Post 17/2023 Cornwall UK Sunday 14 May . . . To describe our week would take a high tide swell of words and photographs--with too little time to surf through it all. We conclude our stay here at week's end. So, a few words and photographs are called to the rescue. The week encompasses: Coronation …
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!
By foot, taxi, bus, boat and train
Post 16/2023 Cornwall UK Thursday 4 May . . . It was anything but a stay-at-home week. The days waxed strong in the company of niece Jan and her spouse John and Jan's daughter Jenny and her spouse Rory. Jan and John are spending a fortnight with us, Jenny and Rory came for a week …
A legacy of houses fires the imagination
Post 15/2023 Cornwall UK Saturday 29 April . . . Welcome to a brief glimpse of two National Trust houses: Lanhydrock in Cornwall and Castle Drogo in Devon. Friends took us to visit these two country homes this week. Lanhydrock was completed in 1651, rebuilt after a fire in 1881 destroyed part of the building. …
Treading familiar and new paths
Post 14/2023 Cornwall UK Sunday 23 April . . . Here's an entry from yesterday: 3:30pm, home from walking in the rain to get groceries for company coming next week. Umbrellas drip-drying in the guest bathtub/shower. At one point we stopped to chat with Jimmy, a neighbor from last year, He wondered whether we had …
Books and more books
Post 13/2023 Cornwall UK Sunday 16 April . . . Books and more books have been and keep being published. I can't imagine being without a book; even as I'm grateful for having enormously whittled down my personal library. Library loans are a treasure. As are used bookstores--for donating books and finding others. At a …
Easterday
Post 12/2023 Cornwall UK Sunday 9 April . . . Holy Week for many among the Christian faiths ended with today's celebration of Christ's Resurrection. I take to heart that in Jesus' death and resurrection death has been defeated and salvation has come. With 21 other people, Marty and I gathered at 6am for an …
April’s upon us
Post 11/2023 Cornwall UK Saturday 1 April . . . Today, in windy, changeable weather, we set out for lunch in St Erth. First we took the nine-minute branch line to St Erth Station, then walked 30 minutes to the village. We had a very nice lunch at the Star Inn, (fish pie for Marty, …
An enduring fountain of knowledge a library offers
Post 10/2023 Cornwall UK Sunday 26 March . . . Advocates for removing certain books from school and public libraries, have a question to consider: why go against the verdict of history? Censorship lasts for a day. The free pursuit of knowledge, while often circumscribed, endures. My favorite image of a library is that of …
Continue reading An enduring fountain of knowledge a library offers
Whether or not to say more about water and weather . . .
Post 9/2023 Cornwall UK Saturday 18 March . . . More it is. A rainy week has been encouraging, if limiting. More moisture is needed to replenish the county's and country's water supply (see last week's blog). I'm not quite up to the exuberance of Gene Kelly in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain, …
Continue reading Whether or not to say more about water and weather . . .
Water, water, everywhere . . .
Post 8/2023 Cornwall UK Saturday 11 March . . . Water, water, everywhere, except in Cornwall's main reservoir, which is less than half full. Desalination offers one answer to the shortage. South West Water has plans to build two desalination plants that would provide a third of the county's drinking water. (Desalination plants remove salt …
It's About Now 