Category: To Occupy my Time

Easter Egg Cake

Never again will I make a cake that requires me to crumble cake and mix it with frosting then mold it into a shape. Never. Again.

The Easter Egg Cake from Serious Eats came out much better than mine did. I would have been better off making the cake that site links to, which has better layers.

The problem started when I didn’t cut the layers correctly, leaving a big gap between the back and front halves of the cake. I ended up cutting the circumference of the back half and mushing up that part of the cake to make some cake spackle to bridge the difference between the high and the low.

Here’s the finished product. I ended up running short on frosting (blame the cake/frosting spackle?) and by the time I got all the crumbs moderately covered, I just sprinkled the sanding sugar on top rather than make a pretty design. I was done.

It didn’t cut nicely in layers, which makes sense as much of it wasn’t a layer but was cake spackle, but it did taste good. Especially with Rick’s homemade ice cream.

Type 1, Gone Forever

Type 1s were one of two of the the Max train cars in use when I moved to Portland. They weren’t very ADA friendly; there were steps to climb up. The Type 2s with their flat entry were the other type.

Reading the TriMet newsletter, I sadly realized that I would not be in Portland for the Type 1 sendoff.

I ordered a Type 1 pin in lieu of going to the sendoff and signing my name on the exterior.

Lizard Boy at PCS

Lizard Boy has been kicking around the Pacific Northwest, since 2015, but today was my first viewing.

I am a fan! I’m kind of mad that I didn’t find this musical until now. It’s three actors who carry the whole musical with the normal singing and acting that musical theater people do. But they also provided all the music! And some of the music is provided by a cello. All three (Milo Marami, Lo Steele, and Benjamin Tissell) were incredible.

I will be looking out for other stagings of this one. It didn’t seem to sell well. All remaining tickets were half price the final weekend, which isn’t a good sign, but maybe that deal got a few more people in the doors.

I previously enjoyed Benjamin Tissell’s performance as Andrew in Recent Tragic Events at Third Rail Rep.

No Kings Day, March 2026

Our day started at the corner of 39th and Hawthorne, where Matt was a corner captain. I held a sign made by the Indivisible D2 art team.

There was a really good turnout at all four corners. More than two hundred people on each corner.

This lady had my favorite wordy sign.

From there, Matt took the bus down to the waterfront, and I drove the car home, had some lunch, and then took the train down to the waterfront.

I met up with Matt who had the signs, and we caught up with the puppets. There were three puppets in our group: Stephen Miller:

Trump (front):

Trump (back):

And RFK Jr., who I was mostly walking nearby and didn’t get a picture of until the end.

Our signs were playing cards with different members of the administration on the. You can see a few of them in the pictures with the puppets.

Because I was carrying a sign, I had fewer hands free to take photos. But this yellow sign was my favorite graphic protest sign:

I also like that the woman with a huge camera is looking straight at my camera.

I’m always on the lookout for good protest fashion and this was the best outfit I saw. I love the hat, the casual skirt and blouse, the knee socks and the comfortable shoes. Well done, random protester.

It was a gorgeous day for a protest.

Our Masquerade Mystery Invite Has Arrived!

Friends Greg and Renee are throwing a masquerade mystery party for Renee’s fortieth birthday, and we have been invited! Greg and Renee are precision people and thus this is not the first invitation we received. In January, we got an electronic invitation that made us promise to show up if we RSVP’d yes. Everyone has to come in order for the mystery to work!

So now we are officially invited and have our characters. Matt: The stallion! Me: the mouse.

While I’m not super feeling the mouse character, I am super excited to assemble my mouse costume. My goals are: (1) cheap to obtain the materials and (2) as much of it as rewearable as possible and (3) mostly made by me.

I’ve already got some ideas and am excited to get started.

Linda’s 74th Birthday

Eagle-eyed readers will note right away the error in cake decorating. I did the math wrong. But my QA person also did not catch that his mother was not turning 76.

We went out for delicious Chinese food and then back to Rick and Linda’s place for cake and ice cream.

Linda voted to have the cake now, rather than freezing to wait two years until she was actually 76.

Mending the Sweatpants

I’m going to call them sweatpants, rather than joggers, because to me, they are sweatpants.

I’m trying to get better about mending things. The pocket of my sweatpants had developed a few holes. So I took some time and sewed them up. This is the view of the outside of the pocket.

And here we have the view from the inside, where I attempted to tidy things up, even though probably no one will ever see this mending job.

On the Way Home

We stopped for our traditional departing yurt photo. Yurting in Tumalo State Park in early March was great. I think we were the only ones yurting. There were a few camper vans, but overall, it was pretty quiet.

On the way home, we stopped at Petersen Rock Garden, and what a treat it was.

I’m not one for rocks, but when a Danish immigrant makes them into really cool things, I’m a happy tourist. The huge chunks of obsidian alone are worth a visit.

The museum was closed because they were finishing up renovation for their grand reopening in early April, but Matt peeked in through an open door, and we were beckoned in. We got to see the glow room (and the cool new glowing floors) and take in the fireplace which again, is worth a visit.

Peacocks live at the rock garden. None were feeling showy while we were there.

The garden sells cups of corn that people can use to feed the chickens and the peacocks. Matt coached a boy through feeding this pretty chicken.

Because the museum was closed, the old restaurant was serving as a makeshift museum and gift shop. This was also a treat! The counter! The wallpaper! The sign! Egg salad for 50 cents!

Our final stop on the way home was in Government Camp. I resisted the call of the house-made maple bars as long as I could, but I eventually gave in. And it was a good choice. I’ve not had such a freshly made maple bar in ages.