Walking Sticks.

I love walking sticks.

They seem to come in all shapes and sizes, varying from the short and knotted cane to the tall and slender hiking tool. They can be decorative, plain and ordinary or a tree limb picked out of some underbrush near an old oak tree. You are able to carve them, shape them, throw them at annoying people (you most likely wont do this). One walking stick, a cured cane that my Poppy carved, looks like an old man, the handle his hat.

Why do I love walking sticks? I love creativity, and things made by hand instead of machine. A piece of wood is not merely a piece of wood, it comes from a living thing, a tree or bush, and can be made into about anything, which means a wooden walking stick is not merely a wooden walking stick. It is hard work put into a piece of wood, and one of the best things in life, in my opinion, is standing back and looking at your hard work, and knowing you did a good job turning a piece of wood into a thing of beauty.

Carving brings peace too, in my opinion. Sitting beside a river or stream, or a bush or tree full of birds, or in a field with rabbits popping up out of the grass every now and then, you can carve or whittle and take your mind off of things. It is also hard work at times.

So when you see that ornately carved cardinal in the window of some store in the mountains, or that walking stick or cane sitting in some corner, remind yourself its not just a walking stick. Its a thing of beauty.