Post 5/2022 Saturday 29 January . . . The bubonic plague that spread through Europe in the Middle Ages left people perplexed, frenzied, unable to stop it. Plague doctors were hired to treat patients with a variety of concoctions and plague antidotes, write wills and fill out autopsy reports. They wore a beak-like mask stuffed …
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!
Doorsteps beyond
Post 4/2022 Saturday 22 January . . . Need an escape? If you’re in the grips of winter, this escape will land you in summer in the southern hemisphere. But you really can't get there. In person, that is. By the time you'd get to the land of constant sunlight, summer would have passed. I'm …
First sleep, Watch, second sleep
Post 3/2022 Saturday 15 January . . . To bed at 10pm, up at midnight, then back to sleep. If that's you, you're in good company. Ancient company. The company of our pre-industrial era ancestors, who, inexplicably to our modern minds, shared a bed and kept a midnight watch. This custom from the past left …
Hail to winter hereabouts
Post 2/2022 Saturday 8 January . . . Up and down. That's a non-weather forecaster's descriptor for winter temperatures hereabouts in northern Indiana. Early in the week we had good days for walks, however since Wednesday it has been too cold (as in subzero temperatures) to face the elements for any extended time. Today we …
Rah! Rah! New Year
Post 1/2022 Saturday 1 January . . . It's the first morning of the New Year. Slept in. The dishwasher needs to be unloaded before making coffee. Gray sky. Forecast of rain or snow for this afternoon. Happy for the new day. Mindful of moments past. Grateful for the precious present. Happy New Year! New …
Our year that was, still is
Post 52/2021 Thursday 23 December . . . I'm looking back to spring forward, offering a pictorial glimpse of our journey through 2021 as we get ready to push or be pushed into the new year. A year that was ponderous. A year beset by the pandemic. A year portentous for the future. A year, …
Bound for Shipshewana
Post 51/2021 Saturday 18 December . . . It's a week until Christmas. Woo-hoo! Something like that. Among faith traditions, it's a holy season central to Christians. Much on the commercial, secular side though, we're often reminded, gets muddled in with the meaning of the birth of the Christ child in Bethlehem. I've chosen to …
Christmas trees on parade
Post 50/2021 Saturday 11 December . . . We spent a day in Chicago this week. The radiance of Christmas trees met us coming and going, even as caution played out in travel, Christkindl Market, and, except for the Market, smaller numbers of people afoot. Everyone on the South Shore Line, an electrically powered interurban …
Transformed by walking
Post 49/2021 Saturday 4 December . . . Converting water to steam, effects a transformation. By boiling water, you change or convert a thing into a different thing. Digesting food converts it to energy. Reading books converts them to entertainment, information, inspiration. Going on a walking pilgrimage can effect a personal transformation. The latter effect …
Friends, Re-Turn Sunday, thanks, books+, trees
Post 48/2021 Saturday 27 November . . . A week ago, we joined Alice and Willard Roth at Cabin Coffee for a breakfast bite and palaver in a heated "igloo." The cafe has two such "igloo" facsimiles. It was fun to watch a dad and two children make the most of the other one. After …
Continue reading Friends, Re-Turn Sunday, thanks, books+, trees
It's About Now 