Pumpkin Ridge information

I'm having a fine Mother's Day! Reclining on the sofa, listening to the birds, resting my back. Yesterday, a work day at the old house for Jordie, Abby and me -- my back hurt intensely most of the time and I had to periodically go to sit in the car, with a cushioned seat. And my foot hurt very badly, too -- plantar's faschiitis, which is an inflammation of the tissues supporting the arch -- so that hurt, too. But, amazingly, yesterday, working together, was a really good day.

In the morning, Jordie met our buddy Tom Saucier and he took the canoe, and helped Jordie haul away an old reclining chair (gave it to a hospice patient who Jordie is volunteering with).

We had some stuff to get rid of...Jordie took a van-load of recycling to the Bethel Lane center. We are leaving the bins for recycling for Nicole and Dan, because, here, in the city, all we need are the two red recycling containers -- one for all papers, one for everything else.

And Jordie took a couple of van-loads to the trash, too. Abby and I cleaned. Dust-mopped the ceilings and corners, dusted all shelves, everywhere -- ran the sweeper, mopped the floors in Jordie's office, etc. And Abby even used the dust-mop on the ceiling of the back porch, and we cleaned off the table and the counter back there really well, and vacuumed! At the very end of the day, Jordie, Abby and I worked together to fix the screen door (do NOT buy one where the screen slides up and down in the door -- not easy to fix!) Abby had to stand for ages in her stocking feet on the cold front porch, holding the glass in place. I helped for some of the time, holding the door while Jordie worked, swearing and fixing...(rare for Jordie to swear!) Anyway, at the end of the day, Abby and I went into town, stopped at the house to get some shoes for her (hers had gotten really muddy) and went to Sunny Palace and ate, ate, ate! Hot and sour soup, veggie rolls, hot tea, and entrees, too! We brought home shrimp-fried rice for Jordie. He had stayed behind to put some closet doors on in the family room -- they needed to be planed down after the new carpet was installed last year.

So, this morning, Jordie is out at the house, getting the last few things, and, I imagine, taking a last quiet look at the home where we lived for 16 years, where our children grew up.

Below, I'm posting some photos of Pumpkin Ridge, because they are things we want to remember. And then, way, below, some useful information for living there!


When I saw these beautiful, huge living room windows, I knew the house was right for us. The light is beautiful, and the view....and the all-around-the-door shelves that Jordie made in the dining room -- those were great, and held so much stuff that the small kitchen just didn't have room for...











Jordie made these shelves for my birthday one year, working with Craig Benson -- this was our bedroom, and at each side of the bed, a little light -- plus, the shelves even curved around the corner, floor to ceiling. They are beautiful, and one of the best birthday presents ever.















Fixing the screen door, with Abby patiently standing on the cold porch (she could see her breath!), working together -- was one of those I'm glad we did it and it is good to work together but I am so glad it is finished! kind of experiences! Shelves to the left, built by Jordie, were great for shoes, mail, gardening gloves, flashlights, kippot -- and even space to sit on to put on one's shoes! And books to take back to the library, and stuff waiting till we figured out what to do with it...












The little TV room, in the bedroom-formerly-known-as-Adam's, with a couch under the loft, was a cozy place to curl up. And the view out the windows was very good for day-dreaming! And this was the room where Amalia always stayed when she came home for visits, seeking a little privacy....and where Adam would still go up to the loft and take a nap!












We gave this room to the girls to share after Abby was born. The wallpaper had little blue flowers in it, and Jordie painted one wall this incredibly beautiful blue!









Jordie made this really clever under-the-cabinet shelf for cutting boards, because in the kitchen, storage space was valuable!

















Big bathroom, scene of many small girls dressing up, etc.! With more built-in shelves, made by Jordie! And that great walk-in shower...













Now, to business. Here are some handy hints for living at 4420 N. Benton Court!

---The little store (formally known as "Lakeside IGA" although it is not near to Lake Lemon) is open at 6 or 6:30 a.m., seven days a week. It closes at 8, except on Sunday, when it closes at 6. Most holidays, it's open in the morning. It has Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and you can order sandwiches at the back counter. The chicken is good there, and in the summer, you can buy LOCALLY-GROWN tomatoes and corn!

