Orienteering meet at Hartwood Acres

I showed up promptly at 11 am at the Hartwood Acres entrance off Middle Road, but there was already a sizable crowd assembled. I got in line at the registration tent behind a couple of scouting groups and assorted others. While waiting, I got some tips on how to use the map and compass.

The idea is to point the centerline of the compass from your location on the map to your desired destination, then rotate the compass dial so that it aligns to north, measure the distance on the map, convert that to the scale ratio to determine the approximate distance to the goal. If you are really good, you maintain your bearing by keeping the needle aligned north while pacing off the number of yards...and voila.

It didn't work that way for me, but more on that in a bit. When I got to the desk, I learned that I could choose any of four courses, with increasing levels of difficultly. I picked the second easiest, the Yellow course, paid my $4 fee and was given a packet containing a topographical map of the park showing the locations of the course controls (orange flags placed all over the 600-acre property, a hint sheet with abbreviated clues where to look for the control ("Southmost rootstock," for example) and a scorecard to be punched at each control location to prove you were there.

When you are ready to start, you check in at the timing table, where they mark down your start time and away you go. After fooling with the compass a bit and studying the map, I realized that most of the controls were located near to paths, which were well marked on the map. I could see that if I walked along here and stopped before I reached that intersection, and then looked to the left side of the path, then it should be there.

And sure enough that's how it worked, first in the open field area of the park, then following Little Pine Creek (yes, that's the real name of our old creek) toward Hodil's, then swinging along our old trail toward the stables, and onward toward the north side of the woods before swinging back past the bandshell and then overland across the field and back to the start.

3.48 kilometers and 10 controls. I finished in 79 minutes. Pretty good, and enough time left for me to try a harder course. So I signed up for the second hardest course, Orange, paying just $2 for the second packet. (The official times are posted on the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club website here. Click on Meet Results and select the Hartwood meet to see my times. )

Guess what. The Orange course was much harder. Controls were further off the trails and they were hidden so they couldn't be seen at a distance. And there was a lot more elevation, including bushwhacking up the steep hill behind Hodil's, one of several areas of Hartwood where I had never been before. That part of the course led to the top of the pipeline cut, and then down over the other side into a deep thicket of woods where my trail-hugging strategy finally failed me. I couldn't find Control 7. Worse, I in fumbling around in my packet, I had dropped my scorecard. Bummer, without a scorecard I was going to be disqualified.

Then I heard some rustling off to my left about 20 yards—another orienteer who had just found Control 7. I made my way over to the flag and there under a rock was my scorecard. A friendly competitor had found it and left it there for me.

After that, there was no stopping me. I found the rest of the flags without further difficulty and hurried on back to the finish. Five kilometers, 11 controls, 132 minutes, 52 seconds. That was good enough for sixth place, but a full 50 minutes slower than the winner. (The competitive orienteers run from flag to flag.)

What a blast! It's a great sport for all ages. I plan to check out the Bay Area club. Doing it in our old stomping grounds at Hartwood Acres was an amazing experience for me. I heartily encourage others to consider checking it out for next year, perhaps as part of a reunion.

Of course, Hartwood has lots more to offer. The summer concert series brings in top talent in various genres. No acts named yet for 2009, but last summer you could have seen John Hiatt, Yonder Mountain String Band, Earl Klugh, and the Pittsburgh Symphony, among others. From the end of Green Valley Drive, it is about a 10 minute walk through the woods to the stage.

If the big reunion is summer 2010, let's do it on a weekend when there is a concert at Hartwood.

Visiting the Seidels

Having posted on the Linda breakfast, I realize I am way behind on other items, starting with my visit several days earlier with her parents, Don and Pat Seidel. They had been out when I came by in the morning, so I returned following the orienteering meet to try again.

They greeted me warmly and invited me in for a visit. Seeing that I was slightly heated from the exertion of the hike, Don offered me a seltzer, which he said is all his doctor lets him drink anymore. The prescription seems to be working, since he and Pat both seemed to be in very good health, as you can see for yourself in the photo.

Don had some great stories to share about the early days. He recalled that my father was a big help the day the Seidels moved in and discovered the house was without electricity. Stan (who had been in the U.S. Army Signal Corps) rigged up a series of extension cords and strung it over the unpaved street to protect it from vehicles.

According to Don, there was a week or so when I was keeping a toad as a pet, perhaps from the creek or maybe just out of a window well. I had it in a shoebox, hardly a natural environment for an amphibian. But I blamed it on my brother when it up and died—croaked?—a few days later. Evidently he had been poking it with a stick.

Don says I had an elaborate burial on the hill behind the Seidels' house, complete with a headstone of some sort, reading "Here lies Toady Ruby. Murdered by Walter."

I related the story to Walter a few days later when I saw him in New York, and he was still firmly protesting his innocence. It's okay, Walt, the statute of limitations has run out.

Anyway, it was a delight to see the elder Seidels looking so well and their home and neighborhood looking so little changed. With Jackie Fisher, they are the last of the old-time residents. Unfortunately, I had only a little time to spend with them before heading to the airport. I look forward to spending more time with all the Seidels when the gang comes in for that reunion next year.

Breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien

I had the same thought as Linda that breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien on West 65th St. was a long way from Giels—but maybe not so much. I think we both felt an immediate connection, as we swapped memories and filled in our life stories post-1964. There were even some intersections along the way. We overlapped in Boston when I was there in the mid-80s. I think Linda said that she was working at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston when my daughter was born there in 1985 (sorry if I got that wrong, Linda).

That's also where she met Phil, and began their marvelously successful life together. I enjoyed meeting Phil and briefly filling him in on how our family came to reside on Green Valley Drive in 1957. There's the three of us in the photo up top, and here is a snap of Linda at right.

I wish I had taken notes, because I know I'm forgetting some of the stories Linda shared. When I showed her how I scratched my leg on thorns during the orienteering meet, she reminded me that the woods were full of "jaggerbushes," and berry-picking was a big pasttime. That rang a bell for me since one of Walter's nicknames for Joanne back then was "Jori-Jaggerbush."

Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was Linda's connection to Truro on Cape Cod, where our family used to vacation each year in the late 1950s and early 60s. We stayed at a funky cottage community in a place called Corn Hill. Linda told me that Jackie and Alan Fisher had honeymooned on Corn Hill in 1950, and thus it seems entirely likely that my parents, Stan and Helga, learned about Corn Hill from the Fishers.

