Grnwd22

Greenwood

Newsletter 22

20th Having friends as our priority I had really wanted to go back to Tryon, NC for another visit while in the area and see friends I missed the first visit, as well as spend more time with others. But it didn't happen. It is so easy to truly want to keep in touch, get together or visit friends, but doing so is not always that easy. Going back to Tryon is an example of not making it happen. Rather than heading up to Tryon, I headed southeast to Greenwood, SC.

Greenwood and Park Seed We had lived in Greenwood, SC from 1991 – 1996 (I think). We moved there when I got a job with Wayside Gardens mailorder plant catalog. My job was to travel around the US and find new plants to include in the catalog and also in the parent company's Park Seed catalogs. Once I chose a plant, I then provided the info for the catalog plant descriptions (a copywriter wrote the actual text), I checked the catalog for mistakes and updated it as new info became available. I was responsible to get the photograph for the catalogs. I would either take the picture, get one from the grower or have our staff photographer shoot it. I then would write the “culture cards” we sent out with the orders, monitored the quality as it came in from our growers, contacted the growers if there was a problem and, well, you get the picture. As I drove into Greenwood, it was a Saturday afternoon. I was amazed how many memories flooded my thoughts. “Oh yeah,” I would think, “I remember that house.” Or, “Oh my gosh, those trees were so small last time I came by here.” And, “I remember when I got a speeding ticket there,” as well as funny incidents with my family. So I thought it only apropos to go by Park Seed, see the trial and display gardens and visit the garden shop. I had hoped to come back later on to visit a few of my friends that are still working there, but it didn't happen. Many of the rows of flowers in the trial gardens in front of the building have now been converted into actual gardens, where, I guess, they still trial the plants. Fortunately, there were still some of the rows where you can see different varieties in a side-by-side comparison.

Park Seed and where my office with Wayside Gardens was located

Park Seed gardens

Park Seed trials are good because you can compare one variety to others.

Zinnia flower trials

Since we lived here for 5 years, we had a number of good friends that I had not seen since we moved. I figured the best way to see a lot of them is to stay with as many friends as I could, go to the church we used to go to and have meals or time with others. I decided against staying with different people when Ted & Connie said I could stay at their house the whole time – thanx! It is a pain to pack up, load the bike and unpack each day. I spent the most time with Ted & Connie (which was not a lot) and for some crazy reason, did not get a picture of them!!! Connie is letting me use the one that is in the church directory – thanx!.

Ted & Connie

Ted and Connie One night, I did get some time to visit with Ted. He is a great friend that helped us move from GA to SC, re-cover a pool table and always seemed to have a joke for me. He loves to play golf, has pastored churches, is part owner of a temp service and used to go to car auctions to buy cars which he would then sell. Oh, I forgot, he and Connie love to hunt. She has a gentle spirit, sends me some great jokes, is easy to talk to and they both have done marriage counseling together and love being parents and grandparents. Oh yeah, back to my visit with Ted. While we were talking, he said some things I wanted to remember:

   * “I pray because I want change. If I don't pray, I get what I got anyway.”

   * Sometimes when Ted is talking to someone, they say a cuss word then apologize to him for it. His reply is, “You don't stop swearing when I am not around, but God is always around.”

   * Jesus is our deliverer. Like a postman, he takes away & brings good stuff to us. “He takes away sin, fear and bondage.” “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10) because you realize that you are in great need of God. His awesome love exposes our selfishness. [But] perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18). In the beginning Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening and he wasn't afraid. Sin brought fear.” “God doesn't just love, God is love.” “When you are perfected in your love, then you walk without fear of judgment” and other fears. “When you know his love then you don't have that fear of Him anymore.” “Everything that God is, we are not. That is why he gave us His spirit, to make us into His image.”

   * “Faith accomplishes or does what love demands.”

   * Sometimes someone asks why Ted helped out or was cheerful in a hard situation, etc. He replies, “That is just what Christians do.”