Types of Wood

Visited the Hamilton Wood Type Museum last weekend up in Two Rivers. What a revelation. A plethora of fonts crafted in wood -- an enormous collection, vast in size and variety. This display represents the slightest, most fleeting hint of the impressive quantities on view. Plus great vintage linotype machines and other old-school tools dating to Hamilton's 19th-century origins as an impressive printing concern.

The Hamilton Wood Type Museum joins the Beauborg and the old Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Louisiana Museum outside Kobenhavn, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Firenze's Uffizi, Amsterdam's Van Gogh, L.A.'s Getty, Milwaukee Art Museum and a handful of others on my short list of favorite museums.

Bike to Work Week: Why People Ride Their Bikes

It's Bike to Work Week here in Madison. A great time to ask people why they ride the bikes they ride. It's one of my favorite questions to ask. The answers tend to suggest a close relationship between the rider and his or her bike.

During the Bike to Work Week event hosted Tuesday morning by Isthmus (the Madison weekly where I enjoy the privilege of being a staff writer, and which offered coffee, bagels, rolls, fresh fruit to two-wheeled commuters, along with free bike checks courtesy of Williamson Bicycle Works mechanics), I posed the question to several people. Every answer was distinct. Here's Steve Goldstein, explaining why he rides a Klein....



And here's former Ald. Robbie Webber, extolling the virtues of her well-traveled and -accessorized hybrid bike (watch for an amusing cameo appearance by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz)...



Next, John Rider, Madison's bicycle registration coordinator, introduces his beloved Giant Iguana...



Greg Blake, a product designer for Madison-based Pacific Cycle, explains the appeal of his Mongoose road bike:



My youngest sister, Louisa, is up next, with a testimonial for her Univega Activa Country:



Trisha Crinkley, a certified Physician Assistant at Wildwood Family Clinic and self-proclaimed fair-weather bike commuter, likewise expresses great fondness for her Fuji Touring bike:



And to wrap this up, Brian Conger, outreach coordinator for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (organizers of Bike to Work Week) explains how spiffing up his vintage Schwinn Madison has made him the coolest kid on his block:



Bike to Work Week continues through Friday, June 12, with events including Bike Trivia and a final BTWW celebration at Vilas Park. For details, check the listings on Isthmus's website at The Daily Page.