Linda also discovered Truro and Corn Hill from Shelley Fisher when she had settled in the Boston area in the late 1970s. A few years ago, she and Phil built a vacation home in Truro not far from those funky cottages. She says they are still in place, though they were sold off as condos a few years back.

Linda has a daughter in Tiburon near us and she is very close with Shelley in Mill Valley, so that's another overlap on the not-to-distant journey from the North Hills of Pittsburgh to our present cosmopolitan lifestyles.

Following breakfast, Linda headed off to tend to home-furnishing arrangements while I was meeting my daughter and heading to the airport. Now that we have made a reconnection, we are both looking forward to keeping in touch through this blog and at a future reunion.

Green Valley mini reunion-Linda's version

(NYC)It was a long way away from Giels but Linda Seidel, husband Phil and Dan Ruby shared bowls of french coffee and hazelnut flutes on W65th street earlier today. Philip became convinced that I actually DID know some Jewish people before I met him and many laughs filled the morning away. Zipping back and forth between current lives, not-so-long-ago and childhood memories is, as it turns out, quite a skill but we did pretty well.

I am looking forward to more such gatherings(hopefully Walter, Wendy, Nancy in NYC this summer?) and my daughter, Shana (Tiburon) has offered to be my stand-in for the not-yet scheduled Bay Area reunion.

Growing Up In The "Sticks"

Many folks that have grown up in the city like my wife Pam do not understand the pleasures of growing up in the “sticks.” On Green Valley Drive, we had many activities to occupy our time and all were free of charge. I remember them all fondly.
Firstly, among the outdoor activities for us boys, was baseball. We played on the field at the end of Farmview Drive. Due to the layout, the field did not have a right field but that didn’t matter too much since most of us were right handed. The home run line was the woods up above the Beale’s house. As we got older and could hit farther, we spent a fair amount of time searching for those home run balls. Until a backstop was built, we spent a fair amount of time chasing down errant pitches and foul balls on the hill behind home plate. Usually, there were not enough gloves to go around so those with no gloves used the gloves of someone from the batting team. The great thing was that everyone played; big kids and little kids. With no adults around, we learned how to settle our own disputes.
In the cold weather, we switched to football and used the same field. We played a form that was somewhere between tag and tackle; if you had a reasonable hold on a runner then we considered the play over. Again everyone played and we were our own referees.

The Field at the end of Farmview Drive
Warmer weather also meant traipsing through the woods and fields in the immediate area. There were plenty of animals and birds to be seen; deer, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, black snakes, mud snakes, an occasional fox, crows, hawks, pheasant, grouse and once even a turkey. It also meant fishing in the stream for chubs and minnows. We tried releasing bluegills and sunfish into the stream but they were usually never to be seen again. David Brady would also set traps mainly for muskrat and sell the pelts. Mr. Hodil sanctioned this because he was afraid the muskrat would ruin his pond by tunneling through the dam wall. Farmers got paid for those ponds by the Department of Agriculture so they wanted them to stay in tact. I wonder if that is still true today. Some of us, led by David Brady again, also tried hunting. If you ever want to feel foolish, try shooting at pheasant with a bow and arrow! But for me the best part of the summer hiking was the berry collecting. There were plenty of black raspberries and huckleberries (we called them blueberries) to be had. Those that we did not eat were brought home in hopes that someone’s mom would make a pie.
Winter brought an entirely different set of outdoor activities. The hill in our side yard was big enough for sledding and skiing as long as you avoided the swing set at the bottom of the hill. There were also good hills in Hodil’s field and at the end of Farmview Drive past our playing field. The pond on the farm could be used for ice skating. Hockey was tried as well until some got hurt (Dan Ruby I think). In addition, the Borough of Fox Chapel used to flood a field at Fox Chapel Road and Powers Run Road and allow it freeze so that people could skate on it. There were usually 40 or so people there skating. The nearby Pittsburgh Field Club also used to allow anyone to sled down the first tee of their golf course. You could go at least 200 yards before coming to the access road. A fine toboggan run!

The First Tee of the Pittsburgh Field Club
Winter also required more indoor activities. We used to play Square Mile (which we called Round Acre), a sort of real estate development game which Peter had. The favorite of Tom Ammons was Risk. Tom and I played a great deal of Canasta. Peter, Tom and I had a long running Hearts game. We were playing to 10,000 points or something. There were times we all gathered at someone’s house and read books. We started out with Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books but eventually moved on to James Bond. I remember a few other times where we exchanged stamps and looked at each other’s collections. The interesting aspect of this to me is that it was very rare that we did anything alone. Perhaps that is why I remember them all so fondly.

Running behind on trip updates

Great day yesterday on GVD and in Hartwood Acres. It's Sunday morning and I'm in an Upper West Side apartment where my daughter is cat-sitting. (Yes, Linda, we probably will have time to get together while we're both here--Tuesday could be the best bet. I'll contact you offline.)

Anyway, I finally caught up on sleep but we're headed out shortly for an off-Broadway matinee. So I won't blog in detail now. But here are a few highlights.

The GVD visit worked well. I have photos of every house from several angles. I was able to visit with Don and Pat Seidel (more on that in a future post). Also met the current residents of the Ruby home and got a detailed tour. And also met the new buyer of the Beale home. He did purchase it on foreclosure for $91,500, which he said was about half off. He is renovating and hoping to move in with wife and young daughter next month.

Orienteering was a blast. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the park was filled with people doing every kind of outdoor recreation, in addition to all the people running around with topographical maps and compasses. I finished two courses--the yellow and the orange--which took me all around the park. Much more to come on that in later posts.

Afterward, I drove down Wildwood to Babcock to McKnight and on to the airport. Total time on the ground in the Pittsburgh area was 26 hours but I managed to pack in quite a lot. I can't wait to come back next spring for the reunion.

Dan trip part 2: Lost in the ozone

I don't know how I managed, but I navigated through various detours to East Ohio and then finally to merge onto 28 toward Etna and Sharpsburg. I kept going and lo and behold I arrived in Blawnox, which seems to be a Allegheny River town with a wide-open zoning for bars and nightclubs.

