Some people say the knees go first. Others, the eyes. Others worry about the memory. I'll be 70 on the 25th.
A few years ago, i was having some problems with inoperable spinal stenosis. To get up out of chairs, I needed a cane. Checking around on THR led me to look for a blackthorn walking stick. I ordered one, and I love it.
It not only helped with mobility, it also caused worrisome people coming the other way to give me wide berth. I love that, too.
But sometimes it was in the other room. Some recent knee problems motivated me to want another, so I bought another. The shaft of this one is smooth. It is allegedly the same stick that has been presented to Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill, and several other luminaries. I like it.
For those who do not know this, the blackthorn is a flowering shrub, related to the hawthorn, that grows in dense thickets that are impenetrable by livestock. The individual sticks have long, sharp, spiky thorns, and are taken from shrubs that re-grow new branches--a very sustainable process indeed. The handle of a blackthorn shillelagh, club, walking stick, or cane is shaped from the root. The thorns are removed.
St. Joseph's walking staff is said to have been made from the same hawthorn shrub that had been used to make a crown of thorns.
Aficionados of Wagnerian opera (??) may recall that part of the story line of Tannhauser, which was based loosely on Norse mythology, has to do with a sinner who traveled to Rome to see the Pope, and who was told that absolution was as impossible as the idea that the Pope's walking stick would flower--which it did, after it had been thrust into the ground.
Some shillelaghs are made from blackthorn, and others, from oak.
Now where did I leave that darn stick? Having couple more can't hurt.
I decided to order another. I went online and ordered one. But memory had failed me. I had forgotten having seen a synthetic stick sold by Cold Steel Knives a few years ago. At the time, the idea of a synthetic one did not really appeal to me. But it turns out that what I just ordered is a synthetic one. The thing is supposed to arrive tomorrow.
They do look very real indeed. Not only that, they are supposed to be tough. There is a video of a man breaking a block of ice with one, chinning himself on one placed over a pipe, and jumping up and down on one placed on two cinder blocks.
I decided I wanted another real blackthorn, so I ordered one. Came today, and it is my favorite.
Before I ordered the molded one, I saw a heavy duty natural ash cane online, and I ordered it. It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow
I should think that should be enough.
Now, lest here be any doubt, these are mobility aids.
But I do very much like the idea that having one with me may obviate the need for unholstering anything else.
A few years ago, i was having some problems with inoperable spinal stenosis. To get up out of chairs, I needed a cane. Checking around on THR led me to look for a blackthorn walking stick. I ordered one, and I love it.
It not only helped with mobility, it also caused worrisome people coming the other way to give me wide berth. I love that, too.
But sometimes it was in the other room. Some recent knee problems motivated me to want another, so I bought another. The shaft of this one is smooth. It is allegedly the same stick that has been presented to Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill, and several other luminaries. I like it.
For those who do not know this, the blackthorn is a flowering shrub, related to the hawthorn, that grows in dense thickets that are impenetrable by livestock. The individual sticks have long, sharp, spiky thorns, and are taken from shrubs that re-grow new branches--a very sustainable process indeed. The handle of a blackthorn shillelagh, club, walking stick, or cane is shaped from the root. The thorns are removed.
St. Joseph's walking staff is said to have been made from the same hawthorn shrub that had been used to make a crown of thorns.
Aficionados of Wagnerian opera (??) may recall that part of the story line of Tannhauser, which was based loosely on Norse mythology, has to do with a sinner who traveled to Rome to see the Pope, and who was told that absolution was as impossible as the idea that the Pope's walking stick would flower--which it did, after it had been thrust into the ground.
Some shillelaghs are made from blackthorn, and others, from oak.
Now where did I leave that darn stick? Having couple more can't hurt.
I decided to order another. I went online and ordered one. But memory had failed me. I had forgotten having seen a synthetic stick sold by Cold Steel Knives a few years ago. At the time, the idea of a synthetic one did not really appeal to me. But it turns out that what I just ordered is a synthetic one. The thing is supposed to arrive tomorrow.
They do look very real indeed. Not only that, they are supposed to be tough. There is a video of a man breaking a block of ice with one, chinning himself on one placed over a pipe, and jumping up and down on one placed on two cinder blocks.
I decided I wanted another real blackthorn, so I ordered one. Came today, and it is my favorite.
Before I ordered the molded one, I saw a heavy duty natural ash cane online, and I ordered it. It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow
I should think that should be enough.
Now, lest here be any doubt, these are mobility aids.
But I do very much like the idea that having one with me may obviate the need for unholstering anything else.
