Thursday 2-12-26 Cultural Activities Center, Grocery Shopping and Olympics

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day. The weather was gorgeous with blue skies. The morning temperature was 41 degrees and the high was 80 degrees.

Gorgeous Day

I wrote yesterday about the new Web browser having a problem doing my blog. Larry fixed it. He had to teach me how to get my photos from my pictures to my blog. Today I'm using the new browser.

We started the day out by going to town. We wanted to get out of the house and needed to go grocery shopping.

Before going grocery shopping we stopped by the Cultural Activities Center (CAC) in Temple. As you enter into the center there is an art exhibit. Currently it is part of the permanent Howard Collection. The CAC has two galleries. In the Salusbury Gallery the exhibits were from the artist Kicheko Sykes Expression of Beauty collection. She is a very talented artist out of Detroit Michigan and went to college at California State University in Los Angeles. She remained in southern California and retired from the Los Angeles County Probation Department. She relocated to Temple, Texas in 2025.  Her art is clay figures and oil paintings.

The Howard Gallery currently has exhibits from the Professional Artist of Central Texas group. The artists were Brent Maxwell, Kristin Larson, Melanie Stokes, Charles Wallis, Kevin Malone, Barbara Fontaine-White, Susan L, Sistrunk, Chesley Smith, Carol Fox Hendrichs, Haley E. Herrera, Judi Simon and Linda Williams Filgo. The exhibits are on display from January 16th to February 27th. We walked around the galleries and saw a lot of beautiful art exhibits. Then we walked down the hallway to offices and upstairs to the classrooms. The hallway had art on the walls for sale and you pick the price. Some of the art was in bad shape. We had a great time visiting the Cultural Activities Center.

Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center

Desire by Kichek Sykes

Still I Rise by Kichek Sykes

In Prayer by Kichek Sykes

Cathedral Mountain Resolute by (Jack) Brent Maxwell

Under Texas Skies by Kristin Larson

Morning Light by Melanie Stokes

Still Life with Ginger Kitten by Charles Wallis

Feral Fowl by Barbara Fontaine-White

Hail Damage (top) and Leftover Ham and Egg (bottom)

by Judi Simon

On the way home we stopped at the UPS Store to get our mail. Then we went grocery shopping at Walmart. Afterwards Larry stopped at Jack 'n' Jill Donuts to buy donuts. Then we went home.

 

Grocery Shopping

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. The event today was Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 41 minutes and 37 seconds, which put me in 28th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle.

We spent the afternoon into the evening watching the Olympics. The events we watched were Couples Free Dance Skating ( U.S.A. got Silver Metal), Men's Skeleton 2nd run, Women's 5000m Speed Skate, Women's Snowboard Half Pipe Final (U.S.A. got Silver Metal), Men's Snowboard Cross Final, Women's 500m Skate/Men's 1000m Skate and Men's Moguls.

When Larry went to bed I watched the next super hero movie, which was Spider-Man: Far From Home. I also watched The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. I ended up doing 4,000 steps. 

           

        

Wednesday 2-11-20 Dancing, Olympics & Games

 

 

We had a terrific Tuesday.

The weather was fantastic. The morning temperature of 52 degrees and the high of 71 degrees. There was a breeze, which kept it very comfortable.

I attended two virtual dances today. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 for an hour. It was their Valentine Dance because Saturday is Valentine Day. Some of the dancers wore red or pink and I wore my red flashing hat and a red square dancing top. Di wore a shirt with a lot of flowers on it and Terry had a red shirt. It was fun to dress up for the occasion and theme of the dance. Terry and Di called to songs, that were appropriate to Valentine Day. Terry called the first tip and Di called the other four tips. They called to twelve participants from the U.K., U.S.A. and Canada. The tips Di called she worked on the A1 moves, that were moved to Plus. The moves she worked on were Quarter Thru, Triple Trade, Scoot and Dodge, Pass the Sea, Clover & and Partner Tag. Di did a great job working the dancers through moves we were having problems with. I had a super time dancing with friends and to Di and Terry. 