Moondog's was a likable music bar/roadhouse place. There was an extra buzz with a national act playing instead of the usual local bands. I had missed only about 30 minutes of the show, but they went on for more than an hour more after that, and held back most of their hit songs to the end, so I was happy.

If you don't remember them, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen had a kind of hippie rockabilly sound in the 70s--a few successful albums and one big hit in "Hot Rod Lincoln." Commander Cody is actually named George Frain. He plays a boogie-woogie electric piano and fronts a hot band featuring a pedal steel guitar that adds a western swing flavor to the proceedings.

Frain at this point looks beaten down from a lifetime of playing in smokey bars--maybe something like Keith Richards. He has a bad limp, and he kind of stumbles around on stage. At one point, he knocks over his piano stand. Despite that, his strong voice and stage presence command attention and the songs got the place rocking.

About half the songs were old favorites: "Smoke That Cigarette," "Down to Seeds and Stems Again," and others. But there is also a brand new album with some great new material. He was working from a set list that was taped to his keyboard, and at one point he showed the list to the audience who were calling out songs he planned to do later in the program, as he called it. When he finished the last song of the evening, "Lost in the Ozone," he tossed the list out to the audience and I snatched it. Later on, it will be worth a scan.



Okay, time to sleep. My plan for tomorrow is to visit GVD starting at 9. I have to make my way over there via Guys Run Road. I imagine I'll figure it out. After all, I'm here for to learn orienteering. (I studied up on it on the plane, having picked up a Silva compass and a book on orienteering from the REI outdoors store the other day. I mean, I've only begun to learn but I think I get the basics of how to use contour maps with this special kind of compass so that you can determine the direction and distance to a point on the map.)

Anyway, with luck I'll have a couple of hours to photograph houses and say hello at the Seidels before heading on the event at Hartsdale. I might have another hour afterwards before heading back to the airport Saturday afternoon.

As I said, I hope to post photos in the morning. Otherwise, I won't be able to post again until sometime on Sunday. I hope this will do till then.

Dan's trip part 1: Bucs blank Braves

I'm finally settled in at a motel in Harmar, not far away from GVD and convenient to Blawnox, where I just had a wonderful time seeing Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen, a old favorite. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's been a long day after having had little sleep the night before. I'll give a quick wrap up now, and follow up with photos and more in the morning.

I arrived in Pittsburgh around 3, got set up with a car, and negotiated heavy traffic to get over to the North Side and PNC Park. The weather was beautiful and lots of folks were tailgating in the parking lots. I hung out for a while too, catching up on phone calls.

The gates opened at 5:30. I bought a "baseline box" in right field for $25, but set up instead on the sunny side in left field for the pregame. I remember as a kid going early to games to see batting practice, and thought that would be on tap today. But the Bucs' practice was already over and the Braves were on the field as I arrived. There were plenty of Braves fans down by the railing trying to talk to players.

Overall, there was a pretty solid turnout of Pirate fans. For someone who always sees the Pirates on the road, it is pretty exciting to be among a crowd of people wearing Clemente jerseys and every other kind of Pirates gear.

We all had plenty to cheer about as Pirates ace Paul Maholm and two relievers shut out the Braves in a 3-0 victory that had numerous defensive gems and some big Pirate hits from Nate McLouth (two-run homer in the eighth) and a pair of solid triples by Brandon Moss and Freddie Sanchez.

These Pirates are probably not talented enough to avoid another losing season, but so far they are playing like they don't know that. I have a sense for the first time in years that something is starting to gel. The pitching has been more than outstanding in the first 10 games. Several shutouts and complete games already.

I chatted with various people but mainly watched the game with another out-of-towner, a career Navy guy from Southern California who is trying to visit a lot of National League ballparks. He was at Turner Field in Atlanta earlier in the week, at PNC tonight, and going to Wrigley tomorrow. His own team is the Diamondbacks. This was his first visit to Pittsburgh and he was much impressed by the stadium and appreciative of the Pirate's rich history.

Closer Matt Capps finished the game with a one-two-three inning. I didn't linger afterwards, because I had another item on my agenda several miles up the river. Commander Cody was due to take the stage at Moondog's Saloon in Blawnox PA at 9:30, about the same time the game ended.

I'll continue in a new post.

novelty??

Hmmmmm, me thinks the novelty has worn off??

-Bill L.

More from Google Earth

I was fooling with the latest version of Google Earth today—very cool new features. I had hoped to make a movie with the view progressing down the street, but you need to have the expensive pro version to make movies. 

So here are two stills of the front and back sections of the street. You probably can't read it, but at lower left in the images it reads "Imagery date: June 2007"—very recent. Sure looks almost the same.  

Thompson Odyssey To Green Valley Drive

6902 Merton Road, Ben Avon
I apologize because I got a little side tracked with this posting but once I started it sort of took on a life of its own.

Merton Road was nearly as idyllic as Green Valley Drive. It is the last street in Ben Avon before Ben Avon Heights and was a short somewhat isolated street of about 15 homes in 2 sections. It is where we lived before moving to Green Valley Drive. I had my friends on the street (Rick Wessner who is now a famous silversmith and Barry Sutherland) and off the street (Ralph Sapp, Barry Haughin and John Warren). That first summer on Green Valley Drive, I know that I went to visit Rick Wessner and that Ralph Sapp came out to visit me.

My parents built the Merton Road house after our house on Clearview Road

Tom and Trish at 233 Clearview Road 1952

got to be too small (Ellen was soon to be on the way) and after our friends, the Bergerons, moved to Birmingham. My dad’s company, Vulcan Materials (formerly Vulcan Detinning), had slowly been shifting its operations from Neville Island to Birmingham, Alabama which is why the Bergerons moved. They had the house kitty-corner to ours and they had kids that matched Trish and I in age plus a few more. The whole family missed them greatly.

