2026-7-10 Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center

 Friday our destination after morning coffee was the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center.

Some outside things to see and then inside.

This was the original center but they have long since outgrown it.

The next pictures are pretty self explanatory as they are what you would see in an original Czech settled town.

This was further around the back and set up for shows and productions.

This was a separate  Polka Museum but it was closed.

A church which looked like it was still in use. Plain outside.

Plain inside until you look at the elaborate alter which was beautifully curved.

The organ above the door was a pretty elaborate set up too.

This beautiful stained glass window was just inside the main cultural center.

We watched a short video and then toured the main part of the center.

There were several displays of what different rooms in a house would have looked like.

Read the right column carefully where it talks about being proud of being citizens of the United States. That seems to be lacking in some of the immigrants coming to the U.S. these days.

Dolls representing different customs and areas from the old country.

This character is as famous to Czechs as Mickey Mouse is in this country.

From a distance we originally thought this might be a birdhouse but it turned out to be a beehive.

One of our members has Czech heritage and this place has everything you need to trace your ancestry.

Later that day, Jimmie gave a great demonstration about her jackery solar battery. She even set up the solar panels outside to show how the solar charged the battery. She had all sorts of items to test the battery and how much power each appliance took. 

The demo started out with her saying that she originally bought it to run an electric blanket after that horrible cold spell we had in February a number of years ago but her demonstration showed that it could do so much more than even she originally thought. There were lots of questions about CPAP usage and different ways to power the jackery.

2026-7-9 Kolaches and Cards

 We started the next morning by walking over to Weikel's Bakery which is really close to the RV park. They are famous for their kolaches but they also have pigs in a blanket which is the American name for the ones with sausage inside instead of fruit and cream. 

Most of us had the kolaches but what a hard choice. There must have been 20 choices. Jimmie and Shelley had their breakfast burritos which were huge and also delicious.

This fabulous bakery is inside a gas station and also has a gift shop. In addition to the bakery, they also have sandwiches. Don't miss it if you go to La Grange.

They were doing some renovating after hours but it certainly didn't impact our fun.

That afternoon we got together for a card party. We weren't playing rummy or poker. We were decorating cards for a charity called the Forgotten Wishes Foundation. They don't grant wishes. They make sure that people with different abilities are not forgotten through their Forget-Me-Not Friends Club. Anyone can host a "card" party for this nonprofit charity from groups, to friends, to clubs whether in person or even online. You buy blank cards, decorate them with anything from water colors to crayons to markers to stickers. Then send them to the foundation and they take care of sending them to the Forge-Me-Not Friends club members.

I had cards for everyone to do at least one card because your artistic capabilities are not what is important. Several women did at least a couple of different cards. I was so busy getting supplies out that I didn't get pictures of the work of art in progress.

Here are the completed art projects.

There is also a note inside each card that makes it personal.

That evening we all went to the Sealand Seafood and Steaks restaurant for a group dinner.

They gave us a room to ourselves and we had a great waitress who handled the crowd with ease.

2026-7-8 It's a Duck Race

So, the very first Texas Ramblin' Roses Duck Race was held at the LGRV lazy river in La Grange Texas. 

Everyone got to choose their own duck and we put numbers on the bottom of them. Getting everyone out of the lazy river so that the ducks would have a clear field was a bit of a challenge. I got volunteers to stand in front of the filters so we didn't lose any ducks or mess up any filters. All the ducks were loaded into a clear box and then tossed into the lazy river.

And they are off! Right side up, sideways, and upside down. 

Participants were very vocal and excited. The RV park manager video'd parts of the race and posted it on their website.

We all enjoyed the lazy river so muc during our stay at the park. Some used tubes and some used pool noodles which worked quite well.

Pool noodle for the win.

This is the pool part of the whole set up. It has an opening into the lazy river but the area close to the blue tube in front is very shallow for little kids.

Some of the more relaxed members of the group watched and cheered from the shade.

Barb won first place......a hat and sunglasses plus an artistic towel, 

                               
This Barb won a hat and sunclasses.

Mary appears thrilled with her set of sporks, lol.

The three big winners pose but everyone got to keep their ducks so everyone was a winner. Three little kids wanted in on the race but I pacified them with their own ducks to race after we were done.