Tag: OrangeDoor

Peacock Lane

Matt had the idea to go to Peacock Lane for our date this week, and I thought that was a great plan. I hadn’t been since I was in the single digits.

Peacock Lane is a few blocks of houses in southeast Portland where every house decorates big. This has been going on since the 1920s.

Here are some pictures from our walk.

For shear tons-of-stuff delight, this display of many unicorns was my favorite house. Some houses have elaborate themes (as you will see); but I liked this unicorn-centered house. Unicorns don’t even have anything to do with Christmas, but they were magical all the same.

Matt and I in front of the unicorns.

People live in these houses as we were reminded by this pair who were clearly standing at the door on business. I wonder how it is to try and drive in and out during the two weeks with the lights. There is a lot of car traffic (though it’s slow) and a ton of pedestrians. Do people just stay in? Park their cars on other streets?

Anyway, that was the Harry Potter house, and here we are walking through Platform 9 and 3/4.

The Home Alone house has a lot going on. It starts with this little shadowbox.

And includes several life-size depictions of characters from the movie.

The Star Wars house is nicely minimal. I liked that there were three distinct zones: red, Darth Vadar; white, Princess Lea; and green, Yoda.

A nice sentiment at this house:

And a fun homage to ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas at this one:

The Peanuts house was fun, including Woodstock on the Zamboni.

And here’s a nice greenery and white lights display:

On the way home, we stopped at our own Kenton neighborhood display:

I like to call it “I’ll have one of everything, please!”

Christmas 2025: A Visit to Rick and Linda

We had a good time celebrating Christmas at Linda and Rick’s new house. I had seen it just after they got the keys, but this time there was furniture! And a fun meal.

From left to right: Mary Stenaros, Pat Stenaros Matt Johnston, Larry Glass, Patricia Collins, Linda Johnston, and Rick Thalhammer

We also opened stockings, as you can see from these low-light action photos.

Many scratch-off tickets were scratched.

The tree ambiance was good too.

And here’s a picture of the Yule Log cake I made. It was my first one, and it turned out well.

Battleship Cinematic Universe Wins Big at The Movie Quiz

Did we win our very own Hallmark Keepsake ornament of Prince Dastan from the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? We sure did!

We won because we answered a specific question correctly, rather than for our high score, but I’m happy to win any prize at the Movie quiz.

And here we are again ranked number 17, holding up the bottom of the middle.

I enjoy that the top four winners all chose holiday-themed names: Miracle on 30 Farts Street; Menstrual Krampus; Porch Pirates of the Caribbean; and The Grinch Who Stole Quizmas.

Mark was our Father Quizmas, and a great time was had by all.

(Except our teammates Greg and Renee. They forgot to attend)

Matt and I Visit the Santas

It had been a few years, so Matt and I went to check up on the Bakelite Santas and see how they are doing. The riddle mentioned the old Pepsi factory, and I knew exactly where they were. I didn’t even need the words “sandy shore” to solve this particular riddle. Because the old Pepsi factory building is a thing of beauty:

While it did have some Santas in it, it didn’t have the Bakelite Santas.

These Santas were portraits painted by Terence Healy for the first year. You can see that one is a daytime version, and the other a night-time version.

The Bakelite Santas were across the plaza.

I agree with the write-up of the Santas; that you can see them glow from far aways is one of the coolest things about them.

This was a fun place to have them displayed because there were windows on three sides. This made it easy to spend some time looking at them.

They were standing in rows with packing peanuts serving as the snow.

I neglected to get any shots from the front, alas.

Matt’s Protest Work Pays Off

Matt has been working with Indivisible D-2 to organize a protest outside the Apple Store asking that Apple reinstate the ICE Watch app. Matt reworked at least eight Christmas songs, changing the lyrics to be critical of ICE. Other people made signs and worked out other logistics.

Matt wasn’t in town for the initial protest (they will be back every Saturday between now and Christmas) but was very excited that KOIN 6 covered their protest.

They even were second in the more-top-stories section.

Good job Matt, and Indivisible D-2

Birthday Dinner at Don’s Favorite Foods

We journeyed to Beaverton for my prix fixe birthday dinner. Don’s Favorite Foods did not disappoint.

It’s a very small space (6 tables?), with an open kitchen, and Don brings out most of the courses himself. The space is also done up like a 70s Long Island Basement with wood paneling and very familiar decorations (at least if you were born in the 70s).

Don sets a menus for the month, and offers a regular and vegetarian version. We ordered both menus and traded halfway through. This is a picture of the glazed pork belly with radicchio and apples (Matt) and the roasted cauliflower with currents, capers, and saffron. That was our first course after the antipasti, which included a sesame popover (so good!)

We also had linguine and clams (lemon) (clams are Don’s favorite things, according to our menu); roasted beef ribeye, salsa verde, braised potato (Kabocha squash risotto, red onion agrodolce, and roasted radicchio); Meyer lemon granita for a palette cleanser; and then chocolate olive oil cake with ricotta and candied orange for dessert.

I wouldn’t mind going back.