Merton Road is also more urban than Green Valley Drive. We walked to the school at Woodlawn and Dickson (about 6/10 of a mile) for first through fourth grades. Across the street from the school was the Presbyterian Church that we attended that has since burned down. Beside the church was the Trimble’s house which is famous for 2 things: it was used as the location for the movie Lorenzo’s Oil and the home of Mark Trimble, Trish’s Mini-Cooper driving one-time boyfriend. Imagine first graders walking to school now! Now imagine my fourth grade teacher, Miss Logan. She also taught my father in elementary school! In fifth grade we had to travel to the elementary school in Emsworth which was just over a mile away. Plus we had to come home for lunch because there was no cafeteria. Ralph and I had many diversions on the way home from Emsworth after school; Lattschalls (?) Drug Store with its huge array of penny candy, a bar on Center Avenue where we could buy 2 pretzel sticks for a penny and the soda fountain at Espy’s. If the weather was really bad, we could take the street car most of the way but it was too expensive to do every day 4 times a day. I also used to take the street car into the North Side on Saturday mornings by myself to the Buhl Planetarium to take astronomy classes. And people wonder why I have traveled so much.

However, the real reason for the move to Green Valley Drive was that my Dad had taken a job at Edgewater Steel in Oakmont. The drive was a long one from Ben Avon. My dad had a car pooling buddy that drove a very cool Volvo P1800 sports car who was one of the chemists in the mill but even that did not help. The downside of the move is that now my parents were both farther away from their parents. Despite that, my parents bought the house at 3912 Green Valley Drive for $23,900! It seems like we moved in over Fourth of July weekend 1959 with the help of all of my parents’ friends. Roger Bachman provided a truck as well as muscle. The men unloaded the truck and placed the furniture and the women unpacked the boxes. It seems like everything was mostly done in one day giving plenty of time for partying.

Now it appears that our house is no longer even there and that the house that was the Landig’s and then the Shug’s has the 3912 number. Our lot seems to have a large garage on it now. I will have to check it out when I visit in August.

Linda Seidel Herman's family-Aug 2008

Take that, Mrs. L!

Just wanted to show you all a picture of my daughter Lucy with Knickerbocker; having never gotten to the Lawrence stables, I made up for it with many days spent in stables as a "Horse Mom."

Dan's wacky idea

I was planning a quick trip to NYC for later this month and started looking at the possibility of stopping through Pittsburgh. I'm attracted to that orienteering meet at Hartwood on April 18, plus the Pirates are in town that weekend.

So here is what I might do.

• Arrive PIT Friday, April 17 at 3pm
• See Pirates vs. Braves at PNC Park that night (7:05pm gametime)
• Participate in orienteering meet at Hartwood Acres, April 18, 11am - 3pm
• Depart PIT April 18, 6:30pm

If I do it, anyone who is in town who wants to join me for either or both events is more than welcome. Airfares are very cheap right now.

Little family children

Wendy,

No need to be embarrassed because you do not know the "Little" children. I'm embarrassed and I DO know them!! :) By the way, Patty Putzie's older brother is Ray. My father married into the Putzie family in 1967 and I have yet to meet Ray. Also, the house past Chesleys... a family named Mattox moved there but I don't know when.

-Bill L.

3972 GVD: Burton, Aruffo, Chesley

1. Burton family. Yes, they did precede the Aruffos. Two kids, Audrey and I think David
2. Aruffo family, including John and Paul
3. Chesley family. John, Janet and Mary Ellen

3972 [ex-Aruffo/Chesley] from 3973 GVD, December 2008

Hodil/Hodel spelling and a reunion memory

Spelling Clarification for the Archives:  According to the venerable TUSKY (does anyone/everyone remember the Tusky?!) that I cannot currently lay hands on, by way of the Hampton High School 20th Year Reunion Program that I can, our beloved farmstead has long been in the hands of the Hodil family.  Linda, was it Bobby Hodil or his cousin, Danny Simon that made his way around our 1st grade classroom kissing the girls?

   And by the way, the choice of entrees at the 20th reunion included "Orange Roughie Almondine, Eye of Round and Fettucine Alfredo."  Linda MADE ME go.  

Early "Fisher House" residents

"Earache" was actually Eric Evans Ernst, son of Charles and Alberta Ernst. They lived in the Fisher House for several years and then moved to Ohio. Eric, a reporter, is with the Herald Tribune in Sarasota, Florida. Charles and Alberta unexpectedly stopped in and visited my parents in the late 90's.

My mother remembers that Mrs Ernst made me a beautiful dress when I was little, "I guess she knew we didn't have much money and she wanted you to have something nice." When I was 2 years old, I had a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction to penicillin and it was Mrs Ernst to the rescue; she was the first one my mother called.

Bob Thompson & the phones

My favorite story about Dad & the phones was the persistent background noise. Anyone remember what that was? We ALWAYS had KDKA radio in the background of our telephone conversations. Some people we've talked to actually picked it up in their bedsprings! Anyway, Dad called the phone company to complain about KDKA & was told that he wasn't being charged extra for that!!!

The Families of Green Valley Drive

Here is a list of the families on Green Valley as I remember them, in chronological order by house, starting at the top of the street (Thompsons') and working along that side to the end and then back up the other side.

1. Hall Family--There for a couple of years before the Thompsons.  Becky Hall was my age, had several siblings.  Thompsons, of course, had Tom, Trish, Ellen, Nancy and Flip.  (Plus a beagle, right?)

2. Landig Family.  Linda and Michael.  Followed by...I don't remember. A little girl named Carolyn.

3. Ammons Family.  Tom, Ann and Doris.

4. Matter Family.  Donna, Marilyn "Lenny," and Dave.

Then, around the bend to..

5.  Burton Family.  Yes, they did precede the Aruffos.  Two kids, Audrey and I think David.  Then the Aruffos, John and Paul.  Then John, Janet and Mary Ellen Chesley.

6. Ruby Family.  Walter, Danny and Joanne Bathtub.  (Sorry.)  The Yankers rented for a year when the Rubys went to Israel.  Don't remember the name of the family who came next.

7. Kegg Family.  Katie and a little brother.  Then came the Cummings family, Linda and Gary.  Mrs.  Cummings' beautiful garden has been commented on elsewhere.

8.  Weston Family.  Bruce and Brian.  Followed by long-time residents the Heverleys.  Kathy was the daughter, don't remember her brother's name.

Across the street to...

9.  Beale Family.  Peter, Wendy and Meagan.

10.  Bardello Family.  Eleanor, Frannie and Mary Ann.  And a very exotic Grandpa who used to visit.  He was from Italy!  He spoke Italian!  He went into Mrs. Lawrence's woods and picked wild mushrooms to eat!  What if they were poisononous???  Followed by the Harbur Family and then by the Lewis Family.

