Post 27/2023 . . . I'm trialing a new template, aiming to make my blog mobile-friendly, and a bit perked up. "All things grow with love," says the plaque. Hollyhock nods in agreement. Happy week We're happy for a week's visit with friends and family in Ontario. The time includes: Baseball games where great-nephews are …
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!
Be careful what you wish for
Post 26/2023 Friday 14 July . . . I'll take the risk of sharing a personal experience while it's fresh--as well as reference a thought that rolls back the years. A dream Tuesday morning had me involved in a delightfully animated conversation in a circle of recent acquaintances. We had just returned to the US …
Portfolio search
Post 25/2023 Saturday 8 July . . . This week I searched through boxes for a folder related to a seminar I helped plan last century. I found it! There it was, at the bottom of one of the boxes tagged, "Portfolio." (I'm using the word portfolio in the sense of examples of work one …
Prizing print
Post 24/2023 Saturday 1 July . . . Much of my reading, apart from books, happens online. Certainly not all of it, but more than I ever did during my gainful employment years as a writer-editor. This week I concentrated on riffling through magazines passed on by friends Willard and Alice. What pleasure and agony …
About books and libraries that lend them
Post 23/2023 Sunday 25 June . . . I like this quote from Oscar Wilde (Irish poet,1854-1900): "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written, or badly written. (The Pictures of Dorian Gray, 1891, preface). To paraphrase: let the bookmarks fall where they may. Let it be known …
Oops, wrong word
Post 22/2023 Saturday 17 June . . . In the 10 June blog I used the word exasperating instead of exacerbating concerning people facing severe health conditions. I wrote, "exasperating health conditions." I should have said, "exacerbating," as in facing intense, or "severe health conditions." I'll just use the word "lovely" to describe the flowers …
Pausing over obits
Post 21/2023 Saturday 10 June . . . I've been reading a crop of religion-related magazines friends have passed on to us. The latest post-Cornwall bundle (for the winter/spring months we spent in the UK) includes Anabaptist World, Canadian Mennonite, Christian Century and a few more. Thank you, Willard and Alice for upping our interest …
The beat goes on
Post 20/2023 Sunday 4 June . . . We have, we are, we'll continue to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Mid-May with friends in Cornwall, UK. Same at home with friends and family in Indiana. More to come. Cards, bouquets, hanging plants, meals out, toasts, best wishes from far and wide. Lovely. We're chuffed/delighted/humbled/happy. Thankful …
Home from Home
Post 19/2023 Sunday 28 May . . . A week home in Indiana. Last Sunday we stood for two hours in a queue at Heathrow to reach check-in. We made the flight with no time to spare for breakfast. That was fine. We soon had a meal on the flight. Today we stood in a …
Brilliant time
Post 18/2023 Cornwall UK Friday 19 May . . . We walked to Una Restuarant for breakfast, cleared out the fridge, did almost final packing, squared up with our landlady, said goodbye to neighbours, had dinner at the home of Steve and Marilyn, basked in touches of euphoria from our sojourn this year and years …
It's About Now 