Collection of Canes #1of2

The left most item is a small walking stick I bought at the Marshall Fields department store near Chicago.

Near Kórinthos, Greece, I tried to buy a staff from a shepherd. He wouldn’t sell, but he sent his wife to their lean-to, to get me what I expected would be a shepherd staff. Instead she finally brought out a little “nothing” cane, like a small tree limb, not at all like the one her husband carried. Finally, I obtained a $5 Greek cane and a $15 story!

That pipe, with a nozzle, sticking out to the right, we found while we were eating lunch in our RV while parked right next to a leg of the Eiffel Tower.

Near the end of WW II the US Army requisitioned the home of Emmy’s cousins in Mettlach, Germany, and soldiers lived there a few months. We were pleased to learn a note was written to the family thanking them for the use of their house. We hope no one got into trouble for leaving a couple of “GI shovels” in the attic. One is now in my collection.

I had my 18th birthday on a troopship in the harbor in Singapore, and my son-in-law happened to be there on a business trip on the 49th anniversary of that birthday, so he bought me a cane, the third one from the right.

It’s rather difficult to see, but one cane on the right has a pointed end, for mountain climbing, and both have several, what I call “Trail Markers,” attached. They are small metal plaque, with a color picture of a town or point of interest, along with the name, that is to indicate a visit to that place. I have about 70 to 75 “Trail Markers.”