 10.  Seidel Family.  Davey, Linda, Susie and Tommy.

11.  Hmm... this one is tough.  I do not remember the first family's name.  They had a son named Eric, which Meagan pronounced Earache, because she used to suffer from that particular problem.  They were succeeded by the Kahn Family, Ronald and Maya.  And then came the Fisher Family, with Shelley and Anthony.

Back around the bend to:

12.  Richards Family.  Son Ricky.

13.  Gorman Family.  Debbie and Janey.

14.  Brady Family. Jim (?), David and Wayne.

15.  Putzie Family.  Patty and a very exotic older brother whose name I don't recall. (He was old enough to drive!  And I have an image of him in a leather jacket...could that be?) Then the Littles married into this family.  I'm embarrassed to say that other than Bill, I didn't know these kids.

16.  Ambill Family.  Mark, another boy, and then Danielle.  They were succeeded by, I think, the Presbowitzes.

17.  Yarling Family.  Linda and a brother.  Succeeded by the Moore family.  There may have been someone in between...help is welcome here.

So that is the list as I remember it.  Amendments and additions are welcome.

Battling the phone company

The wonderful phone system that was available on Green Valley Drive was mentioned by someone earlier. Some families had party lines with multiple households sharing the same line. Each family had different ring tones so you would know whether or not to answer the phone. The phone system was a very old rural phone system that was taken over by Pennsylvania Bell and it was very problem laden. Our family did not have a party line but there were many times that there was no dial tone when you picked up the phone. This happened so frequently that my Dad wrote down the time and kept track of the number of minutes (hours) that there was no dial tone. He would then prorate the bill that he was sent and deduct the amount from the bill. He would then pay the prorated amount which drove the phone company billing folks crazy. They would say pay the full bill and submit the times that the phone was not working and that they would credit the next bill but my Dad continued to do it his way (big surprise there!). He did this so often and called so often to complain that Pennsylvania Bell assigned a person to my father and gave him a direct phone number to this person. His name was of all things, Mr. Joy. Believe me he always got an earful.

It turned out to be a little dangerous at times as well. One of the Ambill kids put his hand through a door and was bleeding but when they picked up the phone to make an emergency call, the line was dead. Fortunately, the Moore’s were their immediate neighbor. Mr. Moore was the water commissioner for the Borough of Fox Chapel and technically was supposed to be living in Fox Chapel. Because of this, the Moore’s had a phone connected into the exchange for Fox Chapel instead of our antiquated system. Their phone always worked.

There were so many complaints by all the families on the street that the repair folks hated coming out. When they did, it was nearly a mod scene as everyone would run to the truck and start talking all at once. So I guess that some things are better now.

Latest Photo

My family has already seen this but it is the latest photo that I have.

nice blue grass

Hey Dan,

Just listened to some of your music... nice. I have played a little blue grass myself over the years. Acoustic guitar.

-Bill L.

Orienteering at Hartwood

Following up on Wendy's memory of Mrs. Lawrence, I did a little research last night. Here is a nice Hartwood Acres site with some historical information and great photos.

Here is Mary Flinn Lawrence jumping sidesaddle.


And here are some great photos inside the stables.



Here's something else that caught my eye — information on an upcoming orienteering event at Hartwood Acres. I don't think they had invented such a fancy word for what we used to do in Mrs. Lawrence's Woods, but I think orienteering was what we learned as we tromped around on those trails. If I were in the neighborhood, I would show up for this event in the novice class.

Where: Hartwood Acres, Allison Park, PA
When: Saturday, April 18, 2009; sign-in 11 AM – 2 PM

What is Orienteering? Orienteering is a competitive form of land navigation. It is for all ages and degrees of fitness and skill, and all-weather. It provides the suspense and excitement of a treasure hunt. The object of orienteering is to locate control points by using a map and compass to navigate through the woods.

What to bring? All you will need to bring is a compass (if you do not have one, we can loan you one), and appropriate footwear to walk in the woods.

Event Details: The courses offered at Hartwood Acres will include Cross Country courses for beginner and advanced beginner, intermediate and experienced orienteers. Cross country courses involve finding a series of control flags in a pre-specified sequence. Come early if you plan to do more than one course.

Sign In 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
· Must Finish the course by 3:30 pm

Instruction for novices: Available on site

Cost: $4.00 per map (family or group can share one map if they wish)

Event Location: Hartwood Acres, Allison Park. On Middle Road, near Central Elementary School. Look for red-and-white arrow signs.

Questions: Contact Jim Wolfe at jlwolfe@atlanticbb.net

Check our website, www.wpoc.org for complete details and driving directions for this event and the entire WPOC schedule of events.

Hope springs eternal (Bucs win opener!)

I promise not to do this too often, but I want to note that the much maligned Pittsburgh Pirates won their opening game yesterday, rallying with four runs in the ninth to beat the Cardinals in St. Louis. The game report is here.

The Pirates will almost certainly this year break the record for futility, the most consecutive losing seasons by any pro sports franchise, but there is some reason for hope that the new management has a clue and the team could be more competitive in the years ahead.

As Walter said, I kept my Pirates loyalty through years of living in other cities. I've seen quite a few Pirates games at Wrigley Field, Shea Stadium, Candlestick Park and PacBell Park (now AT&T), and elsewhere including a few games at the beautiful new PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Last year, Twyla (my daughter, age 23) and I were at PacBell and they put us on camera between innings wearing our Pirates caps.

Here's a picture of Twyla and a friend, not that day but on a similar occasion several years earlier.

Who married first?

If Dan & Wendy were the first among us to have/be boyfriend/girlfriend, who do you suppose was the first to marry? Joanne! Do you remember marrying Timmy Keegan in Hodel's field? Were you in first grade? Second?

Questions for Danny from Davey

Do you remember a beautiful summer day when we were in your bedroom listening to an afternoon Pirates game? We were keeping score on homemade scorecards. Your Mom came in and was not very pleased with how we were occupying our time. She immediately chased us outdoors to do something more productive.

I remember playing baseball in your backyard to the point where the bases were worn down dirt spots. The left field line was marked by those small trees over the hill towards Cummings (where Joanne and the girls would play) . Seems like we outgrew hardball and were only allowed to play wiffle ball at some point.