 

Dancers at Di and Terry's Valentine Day dance

Second was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped call the dance. The format was three tips of C1 to seven participants, three tips of A2 to eight participants and two Trivia question in between the A2 tips. The participants during the C1 tips were from Australia (2) and United States (5). The participants during the A2 tips were from Australia (1), Canada (1) and United States (6). I had a great time dancing to Dave, Karin and Greg and with friends.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle in between playing games and dancing. 

Larry installed a new Web browser and he played with it. He asked me to use it instead of Firefox. I played Angry Birds Friends with the new browser. I had to do my blog using Firefox because the new browser wasn't quite ready for it.

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Spider and 3 Pyramid). It took me 15 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

We watched some of the Olympics. We finished watching the Men's Short Program Part 2 in ice skating. We watched the Women's Moguls final, part of the Nordic Combined Men (NH 10km), some of the Biathlon Women's 15km, Men's Super G and started to watch the Pairs Free Dance. We're having fun watching the Olympics and learning about the different sports.

I played eight games of pinball. I played four games on the mini cabinet, which were Goldeneye, Great Houdini, Medieval Madness and Monster Bash. While playing the Great Houdini I came in high score #2. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Junk Yard, Star Wars, The Addams Family and The Game Show.

 

Goldeneye (mini)

 

Great Houdini (mini)

 

Medieval Madness (mini)

 

Monster Bash (mini)

 

Junk Yard (big)

 

Star Wars (big)

 

The Addams Family (big)

 

The Game Show (big)

 

After Larry went to bed I watched Avengers: Endgame from our super hero movies collection. I ended up doing 2,000 steps. 

      

 

Tuesday 2-10-26 Liberty Hill Dance, Olympics and Games

 

Overcast Day

 

We had an overcast day. The morning temperature was 61 degrees and the high temperature was 72 degrees.

We spent most of the day in Liberty Hill doing the weekly C1/A2 dance to John Kephart. We met up with Henry and Susan at noon at the Ski's house to do an hour of C1 via tape. This week we danced to Johnny Preston. He usually pretty easy but this week he was challenging because he put us in positions we weren't use to dancing with phantoms. Even though it was challenging we had time to walk through the moves we had problems with. It was a great time.

At 1:00 we danced two hours of A2 to John Kephart. He called six tips and John Carlson called one tip to one square of dancers and four dancers were sitting out. John Kephart workshopped Turn and Deal from columns and Scoot Chain Thru because the dancers were having problems. The last tip John Kephart did a six couple tip so all the dancers could dance the last tip. We had a super time dancing with friends and to both John Kephart and John Carlson.

 

    

Get a partner and dance

 

Before leaving to go to Liberty Hill I worked on my jigsaw puzzle. Then later on while I watching television I worked on it.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. Today the event was Event: Tri Peaks Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 26 minutes and 8 seconds to complete, which put me in 9th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds.

I played four games of pinball on the big cabinet. They were Fish Tales, The Addams Family, The Game Show and Willow. While playing Willow I became high score #1. I had a good time playing pinball.

 

Fish Tales

 

The Addams Family

 

The Game Show

 

Willow

 In the evening we watched the Olympics. The events we watched were Curling, Men's Free-ski Slopestyle and Men's Short Program Part 1 and 2. We saw the U.S. get a sliver medal in curling and Sweden got the gold medal. During the Men's Free-ski Slopestyle the U.S. got a silver medal. 

After Larry went to bed I watched Avengers: Infinity War from the super hero movies collection. I watched The Little Mermaid from our movies collections. I ended up doing 6,000 steps, which included 15 minutes of a Jazz routine.

 

 Working Out

 

Monday 2-9-26 Dancing to Di and Terry, Olympics & More

 

Gorgeous Day

 

We had another gorgeous day of sunshine. The morning temperature was 50 degrees and the high was 85 degrees.

We started the day out by attending Di Green's Weekly C1 dance at 9:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. She danced with Terry through out the dance while she called five tips to thirteen participants. She worked on Left Turn and Deal, Track (0,1 & 2), Cross Chain Thru and Stretch Cross Trail Thru. The participants were from the U.K., U.S., Russia, Germany and France. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had a super time dancing with friends.