---The Bethel Lane dump/recycling center is open at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. They close at 6.

---Best way to get to the Indy airport: From east Ind. 45, turn right on Bethel Lane (just past the little store). Turn right on Boltinghouse Road (think that's the second road off Bethel). Go to the end of Boltinghouse and turn right on old Ind. 37. Go until you reach Sample Road on the left (there's a red barn in the field just past Sample Road, so you can spot it easily). Go on Sample Road until you get to Hwy. 37,and turn north.

Just before Martinsville, turn right on Ind. 39. Take 39 through town to Ind. 67. Take 67 north to 465 West. When you get on 465, it's just a couple of minutes until you take the airport exit.

---I always told everyone to be careful exiting the Danny Smith Addition onto Ind. 45 -- you cannot see well if traffic is coming from the left and need to be careful! (Of course, in 16 years, nobody ever had an accident there, but still, it's good to be careful!)

---If you hear feet walking through the woods at night, it's probably deer.

---You will see lots of deer, and hummingbirds. A hummingbird sounds like a VERY LOUD bumblebee, so don't be startled!

---In 16 years, I only saw a black snake twice -- both times in the front yard. They are harmless.

---If you leave the house, walk down the street, all the way down Benton Drive to the end, turning right on Viking Ridge Road to the end and then even down the little extension past that cul-de-sac, and back home, it's two miles. So, a good half-an-hour walk.

---You can hear the tornado sirens when they go off -- they are situated at that church near the little store.

---If you turn right on Ind. 45 you can drive all the way to where it comes to an end -- at Bean Blossom, Hwy 135. You can turn right and go to Nashville, or left and go to Morgantown, Bargersville, Trafalgar, Greenwood...It's a very pretty, but wind-y, drive.

---If you put out suet, you will attract pileated woodpeckers.

---If you ever hear a sound as if a jackhammer is pounding on the house, it's a pileated woodpecker.

---You can sometimes hear coyotes howling.

---That tree just behind the little room is a male holly tree. I always wondered if a female tree were added, would it bloom? But never got around to looking it up.

---You can take a short-cut to get to North high school/Cascades Park/Old 37 by going all the way to the end of Bethel Lane.

---Lake Lemon is about 10 minutes away, driving. Off east 45, turn left on Tunnel Road.

---Oh, and Jordie can give you some safety tips about using the woodstove. When you have a fire in there, once in awhile the stove will make a loud "clang!" This is normal! It's from the metal expanding, or contracting...and the wood stove will warm the whole house, really well, especially if you use that fan in the wall to the left of the woodstove...

As we cleaned yesterday, the house was full of memories -- the bat mitzvah for Amalia when we rented three huge tents and covered the whole yard...and had a band and dancing...the high school graduation party for Amalia when we rented tables and O2R set up in the driveway and we danced...graduation open houses for Amalia and then for Adam....Jordie's dad, who finally came to live with us near the end of his life, sittng on the front porch and telling us that it was, indeed, paradise out there...setting up a borrowed crib in the big bedroom, changing it over from our bedroom to a room for the girls to share....the baby-naming ceremony for Abby, held in the living room, packed full of friends, reading poetry, blessings, etc. and Abby sleeping peacefully through the whole thing! Many happy evenings with friends around the dining room table...

I must stop and go to get cleaned up, to have dinner with my mom up in Greenwood.

Many happy years to Dan and Nicole in the house at 4420 N. Benton Court!

Moving is Hell II

Jordie and Adam just pulled up with the rental truck. I did not go to the old house to load up, because my back has been very sore this week (perhaps moving that bookcase by myself last week was foolish) and my foot is incredibly painful...our friend Mike says it may be my tendon. It's been so painful sometimes this week that I can barely walk on it. Today, I keep sitting down and massaging my foot every so often, to try to prevent that pain. I felt as if I were ancient this week, hobbling around! So I stayed here and put some hooks up in the walk-in closet in our bedroom, put a bunch of stuff away, cleaned up, put in some laundry, etc. I found my sewing machine and am going to make the cushion covers for the bamboo chair.