There was a very large rope swing from a tall tree in the back of Putzie's property. I guess for George Putzie and the older kids. You were swinging on it and dropped something. I can't remember what - a pocket knife? There were three of us looking all over the grass for it. Then you got the idea to retrace your swinging pattern and you did spot the object but lost your grip and fell hard and lay motionless. I thought you were dead. Seems like someone's mother came out to help you. Do you remember that?

What about helping Dr Aruffo build the wall in front the Aruffo/Chesley house with those huge stones from the Civil War Arsenal? They had a large garden planted behind it. Any memory of the kids up on Farmview? Kenny Hartzell or Skeeter Ridley? We played a lot of baseball and football up there at the end of the street.

I get confused a bit on the following - was it the 3rd grade that your Dad home schooled you? (of which I was so amazed that your Dad was smart enough to do that. How did he know how to do that?) And then 4th grade, you were in Israel? Was 5th grade when you were back at Central? What about 6th grade? Did you just not go because you were leaving Green Valley that year? I can not remember.

I remember us reading the Hardy Boys books and trying to write our own mysteries. And lastly, do you remember a cold spring day with winter coats on that we were playing in the creek below Hodil's field. We got our shoes and pants wet. The creek was very high in places and then you just decided to jump all the way in and start swimming around. I joined in. Crazy. We walked home soaking wet and shivering. My coat smelled like creek water.

Dan playing bluegrass

Okay, I'll go first. This is a news clipping of me playing in a bluegrass band, Foggy Gulch, from a street fair in Oakland last fall. The caption fairly hilariously misidentifies my instrument.



At first I thought we'd have everyone add photos to this one item, but that is going to be too complicated. Instead, the brave among you should step up, create a new post with a recent photo or several photos (using the "Add image" icon in the toolbar), add a short text caption, and hit the orange publish button.

If you are curious about Foggy Gulch, it's a hoot to finally play in a band after all these years. A couple of the members are really good, not including the mandolin player who is only somewhat good. Here's Foggy Gulch on MySpace.

Mrs. Lawrence

I do remember seeing Mrs. Lawrence once.  It was when we first moved in to our house.  We (my dad and mom and Meagan and I) were standing in the driveway, when Mrs. Lawrence appeared from the woods.  She must have come on horseback, though I don't specifically remember the horse. She was standing on her property, right by the top of our driveway, with a broomstick in her hand. She then drove the broomstick into the ground and told us not to venture beyond it.  That marked the property line, and we had better not come onto her land.  She had silver hair, a blue shirt and a brown suede jacket, and she was very angry.  I thought that that was what a witch must look like.  (And probably, my mother was muttering "Witch!" under her breath.)  

In order to get our car into or out of our garage, you had to do a three-point turn.  And every time my mom or dad did a three-point turn, the car just managed to bump into that broomstick.  In a matter of days, it was flat on the ground.  I don't think we ever saw Mrs. Lawrence again, though I remember dreaming about her.  I guess we didn't listen too carefully about staying off her property.

It does raise the question, though--does anyone know who owned the property that was sold to the developer (Vernon Fry???) who built Farmview and Green Valley?  Do you suppose it was the Hodels?  Or Mrs. Lawrence herself?

Additional pictures

It feels rather strange to be the "newcomer" (1968) to the Greenvalley gang, but... I was sort of wondering... I mean, well, pondering... kind of thinking... since some have sent great pictures of the landscape from the early 60's might we consider sending some contemporary personal photos??? You know, it you want to, sort of... :)

-Bill Little

Outstanding response to author invitation (plus posting tips)

So far we have Tom, Ellen, Linda, Shelley, Nancy, Walter and Bill signed up as authors. I'm sure Meagan, Joanne, David and John will be on board soon. [Oops, I forgot to invite Wendy. Thanks for the heads up, Shelley. Wendy's invite just went out.]

Meanwhile, Tom and Nancy have gotten things off to a great start with their new posts. Tom's item moves the project forward in several ways. First, great images can really bring the memory alive. Inserting images is fairly self-explanatory. The one thing to be careful with is the size of your images, especially if the photos come from your digital camera. I recommend resizing images to 800 pixels wide (or less) before uploading.

Even cooler, Tom has begun making use of labels. Labels is a powerful blog feature that will allow us to categorize posts by topic. My plan was to go back and insert labels on all the old stuff, and then tell you how to do it, but Tom beat me to it. Now I recommend that any time you are posting, you should insert appropriate labels with the post. You can create new labels or select among those already in use (click "Show all" for a list).

I've also added a list of "The Gang" in the sidebar. I could make those into email addresses. We could also add pictures. Also, we should add a link for joining the group. Maybe that would go to someone who is more the group organizer, which is a broader role than my sysadmin function. [I've inserted Nancy in that role, but can substitute someone else who wants to be the recruiter/membership person.]

Finally, also in the sidebar is the nice little slideshow. It is easy to add new images to the slideshow by uploading your photos to a Flickr account (you can create one for free). Once uploaded, tag your photos with the term 'greenvalleydrive'. After a short while your images will start appearing in the slideshow rotation.

This is PERFECT! Thanks, Dan.

The Big Bicycle Trip

I am fairly certain that the bicycle trip that Peter, Walter and I took (they may have been others) went to Glade Run Lake

which is just inside Butler County between Route 8 and Saxonburg Boulevard. The route would have been out Saxonburg Boulevard through Curtisville and Culmerville to Glade Mill Road (Route 228). Then east on Glade Mill Road to Sandy Hill Road and on to Glade Run Lake. It would have been about 20 miles which is very doable in just a few hours. Seems like we camped there for 2 nights and then returned. Someone's Mom dropped off all the camping gear for us and then picked it up so we didn't have to carry much. I did something very similar when 5 of us bicycled the Canadian Rockies from Banff to Jasper in June, 1976. It seems amazing to me now that we were all allowed to do that.

