Sunday, August 17, 2008

in and out of Cambridge

Suddenly, the house is empty. Just for a small while, but still, soulless. As if all energy has been sucked out and tossed over the balcony rail.

I bike to Ed’s, losing myself in the curvy bike lane and the tall flowers of August.


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Purchase photo 1970


I shed one bike and hop on the other, the motor driven one. We roar east to Cambridge. Wisconsin’s Cambridge. I haven’t been through this small town in maybe fifteen years. Has it changed? No.


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Purchase photo 1969


Oh, fine. The ancient cars are just passing through. Still, people-wise, it’s an empty town. Stores say “open,” but for some, that’s just plain wrong. And, as in so many small town main streets around here, there are very very few people out and about. This may well be the bulk of the downtown crowd:


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Purchase photo 1968


We go to Ripley Park, at the edge of Cambridge. The lake side is crowded. It’s very late in the afternoon, but you'd hardly know it. People are drawn to water. Even in its murky state.


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Okay, at some point, you have to head home.


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And we do. Past cornfields, soy fields and tobacco fields. Past silos, farmhouses and tobacco barns.


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Purchase photo 1967




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Purchase photo 1966



One more hill climb, one more bridge crossing a river and we're back on the main road, heading home. Sleepy quiet home.


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Purchase photo 1965




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Purchase photo 1964

2 comments:

  1. There used to be a surprisingly good coffee shop in Cambridge, right near where the old Rowe Pottery building was. The only time I've ever seen Cambridge busy is in December when they host something akin to "Dickens Days". Everyone in the town dresses up in old fashioned clothes, they roast chestnuts on an open fire, have horse drawn carriage rides and a live nativity scene parading through the streets. I love small, southern Wisconsin towns.

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  2. I'm not so sure about those cars being ancient. My own turned 79 this year and it's considered vintage. ;-)

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