But, I don't even dare look at what Jordie and Adam are unloading from the truck into our garage, because if I do, we are going to have a fight. I asked him to not, not, not bring a bunch of junk from the old garage over to our new house. And, of course, he has. Because, to him, it's not junk -- it's possibilities. I don't even want to see.

Jordie and our friend Gregg moved the great fridge (that Mom bought for me just a couple of years ago, when she inherited some money) from the old house to the new house, and moved the fridge from the new house to the old house. It was an ordeal, and I can't believe they did it. Had to take the doors off the fridge...quite a production. Gregg's good humor helped that situation a lot!

This house is wonderful, and it's so much fun to see what is coming up this spring! I'm going to post a beautiful photo taken from the window of the "Miriam" room (my office/guest room, where I have my collection of Miriam prints hanging).


View out the front of the house, onto Montclair Ave. Springtime! Most of the front yard is a garden, planted with perennials. I love the way it looks to come home to -- much prettier than lawn! And I love the way the front walk winds through the garden -- in a way that my friend Bonnie says is very good, feng shui-wise! That thought makes me smile every time I come home. And I love that dogwood!


Here I was, feeling crabby, and Abby just came in to say that dad wants to know where to put the stone bench. (It was in the backyard at my childhood home on Barth Avenue, and then at my parents' retirement house...then at the edge of the garden at Pumpkin Ridge...and now will be in the front yard someplace, in the garden here. I told Abby to tell dad to surprise me.) OK, he might have brought more stuff here than I wanted, but he did bring the stone bench for me, and the fridge, which was so much work...and I feel so awful, that I could not help haul today. And Adam and Abby have been real troopers, helping today. Especially Adam, because he is grown, and strong, and I feel so sorry for him, because he is still exhausted from just being finished with finals.

My back is really hurting. I'm going to lie flat for a while!

Pumpkin Ridge thoughts

Last Saturday, we worked at the old house, preparing to turn it over to Nicole and Dan. Among other things, I cleaned the big bathroom really, really well....scrubbed every square inch, inside the drawers, all the ceiling I could get to, the floor, the walls, etc. It was almost kind of like saying "good-bye." Very cleansing experience, and not only the scrubbing! I thought so much while I was in there...I thought of soon after we moved there, when Shoshana, Jordie's mom, was staying with us. She talked about how much she liked that shower -- you could just walk into it, so easy, and the weather was so hot that we were all taking several showers per day! (That was before Jordie and I worked out our "If it's over 90 degrees, the air conditioning is on" compromise!)

And I thought of how many little girls have crowded into that bathroom, both Amalia and Abby's friends (we gave the big bedroom and bathroom to the girls to share after Abby was born). So many girls, jockeying for the mirror space, putting on make-up and play clothes. Girls huddling in the bathroom for secret conversations during slumber parties....later, after Abby got the video camera, girls would be dressing up in there for a dance routine to be filmed.

We've been having other memories, too, now that we are letting go of that house. The pirate birthday party for Adam, with treasure hidden in the woods, Jordie with one leg tied behind him to be a pegleg pirate...an obstacle course in the woods...the kids walking Gilbert down the road many times...many picnic dinners in the front yard...potlucks on the back porch with little white twinkling lights...kids reading in the hammock. I'll add more memories below later, and if the rest of the family wants to email me a paragraph or so of memories of the house, I'll post those as well.

Night.

What we've been up to...

Let's see. Our first day in this house was March 6. Since then, we have had 22 people for Passover; a Shabbat with Jo (Andy out of town), Bonnie and Lee, Vicki and Gal; Mom came down for a day with her friend Dee; we have had a Shabbat dinner with the Barons, Baron-Caudills, and part of the Sauciers; we have hosted two Israeli teen violinists for a week, which involved much running around; and we have hosted Jenny Rosenbaum, and during her visit had the Gabers and the Goldsteins over for a Shabbat. So, it's been busy but joyful! I'm going to post a few recent photos.











Uzi, Amit and Mei in the kitchen, eating and speaking Hebrew!