Grafted into Green Valley

When the idea of gathering the Green Valley gang to write a collective memoir about growing up together first burst upon me, my husband liked the idea so much that he wrote an "outsider’s foreword":

I remember the first time I set foot on Green Valley Drive – December of 1976. I pulled off the Pennsylvania Turnpike onto Route 8, a conglomerate of fast-food, motels, and assorted stores that could be anywhere in the United States. A left on Harts Run Road and, just like that, I was on a winding country road. Green Valley is easy to miss. A sharp, downhill left turn into 1960’s suburbia. I half expected to see Rob and Laura or the Cleavers. Instead I met a young man waiting in the cold for one of those Green Valley girls. It turns out that we were waiting for the same girl. That began my relationship with Green Valley. I ended up marrying that girl (while the other guy had to find another girl on a street without as much substance).

My name had hit Green Valley a month before I did. A story I told to Nancy was passed on to Linda, who then passed it on to her family – ruining their Thanksgiving dinner. When I arrived, everyone already knew me. That’s the kind of street it was.

Before I had warmed up from the cold, Linda burst into the Thompson home to meet Nancy’s "new friend." Linda said she was "working with the mentally disabled." I was impressed until I found out that Linda was working in a workshop, not helping those with disabilities, but holding the same job for the same pay as they were. I have often wondered if Linda carried her own weight at that job, or if they had her there in some type of token role.

Later, I took my first walk around the bend to meet the Fishers and Seidels. Mrs. Fisher welcomed me as she did everyone, engulfing me in a motherly hug. But she didn’t look like the mothers I knew. It was pretty heady stuff for a college guy.

Before leaving Green Valley, I got to sit under the Shady Tree. It is memorable less for the tree than for the company. As Nancy and I approached the tree, who should come around the bend but Linda with Nancy’s old boyfriend. Two Green Valley girls with two male outsiders. I remember that Linda hardly said a word, seeming to revel in the awkwardness of the moment. A short time later, I pulled out of Nancy’s driveway – Nancy and her old boyfriend in my rearview mirror and “It’s cold out, but hold out…” playing on the radio.

Despite the auspicious beginning, I learned to love Green Valley Drive. It became a home away from home. Nancy’s friends became my friends, and continue to be so today. Twenty-two years later, we sent our oldest son to college in Linda’s backyard. Again, we got to spend more time with her and the other Green Valley transplants. And I was reminded once again of what a unique place Green Valley Drive was.

I am heading off to my 30th high school reunion this summer. I have never been to one. I have no contacts with anyone prior to college. No one on any of the streets where I lived. No one from the wrestling team. No one. But I often see Linda, Bill, and Ellen, and keep in touch with Doug, John, and Shelley. They have maintained relationships all of their lives. They married, moved to places like Boston and York and San Francisco. That old saying remains true, even if modified a bit, “You can take the girl out of Green Valley, but you can’t take Green Valley out of the girl.”

You don’t want to miss this trip down memory lane – around the bend. So, kick off your shoes, pour of glass of tea (in a clear glass mug like Jackie always served), find a cozy spot and lose yourself in a place that is more interesting than fiction.

Tom Thompson shares photos from 1959-61

Green Valley Drive January 1961

Green Valley Drive Summer 1959
Hodel's Farm January 1961

Hodel's From Top of Tree Behind Thompson House Summer 1961

Peter Christmas 1968(?)

Randy Moore at Hodel's Creek Summer 1960

Walter, Peter and Tom Circa 1960

Blog or social network?

On Apr 3, 2009, at 12:01 PM, David Seidel wrote:

And what about a Green Valley blog? This E-mail is cumbersome.

I agree. Either a group blog or a social network. If it is the first, I'd be happy to set it up, probably in Blogger. Any ideas for names? This time we could probably improve on Green Valley Gazette.

A social network group would also make sense as a way to proceed. I'm on Facebook and several others, but am frankly not a big social networker. So if that's the direction we want to go, someone else should take the lead.

Hi to Davey and our Bay Area Chesley neighbors.

Dan

Skunk cabbage and the creek where it enters Hodil's field

-John

Shelley: Ride the wave or drown

What a tsunami of memories! Watching everyone ride the wave has been exhilarating and incredibly powerful. Meanwhile, I'm still on the beach parsing through the incredible family scholarship that is the Ruby Family blog! However, before the wave crests, I wanted to offer my 14 year old son's idea that we form an internet group via some vehicle like Facebook, where we can send links, invitations, communal and personal messages, etc. in a more efficient fashion, especially since there is a nascent plan for a Green Valley Reunion in the summer of 2010.

One memory others haven't mentioned yet, dating from the Ruby era, and staged mainly in the Aruffo (later Chesley) yard consisted of the genders facing off in free for all hand and foot combat, complete with the throwing of acorns and small fruits. What a rush! This "fierce" tomboy loved it. And, oh, the lightning bugs......and wild strawberries... and hanging at the Seidel's play gym doing endless skin-the-cats.......or chalking hopskotch boards on the flat top...and the red wagon rides down the hill (looking for or fleeing "Auntie.")...

Love to all,
Shelley

P.S. Yes, Joanne! I live in Mill Valley with my Green Valley husband, 2 late in life children, a parrot and a gecko! (We actually looked at Piedmont when we were facing the big migration.) Wow.
P.P.S. Big Kids: Thanks for becoming known, Titans!

Party line

Remember that crazy "party line" phone we had? A single phone line that would ring at every house. Our ring was four long rings. You could pick up the phone and listen in to any one else's conversation.

-Meagan

The Lawrence estate

My favorite memory of Lawrence's is one I shared in a letter recently:

I grew up on Green Valley Drive -- between a farm with a hundred cackling hens (and one loudly braying donkey) and the wooded streams of the Lawrence estate. My friends and I knew, in that vague way of children, that there was a mansion somewhere in that enchanted forest, but we never dreamed one could get there on foot (as opposed to pumpkin carriage or magic carpet). For years, we caught salamanders, followed the creek to a winding dirt road, and threw ourselves on the ground every time a plane flew overhead (as we screamed, "Patrol plane!" sure that it was on a mission against child trespassers).

One summer day, we walked farther than usual. Thrashing through a tangle of mountain laurel, we burst into a clearing – stunned by this sight:

Was it this day or another that Shelley and I went to the front door and asked for a drink of water (to be sent to the side door, which we peered through eagerly)? They sent the dogs on us as soon as we left.

The woman who works at Hartwood what's a classmate of Flip and Anthony's. I called her once and we had a long conversation. She filled me in on the fascinating history of the Lawrence family. It would be a great place for a reunion...

