POST 4/2026 CARBIS BAY, CORNWALL, UK . . . Walks. Friends. Lent. Evensong. Coffee mornings. Concert. Day out. Books. Casual meet-ups. Meals in and out. News. Rain, wind, hail, mud, cold. Now, lo and behold, after a few sunny spells we're breaking out the sunscreen. All of these factors figure significantly in driving home a …
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!
Save for a rainy day
POST 3/2026 CARBIS BAY, CORNWALL, UK: The idiom, "Save for a rainy day," implies setting aside money for an emergency or future time of unexpected need. Sometimes it can mean saving an activity or item to a time when it can be better enjoyed. Rainy days have been ubiquitous in the United Kingdom. One area …
Bookends
POST 2/2026 CARBIS BAY, CORNWALL UK--Cold temperatures bookend home in the US to "home from home" in the UK. We've traded snow and wind for rain and wind, all nature's elements to be reckoned with, this year in their overabundance. Elements aside, it's good to be here. Arriving in London. The Paddington Bear family also …
2026
POST1/2026 GOSHEN IN--Hopes lie ahead for this new year. One hope for me already has been fulfilled. I just had help to get our tablet computer running with improved memory. How freeing is that? Enough to have me smiling about packing off to Cornwall soon, flight to London and then a five-hour train ride to …
Savor Sunday
POST 32/2025 GOSHEN IN: Miles later, we're back home. It has been a bit more than a week since we returned from a splendiferous time with friends in California. The time was grand. Walks were wonderful. Food, festive. Events engaging. Travel smooth. The weather was so unlike winter here that we've stayed in more than …
In brief
POST 31/2025 GOSHEN IN: Short, sweet, holding. My last post was September 29. The interval will continue for a month or so. Computer matters to deal with. Travel. Reading. Puzzles. Lots to talk about when I get back to a more predictable routine. In the meantime, I'm doing fine. Embracing seasonal change. Trying to change …
Memories have it, Part 1
POST 30/2025 GOSHEN IN: Brown County State Park biennially over 22 years served up autumn delights for Marty and me in the company of our niece and her husband and their two children. Rustic cabin. No phone or internet. Footpaths. Wildlife. Favorite meals (some out). Games (especially Pictionary). Wood burner. Fall colors. Day visits to …
To-ing and fro-ing
POST 29/2025 GENEVA INDIANA: Limberlost. Loblolly. Gene Stratton-Porter. We were driving from our Bed No Breakfast lodging in Berne enroute to a Poetry Workshop at Loblolly Marsh and got slightly lost to-ing and fro-ing around a detour on gravel roads to Loblolly, part of the Limberlost Conservation Area Nature Preserves. Our niece Shari Wagner led …
Keep me reasonably sweet
POST 28/2025 SOUTH HAVEN & PERRIN LAKE, MICHIGAN: "I'm going to fly my kite," I told a barber in South Haven a few years ago when he asked me what I was going to do next. I did it again last week, not the haircut, just flew our fifty-year-old kite. Sprite by name. We picked …
In the palm of your hand
POST 27/2025: I have a bookmark titled, In The Palm of Your Hand." It quotes the Old Testament book of Isaiah, 49:15: "I will not forget you . . . I have held you in the palm of my hand." The image of being held in God's palm makes me think of my brother-in-law, Gerald, …
It's About Now 