Karin (cellist, who stayed with the Kerler family), Miriam Kerler, Amit, Abby Shifriss, Mei, in front of the IU Auditorium after their performance.










Mei, Karin and Amit with Thomas Lowenheim, their conductor (from the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra, and a wonderful guy).















Jordie and Abby with Mei and Amit -- dinner on our back porch.
















Abby, just after her jazz dance performance on April 23, just before heading over to the IU Auditorium to see our houseguests, Mei and Amit, perform with the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra.

My favorite Olympic guy

Detroit Free Press
MICHAEL ROSENBERG: Cheek decides charity tops win
$25,000 donated to Right to Play

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

February 14, 2006

TORINO, Italy -- One way or another, the race was going to end with a gift.

As Joey Cheek loosened up before the final 500-meter race of his life, his girlfriend, Eleanor Collins, sat in the stands, knitting a scarf. She planned to give it to him for Valentine's Day.

Cheek had something much bigger in mind.

But first he had to finish skating.

Cheek won the gold medal Monday by two-thirds of a second, the speedskating equivalent of a three-touchdown blowout. Then the 26-year-old from North Carolina made real news: He would take his entire gold-medal bonus from the U.S. Olympic Committee and give it to Right to Play, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids in disadvantaged parts of the world.

"I think that's $25,000," Cheek said. "I've never won a gold medal, so I don't know."

It is indeed $25,000. (I've never won a gold medal either, but I looked it up.) And Cheek might give even more, because if he wins a medal in the 1,000-meter race Saturday, he'll donate that, too.

Of course, he could have donated his winnings without telling anybody. But Cheek wants to get the word out, and he is calling on Olympic sponsors to match his donation, which should bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to Right to Play. (You can help too: Go to www.righttoplay.com and click "Donate" under "how to help.")

"In the Darfur region of Sudan, there have been tens of thousands of people killed," Cheek said. "My government has labeled it a genocide. I will be donating it specifically to a program to help refugees in Chad, where there are over 60,000 children who have been displaced from their homes."

A few days ago, while he could have been thinking about his chance at gold, Cheek walked into the Right to Play office in the Athletes Village. He wanted to make sure the money would really go to the kids, instead of administrative costs or red tape. And while he was there, he ran into Johann Olav Koss, who just happens to be Joey Cheek's hero.

Twelve years ago, Koss won three gold medals in Lillehammer. Then he got to work. He founded a charity, Olympic Aid, which became Right to Play.

Cheek and Koss sat down for a cup of coffee -- a gold medalist and a gold-medalist-to-be, in the Athletes Village at the Olympics, talking about children in the Sudan.

"I love what I do," Cheek said. "It's a great job. I've seen the entire world, and I've met amazing friends.

"But honestly, it's a pretty ridiculous thing. I mean, I skate around the ice in tights, all right? If you keep it in perspective, I've trained my whole life for this, but it's really not that big a deal. But because I've skated well, and because I now have 15 seconds of microphone time, I have the ability to raise some awareness and raise some money."

A pretty ridiculous thing?

Doesn't this guy have an agent?

A golden gesture

It's strange. We came into these Olympics talking about Bode Miller, who complains that the Games are all about money and medals, instead of the Olympic ideal. Then Joey Cheek comes along and wraps his money, his medal and the Olympic ideal into one giant package and hands it to us.

A couple hours earlier, Cheek seemed like just another medal hopeful in a not-quite-full skating rink. When he finished his first race (the 500 is a combination of two timed races), he was way out in front of the field, and he exulted.

It seemed like he knew he could win gold. He knew so much more.

Collins went down to the ice between races to say hi to her boyfriend and give him a kiss. She and her family wore shirts with "The Fastest Cheeks On Ice" written on them. Eleanor's sister, Kirsten Collins, and Kirsten's friend, Carissa Wodehouse, are also here blogging about their Olympics adventure.

It is the kind of support that comes with only the best intentions. But it can make an athlete feel like if he sneezes, the universe will shake. And for a day, why not feel that way? How many of us ever do anything as cool as win a gold medal? Why not bask for a day?