I walk there every time my travels take me over the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It's still such a reflex to hit the groundand yell, "Patrol plane!"Every time a plane flies overhead. I don't even have to say it; my husband says it for me.

I remember carrying Anthony through the muck after he lost his shoe (in my memory it's a cowboy boot) we took a shortcut through the muck of the field that connects Hodil's to Lawrence's.

My MMC initiation test included a complex essay question that went something like this: You are in the barn by DeBaldo's. Someone comes in. You need to run out quickly, but there is a bucket in the doorway. What do you do?

Nancy

Sneaking into Mrs. Lawrences stables

One adventure which I participated perhaps with Tommy Thompson and Peter Beale was sneaking into Mrs. Lawrence's stables and seeing all the horses (Dan Ruby, were you there too?) We routinely disregarded all the "Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted" signs to walk through her woods at will and catch crayfish in her creek, but sneaking into the stables was something else again. Another interesting Green Valley Drive personality several years older than myself was Tom Ammons, or as we called him in Pig-Latin, Mot Sanomma. He was sort of a philosophical beatincky type; a bit like Maynard G. Krebs, if I recall. Tom Thompson was probably a year older than me and therefore closer to Tom Ammons (who lived 2 or 3 houses way from the Thompsons) than I was, but I sure admired his inflappable, almost existentialist hipster style.

Walter

April 3, 1962

Tomorrow, April 3rd, is my sister, Susan's 50th birthday and I am planning and scheming away with her husband and 2 teenaged daughters.

One of my earliest memories is throwing a party for Susan in the woods when she turned 3. Knowing me, I would have invited MY friends and am wondering if any of you remember that event? It was held in the woods behind the house that was in between the Beales and the Seidels. I have no idea why we chose that location...Who lived in that house then?

Linda

Bill Little on tree forts and the Rat Barn

Hey Linda,

I doubt this is what you are referring to, but Dave (I think Dave was there??), John and I built a "tree fort" on the Laurence (lawrence??) property that was so high we were basically afraid to go up into it. I remember hanging from the tree using two belts strung together to place the first boards. It was insane! I don't remember where we got all the wood, but I remember confiscating some of it from my dads garage. I doubt I told him about it! :)

Also, I have gotten great mileage over the years sharing exploits from the "Rat Barn".

I have enjoyed reading the accounts written by names I have only heard over the years. I moved onto Greenvalley long after some of you were gone. But that being said, even being a late comer, my life was deeply affected by the time spent there and the life long friends (and spouses) made. :)

Blessings to you all.

Bill Little

Shelley (Fisher) Chesley: Hodil's farm by the shady tree

This is the place where memory and the future are for once in our lives one and the same. "Go, said the bird, for the leaves are full of children, Hidden excitedly, containing laughter."

Crayfish in Hodil's creek

Beautifully rendered. Tommy. Green Valley was all of that and more--a natural heaven for kids, though by the time I was 14 and we moved I was glad to move to the more conventional suburban town of Glen Ellyn, Ill, where you could walk to downtown and hang out at the soda fountain on Main Street as opposed to Giels. But as you say, it was amazing to be able to ski in Hodels and catch crayfish in the little creek that flowed out of Mrs. Lawrence's woods into Holdels. Our dog Shaggy ran free and would come home after a long hot summer's day from luxuriating in the creek. So many memories....I remember in junior high going on a 2 day bike trip with you and peter and camping out somewhere up Saxonburg Road. Quite an adventure...How did you know I lived in madison? I actually left there in 1975 and was last back in 1994. Wonderful town also...

Walter

Tom Thompson remembers an charmed Green Valley childhood

After living in several places after Green Valley Drive and college (Chicago area, Los Angeles area and now the Seattle area), I have come to realize that that we all had an amazingly great childhood there; dare I say a near Ward and June Cleaver existence.

It probably had something to do with the isolation of our street and Farmview and the fact that there were sooo many kids. I think I counted once and came up with 52 kids in 18 households on Green Valley alone.

There were enough of us boys around that we could play football and baseball at the end of Farmview among ourselves. We had to learn how to settle all our own arguments (no Little League umps or parents in sight) and still had a really good time. There were also the thousands of acres of open land that we could roam around in.

My parents had a railroad bell that would call us home for dinner or whatever and you could hear it for miles around. I remember once being at the top of hill overlooking Hodel's farm more than halfway to Saxonburg Road and heard the bell. My parents wondering why I was so late getting home.

Another thing and this may also be due to our isolation, there were many activities that we could do locally and none of it cost any money. We could fish in the stream running through Hodel's, ski, toboggan and ice skate all for free and very nearby.

I have told people everywhere I have lived that I had probably had more fun in winter. I don't think that they believe me. We could ski in our yards and the fields at Hodel's. We could ice skate on the pond at the farm or the flooded field in Fox Chapel. We could toboggan down the first golf tee of the Fox Chapel Field club (probably the only time peons like us could go there). And all for free! Anyway, in many ways, it seems now to have been nearly ideal.

Tom

Ellen: Our special childhood

I often wonder if other children grew up the way we did - if they kept in touch with one another & have the fond memories we have. Nan - I think this series of emails & refinding each other would be a great framework for a book of loosely connected stories. Joanne - rumor has it your middle name is no longer "Bathtub." I distinctly remember watching you "help" your dad with something up on the roof of your house!

Ellen

Nancy: Green Valley Gazette and Around the Bend

I wonder if there were two installments of the Green Valley Gazette because there was also one "published" by us younger kids too. Wendy's desire to write a thoughtful evocative essay and her exuberant outpouring of recollections reminded me of something I longed to do a few years back: gather essays from the Green Valley Gang and publish them as a book. The tentative title, in my little head, was Around the Bend.

Remember playing "Release," and hiding in the black newspaper box at the top of the street? The donkey that brayed each morning from Hodil's farm? Skating on Hodil's pond? Sledding down our front hill? Wishing we had an exciting childhood and lived in an exciting place? The MMC (Moriah Mystery Club, which I had to pass both written and skills test to enter as a junior member, and to which Joanne was voted in while she ran inside for lunch)?

Linda, there was also Dudt's Bakery (at Shopper's Plaza, I think).

Nancy