Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Centerville Conservation Community Trail Ribbon Cutting

Always being on the lookout for a new place to run, I happened to spot this article last Friday in the Tallahassee Democrat:

Conservation community gives back to residents

A new nature trail off of Centerville and Pisgah Church Roads offers residents place to go for relaxation and exercise.

Earlier today, the Centerville Conservation Community held a ribbon cutting ceremony to introduce Tallahassee to an earth-friendly walking path along Centerville Road.

"The pedway (path) is 2-miles long and occupies only 50-acres out of a total of 975," said John Kohler, founder of the Centerville Community.

The trail was mapped so that human impact is minimal. The pavement is pervious, allowing water through to reach plants, and instead of uprooting trees, the path winds around them.

"What we did was to prune back tree roots," said Kohler. "It's like fixing an ingrown toe nail."

Residents are enthusiastic about the new addition to their home sites.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707130332

Another article ran the next day, adding some names of enthusiastic residents and quotes from the same:

Well, all the noise made the trail seem worth a visit. It's easy enough to find; easier if you look for it along Pisgah Church Road rather than Centerville Road. And yes, there's a winding trail under the live oaks. Quaint wooden bridges cross the low spots. The route is almost entirely flat; good news to anyone who dislikes hills. But it is paved, which makes it less attractive for running, and it's only two miles long, which doesn't make it terribly useful as a cycling route. Still, it's sitting on a wide enough ribbon of land that an unpaved path for runners and equestrians could be added. As for length, it's always possible that the trail could be extended. For instance, a little bit to the south, a paved trail parallels Centerville Road for about a mile and a quarter between Shamrock Street and Pimlico Drive. If you could add that short trail to the Centerville Conservation Community Trail with another short trail, you'd have at least the beginnings of something grand.

Right now, at only two miles, it's not really worth the trip if you don't live in the area. But if you do live in the area, count yourself lucky.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Frazz!

[ Rescued from one of my old myspace blogs. ]

Cartoonist Jef Mallett tends to get accused of ripping off Bill Waterson, perhaps because of a superficial similarity of drawing style. Or perhaps because Mallet's Frazz and Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes have in common that they're both funny. Lord knows that has been a rare quality on the newspaper funny pages since Waterson pulled the plug on Calvin and Hobbes.

The Frazz of the strip's title is Edwin Frazier, a songwriter by vocation, elementary school custodian by avocation, and triathlete by obsession. Mallett himself is also a triathlete, leading to the occasional fitness joke like the one above. That's something you won't generally see on the comics pages, unless Elly from For Better or For Worse is out suffering through a jog around the block or something.

Rather than continuing to babble excitedly about Frazz, let me go ahead and invite you to try reading a few strips. United Media's comics.com site has the most recent month of strips here:

Let me know what you think.

Links: