Guava

Yesterday in the news was a list of 10 foods that are especially good for us so I made a list and went to Whole Foods to see what I could find. One thing on the list was guavas. I have heard of them before but never tried them. They were quite expensive but I splurged and bought one. It had a wonderful aroma. Today when I made my lunch I decided to give it a try. I cut it in half then discovered I really didn't know how to eat one. I read in the news that you can consume the entire thing, seeds, flesh and rind but I wasn't too sure so looked up online... "how to eat guava". Sure enough there were details. I must say I really like it alot. I cut off the outer parts and ate them first, including the thin skin or rind. All of that was quite tasty. I then tried the part with the seeds but found the tiny seeds to be rock hard and spit them out. It was sort of like chewing tiny pieces of gravel. The center part was extra sweet and soft but I like the outer portions the best. A couple of hours have passed and I can still smell the fantastic scent on my hands even though they have been washed a couple of times since. I doubt I will buy this tropical fruit very often but glad I gave it a try. I never met a fruit I didn't love and guava is no exception. It sort of reminded me of a ripe pear in both flavor and texture.

Falls Park on the Reedy

While on our geocaching journey of downtown Greenville last Sunday we visited Falls Park and looked for some hidden caches there as well as the ones on Main Street. One of the focal points of the park is the bridge. The $4.5 million Liberty Bridge does more than span the Reedy River, it serves as the focal point of Falls Park on the Reedy, showcasing man’s creativity alongside nature’s beauty. The bridge is 355-feet long, 12-feet wide, has a horizontal curve radius of 214-feet and 90-foot towers weighing 26 tons each. Walking across the bridge is not something I particularly enjoy as you can feel it moving. Scary! It is beautiful though. The park is very nice too. When we visited on Sunday the river current was really strong and the water was muddy since we had some heavy rains during the night. Below are a few photos.

these two guys were playing their violins at the entrance to the park

a photo of Liberty Bridge at night (photo by Mark Burton)

Shoeless Joe Jackson

Professional baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson was born in 1888 in Pickens, SC and died in 1951 in Greenville, SC. He got his nickname during a game in his teenage years when he suffered from a blister on his foot from a new pair of cleats. They hurt so much that he had to take his shoes off . Once he was on base, a fan started yelling inappropriate and vulgar comments at him. One of the things Jackson was called was a "Shoeless son of a gun." The name stuck with him throughout the remainder of his life. His professional baseball years were with teams in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago. There is a statue of Shoeless Joe in downtown Greenville. The bricks surrounding the statue are from Cominsky Park in Chicago where Joe played with the White Sox. This statue was one of our virtual geocaches of the day. We had to look at the bricks surrounding the statue and see how many diamond shapes are on some of the bricks... the answer was "one".

Joel Poinsett

I have blogged about Joel Poinsett before. Those who are regular readers will remember when I blogged about the Poinsett Bridge located nearby here and also about the popular Christmas flower, the poinsettia. Greenville is proud of Joel Poinsett and there is a statue of him downtown on Main Street. Mr. Poinsett was a Statesman, a Diplomat and a Naturalist. He was born in 1779 and studied medicine, law and military science. He was fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Although we remember him the most by what he brought back from Mexico, the poinsettia, in 1826, he was interested in all sorts of plants. He also brought home red and yellow mimosa, the Mexican rose, and a very interesting hibiscus capable of changing from white to pink all in a single day. His statue is located in the courtyard in front of the Westin-Poinsett Hotel on Main Street in Greenville.

Linda has a friendly chat with Mr. Poinsett

David learns a lot about Mr. Poinsett