This afternoon, Theresa and I took a walk along Rarick Road at Hollyhock Hollow.

With all the recent rain, the woods were wet and quiet. At one point, I noticed something about ten feet off the road—a curved object sticking up from the forest floor. It looked like a piece of metal pipe.

That seemed out of place.

So I stepped into the woods to take a closer look.

It wasn’t a pipe.

It was a wooden cane, hanging from the branch of a shrub.

That seemed even more out of place.

I carried it with me as we continued our walk. And somewhere along the way, it triggered a memory—one connected to the history of Hollyhock Hollow, Dr. Robert Rienow, and a moment from many years ago.

It’s interesting how something as simple as an object in the woods can bring the past back into focus.

Sometimes all it takes is noticing.

If you’re interested in the full story behind this moment, I wrote about it here:
👉 https://dodsonchronicles.substack.com/p/the-cane-in-the-woods