Post 40/2021 Thursday 30 September . . . Uncle Orie made a successful livelihood from a variety of solo business endeavors. I believe his longest product and service line was in fire protection. He was focused on customer service, on helping a prospective client see the value of the exchange. "I don't sell fire extinguishers," …
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!
Our library’s diminution
Post 39/2021 Thursday 23 September . . . The sky wept a little yesterday. I made coffee. Going outside called for wearing a jacket. It was the last day of summer, the first day of fall. Fall in the northern hemisphere started with the autumnal equinox on Wednesday, September 22 at 3:21 pm Eastern Daylight …
Pruning the books
Post 38/2021 Friday 17 September . . . Boxes and boxes of books sit in our garage. They're the remainder of our library already halved over the last dozen years. Our home is plenty roomy, has books on the shelves, but another shelf is not in the offing. I decided this week (Marty having decided …
Monarchs, horses, hawk, bees, picnic
Post 37/2021 Saturday 11 September . . . The ground we covered on foot and by car this week yielded happy encounters. A perplexing discovery, though, involves the need to correct my blog indexing. Today it's Post 37. Last week I entered the 4 September blog as Post 38. Got ahead of myself. Slowed down …
A day out
Post 38/2021 Saturday 4 September . . . "How nice to have a day outside," a passerby said as we waited for our lunch to be served outdoors at Maria's Restaurant in South Haven, Michigan on Friday. "How nice to be out of the house," she added. The day began with breakfast at Hilltop Restaurant …
A word about prayer
Post 37/2021 Sunday 29 August . . . Jeremy Taylor (1613-67), a cleric in the Church of England, prayed, "Teach us to pray often, that we may pray oftener." According to Wikipedia, Taylor was known as the "Shakespeare of Divines for his poetic style of expression." His prayer is relevant today. In my experience, "often" …
Make vacations fun again
Post 35/2021 Saturday 21 August . . . Taking a vacation presents a raft of challenges, mainly related to the dangers posed to personal and community health by the still-with-us pandemic. (Pray that more and more people grasp the true meaning of the words, "pandemic" and "Covid-19 and variants," and do the right thing to …
Right as rain, bowl of cherries
"Post 34/2021 Saturday 14 August . . . The phrase, "Right as rain," originated in Britain in 1894, acknowledging that rainy weather is a normal fact of life. Restored to health after an illness or injury, one is again "right as rain," in good health, feeling chipper. Compare that to the American phrase, "Life is …
Catch me if you can
Post 33/2021 Friday 6 August . . . I offer a baker's dozen gratitudes, followed by the reprint of an article on what one working group in the United Kingdom has learned about how truth has fared during the pandemic. I'll start with gratitude number 13: the weather. Who would miss a chance to comment …
4-H: ‘To make the best better’
Post 32/2021 Friday 30 July . . . Let's hear it for farm and city kids and their leaders involved in 4-H. In 2016, there were 4-H clubs in more than 50 countries. Applause for the 4-H organization near you. Their green with white H's clover design emblem stands for Head, problem solving; Heart, emotional …
It's About Now 