Here is why not:

"I've learned how news cycles work," Cheek said, "and I've learned that there is a gold medal tonight, and tomorrow there's another gold medalist. So I could take the time and discuss how wonderful I feel, or I could use it for something productive."

Mission accomplished. As soon as Cheek opened his mouth at the postrace news conference, you could feel the average heart rate speed up in the room. Reporters from the biggest papers in the United States were there, along with NBC cameras, and Cheek had just dropped a wonderful story in our laps. And we could all be pleased about it, because this isn't just a feel-good story -- it is a story you feel good writing. All of us. As Wodehouse said, "Our blog is gonna rock!"

How unselfish was this announcement? Well, after a decade of competitive skating, Cheek will start college in the fall -- possibly at an Ivy League school -- and the four-year bill will probably come to at least $200,000. So it's not like he has $25,000 stuck in the corner of his wallet.

But the $25,000 is only a small piece of it. On the biggest speedskating day of a life dedicated to speedskating, Cheek decided this would not be a speedskating story.

A speedskating circle

This is a speed-skating story. Four years ago, in Salt Lake City, Kalamazoo native Kip Carpenter surprised everybody by taking bronze in this very event. Carpenter went on Jay Leno. A young woman named Brittany Merchant was watching and concluded that Carpenter was "hot."

Merchant looked Carpenter up online. She e-mailed with him. A year later, she finally went to Salt Lake City to meet him, and for moral support, she brought her best friend, Eleanor Collins.

Carpenter and Merchant never dated. But Eleanor and Joey have been together ever since.

"She's really good about keeping him on task on some things," said Joey's mother, Chris. Eleanor is the organized one. Joey is the dreamer. But this time, Joey stayed on task himself.

When Joey Cheek said he was taking advantage of his 15 seconds of microphone time, he meant it: He announced his gift because that was the best way to get matching donations. He didn't do it just so everybody would think he was a great guy.

Heck, before he had his microphone time, he barely talked about his plan.

To anyone.

"He said he wanted to help out," Eleanor said after Joey's announcement. "I figured he'd just volunteer his time."

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or rosenberg@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.



Giving to others is Cheek's gold standard
By Tom Weir, USA TODAY

TORINO — Speedskater Joey Cheek regularly gives reporters lessons on how a length of PVC pipe, a can of hair spray and fire can be employed to make a cannon that launches potatoes 300 feet.

The T-shirts his friends are wearing at the Winter Olympics say, "Fastest Cheeks on Ice." And the self-described bookworm is the first to acknowledge that his last name, appropriately, rhymes with geek.

But the often-comical Cheek turned serious Monday after his runaway victory in long-track speedskating's 500 meters. (Related: Cheek skates his way to gold)

Cheek, 26, announced he won't keep the $25,000 that the U.S. Olympic Committee awards to gold medalists. Instead, he will donate it to a program to help the thousands of Sudanese children who have been turned into refugees by warlords.

With the gesture, Cheek is attempting to follow in the steps of his idol, Johann Olav Koss.

After Koss' triple gold medal performance in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, the Norwegian donated prize money to Olympic Aid, a humanitarian organization that helped war victims in the 1984 Winter Olympic city of Sarajevo.

"The things he has done have been an absolute inspiration to me," Cheek said. "He has lived his life in the manner that I hope to live my life."

Olympic Aid since has been renamed Right to Play, and Koss serves as president and CEO. Cheek has designated that his 500-meter prize money go to help youth programs for the Sudanese at refugee camps in Chad.

UNICEF's website says 1.4 million Sudanese children, including 500,000 age 5 or younger, have been displaced from the Darfur region by militia groups that have destroyed villages.

"For me, the Olympics have been the greatest blessing," Cheek said. "I always felt that if I ever did something big like this I wanted to be prepared to give something back."

That chance seemed possible in late January, when Cheek won the World Sprint Championships.

Going into the 2002 Winter Olympics he had never medaled in an international competition yet took a surprise bronze medal in the 1,000. With the World Sprints championship — won despite arriving in the Netherlands from the USA with just two days to prepare — Cheek knew he again was on a perfectly timed roll.

"I thought I might actually have a shot at doing something great at the Olympics, and if I did, I wanted to make it meaningful," Cheek said.