 

Dancing with friends virtually

Larry continued playing with the old phone. He's learning more and more about different programs he can install on the phone. He's having a great time.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Pyramid). It took me 31 minutes and 22 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I worked out for a half hour with the Synth Riders using three songs two times a piece. The songs were Abyss, Automatic Call and Empire of Steel. I only earned one outstanding score, which was with Empire of Steel. It was a good workout.

 

Abyss

 

Automatic Call

 

Empire of Steel

 

I played two games of Monster Manor on Bounce Arcade. The first game I crashed and burned. The second game I earned a silver trophy. I Awoken the Manor twice, Stunned the Manor once, I summoned the spiders for the multiball twice and did Banister Buster. When I summons the spiders I had gotten rid of the spider webs and the spider walked across the screen but I unable to hit the spider to start the multiball. I had fun playing Monster Manor.

  

  

Monster Manor

 

I played eight games of pinball. I played four games on the mini cabinet, which were Junk Yard, Pirates of the Caribbean, No Fear and No Good Goffers!. While playing No Fear I became high score #1 and No Good Goffers! I became Grand Champion. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Indianapolis 500, JP Viper Night Driver, Mustang and The Game Show. I got a new high score in the challenge of The Game Show. The new score is 8,762,340, which put me in 25th out of 49 participants. I didn't do too well on the other three games but had fun.

 

Junk Yard (mini)

 

No Fear (mini)

 

No Good Goffers! (mini)

 

Pirates of the Caribbean (mini)

 

Indianapolis 500 (big)

 

JP Viper Night Driving (big)

 

Mustang (big)

 

The Game Show (big)

 

We watched the Olympics in the afternoon and evening. The events we watched were Curling U.S. vs Sweden, Speed Skating Men's 5000 Meters, Speed Skating Women's 1000 Meters, Men's Team Combined, Men's Normal Hill, Women's Big Air and Rhythm Dance Part 1 and Part 2. Men's Team Combined is a new event to the Olympics. The event is where each country has a two men team (one does the Downhill and the other one does the Slalom Skiing). We have a great time watching the Olympics and learning more about some of the sports.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle.

After Larry went to bed I watched Ant-man and the Wasp, which is the next super hero movie from our super hero movies collection. Then I watched Twisters from our movies collection. I ended up doing 7,000 steps.    

  

Sunday 2-8-26 Olympics, New Pinball Challenge & More

 

Olympics

 

We had a super day. The weather was partly cloudy all day. The morning temperature was 48 degrees and the high was 80 degrees. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour, 6 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.   

We spent the afternoon and evening watching the Olympics. We watched Curling (U.S.A. vs Sweden), Big Air Snowboard Finals, Women's Downhill and four team events of figure skating. The figure skating events were Men's Short Program, Pairs Free Skate, Women's Free Skate and Men's Free Skate. It was a very good day of watching the Olympics. The USA did well, they won gold in Women's Downhill and in Team Skate.

Larry continued working on the new program he installed on the old cell phone.

Today was the beginning of the week so I got a new weekly challenge of pinball. This weeks challenge is The Game Show. We didn't have this game so Larry had to download and install it on the big cabinet. He installed it in both 2D and VR. We probably won't keep this game after the challenge because it's an old game. After installing the game Larry played it to make sure it played correctly.

I played four games of pinball on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Dark Chaos, Scared Stiff and Transformers. While playing Transformers I became high score #3. 

 

Batman Forever

 

Dark Chaos

 

Elvira Scared Stiff

 

Transformers

I played four games of pinball on the big cabinet, which were Blizzard of Ozz, Dracula, No Fear and The Game Show. I played last week's challenge of No Fear before the challenge was over at 1:00. I didn't get a new high score but I had fun trying to. I ended up with the high score of 703,890,060, which put me in 112th place out of 131 participants. Then I played the new challenge of The Game Show. My first high score was 4,983,470, which put me in 15th place out of 23 participants. I didn't get on the board while playing Blizzard of Ozz and Dracula but had fun.

 

No Fear (high score)

 

The Game Show high score

 

Blizzard of Ozz

 

Dracula

 

I worked on assembling my jigsaw puzzle. 

After Larry went to bed I watched the next super hero movie, which was Thor: Ragnarok out of the super hero movies collection. Then I watched Twister from our movies collection. I ended up doing 5,000 steps.