Post 44/2023. Our neighbors gave us an article from The Wall Street Journal (Journal Report l Encore, November 16). Title: "Two Minnesotans Retired in Cornwall, England. They Love It--Even the Food." Subtitle: "But the thing that makes them most happy are the people around them." The writer is Ellen Hawley, who with her partner moved …
Author: John Bender
Hi, my name is John Bender, retired and loving it. I'm writing to help interested people cross bridges to and from the past. Stories from the past can shed light on life in the present and illuminate the future. We've got a lot of living to do. Let's do it!
Up Michigan way
Post 43/2023. Between obligations and appointments at home we sallied forth for a few days around our favorite destination on Lake Michigan, South Haven. We took back roads that revealed fading fall colors, many corn and a few bean fields yet to be harvested, and surprises in Paw Paw on the way home. Let photos …
Hickory dickory dock
Post 42/2023. Hickory dickory dock, / The mouse ran up the clock. / The clock struck one, / The mouse ran down. / Hickory dickory dock. One source says the nursery rhyme was used to teach children how to tell the time. And how to read. Our mantel clock has no opening for a mouse, …
Savoring seasons, present and past
Post 41/2023. Taking advantage of this week's balmy weather took us on various rambles. Elkhart County's River Preserve and LaGrange County's Pine Knob Park were two destinations for walks, as was our immediate Greencroft retirement community campus. Fall colors have peaked and leaves are falling hereabouts. Memory lives on I was probably 6 or 7 …
Travels with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
Post 40/2023. It was the last copy on the recent large print books shelves: My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy, by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill (Gale/Thorndike Press, 2022). Hill was Mrs. Kennedy's secret service agent. The material--written records and photos--was uncovered after 50 years from a trunk in Hill's garage. I'm one-fourth of the …
Plans changed fast
Post 39/2023. I've unpacked books and a handful of magazines from our travel computer case. They were part of the reading materials intended for a week at a cabin on the north shore of South Manistique Lake in Curtis, Michigan. A cabin right next to lapping waves, swooping gulls, a rowboat, nearby paths, library, pubs, …
Nobel and Ig Nobel prizes
Post 38 (395th since the first one). What the world needs more of is a good blend of the serious and silly. Serious as in the achievements celebrated in the annual Nobel prizes. Silly, or satiric, as in the prizes that celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Sun peeking through on a …
A moment’s pause
Post 37/2023. There's no stopping the ebb and flow of time. That's a truism I utter to buy a moment of reflection. This morning: weather's achangin'. Foggy, flannel shirt/jacket time. To be shed this afternoon, after a walk to Cabin Coffee and library. That's the plan. Later The plan worked. I stuffed my coat into …
A very short blog
Post 36/2023. A full week. Got jobs done. Walked to Cabin Coffee for breakfast and then on to Goshen Library. Gave the sermon this morning in Greencroft Healthcare and Evergreen Assisted Living, based on Exodus 16:2-25, title, Manna According to Doris. As I said, a full week. This and that. Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale yesterday …
Sweet and bittersweet
Post 35/2023. The shows were compelling. The five days allowed for variety. Time with family featured food, a tour through a new house under construction and a farewell tribute to the old house where my siblings and I grew up. It's Sunday evening, home from Stratford, Ontario. Marty and I have been doing an annual …
It's About Now 