Wisteria, Dogwoods & Crepe Murder

Spring has sprung in Greenwood! Which means it is allergy season, but if you can see and breathe, you'll notice we are having a most beautiful spring. Wisteria covers trees like purple kudzu. The dogwoods bloomed overnight. People are trimming the crepe myrtles into stubs, but in a few weeks they will bolt and by July be full of new blooms. A duck laid an egg on our lawn.

Basketball

By the way, we did catch a Lander women's basketball game, the first round of the PeachBelt conference tourney. Lander handily beat UNC Penbroke, but went on to lose in the second round in a stunner to a 4 seed. The other #1 seed also lost, but both play on now in the NCAA Division II brackets.

Biking in Greenwood

I can't believe I haven't already blogged about how great the bike community in Greenwood is. Alan is a regular on the Tuesday night ride in the woods at Parson's Mountain, and we have already enjoyed several Saturday "Fountain" rides this year. Those meet at the fountain in Uptown Greenwood on Saturdays at 10, or after time changes Sunday, at 9. Depending on the weather, who is there and how long folks want to ride, it is usually one or two groups, 20-40 miles. We've been on a 40+ mile adventure to the border with both McCormick and Abbeville counties. Plus some 30+ mile adventures around Ninety Six, including a pitstop at the National Historic Site. There are Sunday afternoon rides too, usually at 2 or 3 from the adorable gazebo in Hodges. Looking forward to catching one of those rides, but my captain is usually riding in the woods on Sunday afternoons if the weather permits.

Word is the new county master plan "encourages bike and pedestrian traffic." We'll see what that means, if anything.

Chili's

Several weeks ago we ate at the local Chili's restaurant and met Kayla. She is a Lander college student who works as a server on Wednesday and Saturday nights. We like the Chili's menu, but we have eaten there more often in the last month than we likely would have if we hadn't befriended Kayla. If we start out on a Wednesday or Saturday night, it's "are we going to see Kayla?" Usually yes. Now that is the kind of server the restaurant industry needs more of, those who inspire loyality in customers. Great job, Kayla!

Lander Women's Basketball

I didn't make it to a game this season, and I'm disappointed in myself about that.

For most of the season, our local college's women's basketball team was undefeated and ranked #1 IN THE COUNTRY in Division 2. They ended the season yesterday with a 104-46 home victory and only 2 losses on the season.

They also wore pink jerseys yesterday as a breast cancer awareness promo.

Great job Lady Bearcats!

Community Theatre

Friday night we decided, kind of at the last minute, to take in the Greenwood Community Theatre production of Guys & Dolls. My experience with GCT in the past is that they put on good shows. This one did not disappoint. The show closes today, and I'm glad we went.

As I told Alan on the way out, this is the kind of thing I want to have in the town where I live, so we'd better get out and support it.

Winter Blues

Except for the snow, it's been typical, sucky SC winter weather lately and we are sick of it and ready for warm weather. "We" refers to the ladies in my 1:30 swim class at the Y. Thankfully we dodged the latest winter storm that socked in most of the rest of the country, including Dallas for the SuperBowl.

Between storms we did a little more environmental work, cleaning trash out of the pond behind the house. The ducks have been fun to watch, especially the hooded mergansers. Alan likes how they dive and pop up in unexpected places. I personally like their "mohawk" hoods.

Word is the bridge across town, on Cambridge, will be finished next month - 4 maybe 5 more weeks. I can hardly wait. That is the route I want to take about 50% of the time.

I've been back to bells twice and enjoyed it immensely. I like the music we are playing this semester, and I like the challenge of playing in a different spot each week. During our big snowstorm two ringers were injured. One broke her pelvis and is out for this semester; the other broke her wrist, which makes her a one handed ringer.

THUMP last published Nov 29th, but the website says THUMP 2.0 is coming Feb 14th. I have missed it and am looking forward to the new 'do.