Birthday cake among friends

Woo hoo! It’s my favorite day of the year. The day I celebrate being alive ... any day you’re above the grass is a good day, as they say. I love birthdays, even if they’re not mine, as evidenced by the 52 weeks of the Main Street Birthday Club.

To take my mind off the mostly gray, cool, drizzly weather of late, my thoughts turned to birthday cake. While I rarely eat cake, it’s really necessary to have something to stick a birthday candle in. As a child, I most often requested marble cake with chocolate fudge frosting for my birthday cake; later in my youth, it was Sara Lee cheesecake or Boston cream pie.

I posed the question of their favorite birthday cake to my Facebook village of friends Monday and received interesting responses. Many had fond memories of mothers, grandmothers, husbands and even brothers baking their special treat.

The top three birthday cakes were: tied for first place, German chocolate and carrot cake. Angel food came in a close third. On Team German Chocolate are Pam Houser, LaDonna Belmont, Jamie Benner, Jan Bryant, Dorene Branson, Vicki Fulton, Lynette Miller, Rebecca Martin and Marla Giese. Carrot cake fans are Jeannie Steele, Jane Pierce, Wendy Wenger, Cheryl Dickinson, Jackie Skillens, Kathy Hlebicuk, Rosemary Goodlander and Christina Petit. Preferring angel food are Kenna Lamas, Sandy Langston, Evelyn Howe, Julie Neale, Sue Sims, Linda Hall and Kari Malkovich. Cheesecake lovers are Rene Lusby, Julie Degon, Damon Darakjy and Idella Mansfeld. Voting for coconut cake is Marcia Rams and Dianne Ansbaugh.

One-off cake preferences are Kim Edmondson — Polish poppy seed roll aka makowiec; Brian Walker — pistachio cake; Marion Richardson — black forest cake; Patty Romero — Texas sheet cake; Dianna Barker — ice cream cake; Kimberly Clark — banana cream cake; Delraya Anstine — pumpkin cake; Lynn Kohl — wacky cake; and Dani Wolfe — popcorn cake. Mary Wolfinger loves pie and Janice Myers likes cake and her friend with a birthday near hers likes frosting. So they often share a birthday cake, win-win.

Sharon Stevenson and Tasha Seath say any and all cake is their favorite. My smart friend, Kenna Lamas, is among the angel food fans, but observed, “But really, with cake, you can never go wrong.”

Let’s blow out the candles and eat cake!

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When next week’s column is published, the results of the May 20, 2025, Primary Election will be known. Early voting is available at the Kootenai County Elections Department, 1808 N. Third St., until 5 p.m. this Friday.

Every election and office is important, especially those with taxing authority. At kcgov.us, there’s a link for the sample ballot for your precinct.

As the saying goes, we do not have a government by a majority. We have government by the majority who participate. Vote!

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Words of wisdom from 73 years on this earth ... I wish when I was in my 20s or 30s, I’d been savvy enough to have cultivated friends from many generations, but at that stage of life, we’re more likely to be surrounded by a tribe of peers of our own age. Reach up and down the generations for friends!

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Happy Main Street birthday today to sharing my May 14 birthday are Williene Gagnon, Stephanie Davenport, KJ Brant, Jaime Cornwell, Macy Ducoeur, Mark Hemenway, Rita Preston, Randy McKahn, Jake Hobbs, Kathy White, Liz Ricciardi, Breanne Ruff, Kimberly Westrick, Kristi Messinger, Caren Easterly, Bill Ohlfs, Linda Green, Katie Bane, Mitch Bevacqua, Chrissy Johnson and Averie Barnes. Tomorrow, Suzanna Spencer, Al Harrison, Lorri Gum, Patricia Braddock, Jack Wheir and Barbara Welch hear the birthday song. Friday birthdays will be celebrated by Wednesday Walton, Diane Wahl, Kari Malkovich, Cindy Barnes, Natalie Fritz and Michelle Richter. On Saturday, Bryan Myers, Allison Krutulis, Jared Janke, Brad Finney, Shawntel Shofner, Brad Enders and Christine Brannon take another trip around the sun. Vicki Isakson, Lauren Hopkins, Amy Corbett, Tom Ball, Corky Chadderdon, Shaun Johnson and Tina Haskin share a May 18 birthday. Laura Stensgar Penney, Nellie Thompson, Tom Lien, Vera Brown, Julie Kohut, Jessica Smalley McGreal, Tammy Rupinski and Rick Nowoj cut their birthday cake Monday. Jeannie Steele, Heather Hart, Barry White, John Goedde, Billie Gross, Shawn Nash, Tina Smith, Jana Hull and Lindsay Herbert blow out the candles to start the week May 20.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email [email protected].