he wanted to  add an additive to the transmission. He could change the transmission fluid and while this hasn't been done in years there is only 15,000 miles on the fluid. Before putting in the additive he had to pump some fluid out so it would not be overfull. I helped him. Afterwards Larry wanted to take it for a ride to mix the additive with the transmission fluid. 

Larry wanted to take me to lunch and check the mail. We drove the truck. Taco Bell is right next to the UPS store and we hadn't been there for a long time. We shared a mini taco salad and cheesy bean and rice burrito. We were the only customers, thinking about it we figured it was because of the problem with the produce from their supplier. The lettuce was making people very sick and this was on the news. We forgot about this problem. If we had remembered we probably wouldn't have eaten there either. The meal was very good.

We were back home by 11:30 am. 

Larry spent the rest of the day working on different projects. He continued playing with Jukecab and a jukebox skin (jukebox menu of songs). He did  his monthly computer backup. He continued on working on shrinking the size of our movies. It going to take awhile because we have 261 movies. Larry is having fun doing these projects because he's learning new stuff.

While Larry did his projects I played games and worked out. 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. This month I didn't get a prefect score on the challenges because I didn't complete one game in the Solitaire challenges and one game in the Mahjong challenges. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Pyramid). It took me 40 minutes and 5 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I was getting ready to workout by putting the Iron Horse jigsaw puzzle in the spare bedroom and I dropped one of the boards with pieces on it on the ground. As I was picking up the pieces I decided to do some housework. After picking up the pieces I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed the house. Hopefully, I found all the pieces.




Doing housework




I worked out for an hour. I did a half hour on the Wii Fit with the Wii Fit Plus Routine, that was chosen for me. The routine was for 25 minutes with 12 different exercises. I did two exercises from the Aerobics (Basic Run and Basic Step), one exercise from Balance Games (Lotus Focus), one exercise from Strength Training (Single-Leg Twist 10 reps), three exercises from Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Skateboard Arena) and five exercises from Yoga (Palm Tree, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation, Triangle and Warrior). I did two exercises from Strength Training to get the other five minutes (Sideways Leg-Lifts 20 reps 2 minutes and Single-Leg Extensions 20 reps for 3 minutes). I had a great workout.




Aerobics (Basic Run and Basic Step)





Balance Games (Lotus Focus)





Strength Training (Sideways Leg-Lift, Single-Leg Extension and Single-Leg Twist)





Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Skateboard Arena)





Yoga (Palm Tree, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation, Triangle and Warrior)




I worked out with the Synth Riders for a half hour with four songs two times each. The songs were Carbon Cult, From Hell, Satanic Panic and Space Rock. While working out with Carbon Cult I earned 2 outstanding scores and I new high new score, From Hell I earned 1 outstanding score and 1 new high score, Satanic Panic I earned 1 outstanding score and 1 new high score and Space Rock I earned 1 outstanding score. I had another great workout.




Carbon Cult





From Hell 





Satanic Panic





Space Rock




I played seven pinball games. I played three games on the mini cabinet, which were Lord of the Rings, Metallica and Red & Ted's Road Show. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Bay Watch, Jaws, The Beach Boys and Transformers. I had fun playing pinball even though I didn't get on the board.





Lord of the Rings (Mini)





Metallica (Mini)





Red & Ted's Road Show (Mini)





Bay Watch (Big)





Jaws (Big)





The Beach Boys (Big)





Transformers (Big)




In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 pm for an hour. She called four tips to 8 participants. This is her last dance of calling virtually until the end of August. She's going to caller school in Houston for a week and then she's going on a cruise for two weeks. I won't be dancing to her until we get back from our fall trip (end of October). Tomorrow is Ett's 70th birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to her. She called a few left handed Chain Reaction, dancers were having problems so she recalled it helped a little bit. I had fun dancing to Ett and with friends from the Unites States and Canada.




I love square dancing




After the dance we watched 101 Dalmatians from our movies collection. This was one of the movies Larry shrunk and it played great. After Larry went to bed I watched Jack Reacher from our movies collection. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.




Relaxing in front of the television




I worked on Horse of Iron a little bit.