Trying to put his skating fame in perspective, Cheek said, "What I do is great fun. I love what I do. It's a great job. I've seen the entire world and I've met amazing friends."

Then he added: "Honestly, it's a pretty ridiculous thing. I mean, I skate around on ice in tights, right?"

By Olympic standards, Cheek won the 500 with ridiculous ease.

The results were determined by combining the times from two rounds of the 500. Of the 37-man field, Cheek's times of 34.82 and 34.94 seconds were the day's only sub-35-second performances.

"I don't know how I skated that fast," Cheek said. "I'm grateful that I did. I've always dreamed I would skate that fast."

The key to his recent racing, he said, is that he has been more relaxed than ever.

Cheek said he arrived in Torino in a comfort zone, because he already had an Olympic medal.

"This Olympics has been 10 times easier for me," Cheek said last week. "The only impression I want to leave is just how grateful I am to get this chance again."

That inner peace grew after talking with Koss during the weekend and putting his donation plan in place. At the starting line, he was skating as much for those African children as himself.

"I think on some level it is empowering to think of somebody other than yourself," Cheek said.

Cheek glided through both rounds while other greats struggled. World recordholder Joji Kato of Japan placed sixth. The USA's Casey FitzRandolph, the defending gold medalist, slipped in the first round and placed 12th.

Cheek's mother, Chris, wasn't surprised by her son's donation.

"He's always been willing to take a stand and speak up for what's right," she said. "If there was a kid that somebody was picking on, he would be nice to that kid."

But, with a smile, she also addressed her son's nerdy side.

"He was really geeky," she said. "If he hadn't had skating, he wouldn't have been a well-rounded person, I don't think."

She added that she gave Cheek a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull when he was in the sixth grade in Greensboro, N.C., and that he still reads it before races.

"It's all about the journey, working hard and taking the risk," she said.

Cheek's girlfriend, George Washington University business major Eleanor Collins, also addressed Cheek's quirks. She noted the only thing Cheek wears beneath his racing skinsuit is Bjorn Borg underwear, sold only in Europe. Collins said she got a little tired of seeing him rotating the same two pairs.

"In the last year, he ripped a hole in both pairs," Collins said. "So I got him new ones when I was over in Sweden and gave them to him for Christmas."

Cheek's next speedskating journey will be Saturday in the 1,000, where he's considered a stronger competitor than in the 500. If he medals again, that prize money also will go to Right to Play.

After that, he'll have the World Cup finals, then be headed into skating retirement and his first days as a college student.

He has been turned down by Harvard, but he has applications pending at Yale, Stanford, North Carolina, Georgetown and Duke.

"I don't know who will let me in," Cheek said. "I hope somebody will."

After his performance and generosity Monday, one guesses there will be a few takers.

Moving is hell!

Just a note in case any of my good buddies look, because I have been completely neglectful...now the move-in date is looming, and the packing has to intensify...HAS to! Boxes everywhere. I've been sick with some kind of bug for a few days. I was out of sorts and aching Friday, but made it through the busiest day. Came home, too out of it to eat, went to bed, and then was sick all weekend, aching and headachy and chilling.

THe only thing I accomplished was to try and understand curling (on the Olympics). still don't.

This afternoon I got itchy and packed a few boxes full of videos. Abby did the DVDs. Late in the afternoon I realized that the dump was probably open -- not closed on President's Day. I quickly dumped a couple of big recycling containers -- all unsorted -- into trash bags, emptied wastebaskets into trash bags, and took six orange bags to the dump. (My mom says I won't go to hell for putting recycling in the trash this one time.)

Then, I came home and would not let myself rest until I had put three white bags (for charity) in the car, plus 7 or 8 boxes, to go to new house tomorrow. If I just do SOMETHING every day...

But nagging at me is the fact that I have not answred five or six emails from girlfriends, wanting to know how on earth I am and I am too tired mentally to answer individually. My head hurts really badly but I AM going to the Y in the morning and to work and to the Beth Shalom board meeting -- it's making me crazy to lie around at home.

Bye for now, and hope sanity returns soon to my life and our house!