The Heritage Trail

When I moved to Greenwood the first time in late 1999 the Heritage Trail was a year old and improvements were still being made. It was a gem, and I enjoyed it many times, walking and biking 2.5 miles from Uptown to the south edge of town, through neigborhoods old and new, with view of fields, forests, industry, and creeks.

Also new while I lived here was West Cambridge Park, an area transformed from inner city train yard to neighborhood playground and walking trail.

I have been wanting to check them out again since I moved back to town, but it's been getting colder and darker every day and I haven't made the time. Finally Saturday my honey agreed to spend the morning exploring with me, despite the 15+ mph winds and temps around freezing. We bundled up and took the mtn bikes to the north end of the West Cambridge walking trail, at Waffle House on the bypass.

From there to the park was in amazingly good shape for a non-paved trail. It could use a bit of maintenance, and it is currently closed at the park for the bridge repair on Cambridge Avenue, but it has great potential when reopened. The views were more open than I've ever seen and we peeked at part of Greenwood we have never seen. Couldn't tell much about the new Lander sports complex from the back, but the trail should be a real asset to that recreation facility, although I do wonder what is up with the ditch FULL of broken concrete. Hope that isn't permanent.

From the park we took to the streets through Uptown to The Heritage Trail on South Main Street. 2.5 miles later we were at Florida Avenue and I was impressed with how well that paved trail has held up over the years. It would use a little maintenance, but by and large has held up well for a 12 year old trail. I really appreciate both community assets and hope for more. I want to live in a town that values good parks and trails.

Click here to view a map of our route

Christmas Snow

This was the morning view in Greenwood on December 26th.

Greenwood Festival Chorale

Thanks to John Eichelberger for accompanying me to this concert Tuesday night at Lander University. Christmas Around the World featured 64 voices celebrating the season with lullabies from Spain and eastern Europe, carols and hymns from Latvia, France and Haiti, and traditional songs like Silent Night, Feliz Navidad, Jingle Bells and White Christmas.

Kudos to my new friend from bells, Nickie Murphy, for her excellent soprano solos. Bravo to the instrumentalists, who were a big part of the "entertainment," especially the duet and 5-hand piano pieces.

I've already marked my calendar for the Chorale's next performance - March 6th at 4pm at First Presbyterian Church.

The Arts Center

Wow! I had a chance today to pop into the old Federal Building in Uptown Greenwood today and check it out. NICE addition to Uptown. Can't wait to go back.

Connie Maxwell Christmas

Alan and I enjoyed being part of our new community on Friday night. We took in the Christmas lights, music and other events at Connie Maxwell Children's Home. CM has been serving children and families for 85 years and for the last 11 has invited the community "on campus" to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Christ and the possibility of peace on Earth - with musical presentations, a petting zoo, and the ever popular horse-drawn wagon tours. It was a beautiful, crisp night and many were out with their children, enjoying the free hot chocolate while waiting to ride or to touch the steer, donkey, goats, bunnies, llama, and several baby goats born only 6 days ago. The children of Connie Maxwell played tone bells to several carols inside a packed Connie Maxwell Baptist Church, followed by 4 songs performed by the Emerald Bells, a community handbell choir.

We caught a late dinner at the local Outback Steakhouse, and I must comment on this chain because of the excellent service and new menu items we had. Greenwood was chosen along with two large market (maybe Cincinnati & St. Louis) Outbacks to test some new dishes. We really liked the size and taste of the Chicken Artichoke flatbread appetizer. Jamie was manager for the night and shared this news with us. Katie, our server, is a senior at Lander in biology and a Greenwood native, and she had a great attitude. So did the hostesses, who were scrambling with pagers that kept resetting just at the end of their busiest time. Everyone had a smile and made our visit terrific. I'm not a huge fans of steakhouses, generally, but I really enjoyed our time at dinner Friday.

Hydro One

What's great in Greenwood today is shopping locally - for your SPORTS DRINK! Yep, Hydro One is based right here in Greenwood, with a cross-border, Georgia connection (although production is in Upstate New York, I heard). I taste-tested their Green Tea, and orange-mango and pomegranate-raspberry sports drinks this afternoon. Best sports drink I ever had. Really.

Of course, I'm not a big sports drink fan. Usually too sweet or too salty for me. These were more like real juice drinks, just a bit watered down. Oh, and hyped up on vitamins. Can't wait to try more, including the women's, heart, memory, and joint health drinks.

REV, TRUE, and Bode - all natural, low calorie, sugar free, and nutrient-enriched. I might just give up water.

And I missed it

Apparently what was great in Greenwood this week was a performance by the Vienna Boys' Choir. Sadly now, I must confess that I did not go. I learned of it late (despite good adequate advertising), the tickets were right pricey (though completely worth it I heard afterwards), and we had a terrible storm that night, including tornado sirens. Still everyone I've talked with who went said it was great. Interestingly, many also reminisced about previous times they had seen the choir, so I'm sure I missed a memorable evening.

Even though I didn't partake this time, I am happy to live in a place that appreciates the arts and culture and supports it with attendance. The Choir performed as part of the Greenwood Lander Performing Arts series , which also presented the Choir in 2006. I'll definitely catch their next performance here.