Tag: OrangeDoor

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.

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.

Shevlin Park and The Grove

We did a nice hike in Shevlin Park. It’s quite popular, even on a Thursday in early March.

Then, we headed to the Grove for some lunch. Matt ordered some Thai food, we split some tempura green beans, and I picked out a grilled cheese with fries.

We had ice cream for dessert. I got the special Peeps milkshake. Marshmallow-hating Matt did not approve.

As we were eating the place was slowly taken over by teenagers. “Are we near a high school?” I asked. Google Maps told me we were.

March 2026 Vacation: A Visit to the Deschutes Historical Museum

Matt and I stopped by the Deschutes Historical Museum and found many fun things.

Among them:

This eighth grade diploma test for grammar.

I really enjoyed it because I’ve been teaching myself how to diagram sentences which is where you learn all the stuff they are asking questions about. Since I would get to skip two, I would not answer numbers 4 (my brain goes blank when I have to come up with different uses of a word) and 11 (I apparently haven’t learned what “principal parts” are?)

There was also a great display about Camp Abbot, a training site during World War II. My favorite detail was about the Great Hall.

Camp Abbot didn’t have an Officers’ Club, and the officers weren’t much fans of that. So they had one built. After the war, Camp Abbot was razed, but the Officers’ Club wasn’t on the plans, so it wasn’t taken down. You can still visit (or rent) it; it’s located in the Sunriver Resort.

Matt got caught up in the Don’t Be a Sucker film. It was engrossing (and perhaps relevant to today). You can watch the 22-minute film on YouTube.

And this is just a fraction of what we learned about while at the museum.

HH outside of Boone’s Treasury

Our vacation has begun! Matt and I stopped at the two Salem McMenamins to get our stamps (and our sandwiches.)

While at the Boone’s Treasury location, the server told us that Herbert Hoover’s initials were on the side of the building. She also told us where to find them.

And here I am pointing to the faint HH.

International Analog Day

What’s International Analog Day? It’s a day where we spend time doing things that don’t involve technology, where we party like it’s 1903. The day was created by Shannon Downey and friends, and promoted on her Badass Cross Stich site.

Matt and I decided to celebrate.

The Wednesday before the party, I still hadn’t figured out what food we were serving. But it was a day I went into the office, and also a day I forgot to bring my phone with me when going to the office. At lunch time, I realized I didn’t have anything to read, so I went out to the new books section and grabbed a book about party food, thinking it might inspire me. Instead it gave me my entire food plan: a mug party!

What is a mug party? The author had a tiny apartment when he first moved to New York City, and liked to entertain, but found that while people were happy to perch anywhere, it was hard to deal with plates and utensils while sitting crisscross on the floor. He had a lot of mugs, so he invited party food that could be served in mugs.

Et voila! The menu! Grapefruit mules, mozzarella sticks with marinara, a very green minestrone, one-pot broccoli shells and cheese, and a seven-layer sundae bar. To this I added a crudité platter, hummus, crackers and five bowls of noshes from the bulk bins at WinCo.

I was worried about the mug situation. Due to my constant discarding, we had four. Many people had not RSVP’d, so while I could tell the people who had RSVP’d to bring mugs, I was worried we would run out if a bunch of non-RSVP’d people showed up.

But! Walking back from New Seasons to buy the mint we needed for the mint syrup, Matt said to me, “Should we bring home these two boxes of mugs?” And there, sitting out for us to take, were about 12 mugs that someone was discarding. The party gods had provided!

Matt was an excellent sous chef, and I enjoyed the food prep.

As usual, I forgot to take photos when people were actually attending, but we had a good turnout, and the food was delicious. Sadly, I forgot to put out the coconut cream whipped cream for the sundaes, but everything else went smoothly.

What did we do at our analog party? As you can see, Matt made it very easy for people to play games. We also did knitting and embroidery. And I unknit a blanket Gail was making with what turned out to be not very good yarn. Kevin brought a Lego kit to assemble.

A good time was had by all.

When the party was done, we washed the mugs, and returned them to the curb for others to enjoy.