Post 17/2021 Thursday 22 April . . . I have to admit, the wall calendar above our computer desk just now got flipped to April. Days, weeks and months sail by at a steady pace, even as our lives are circumscribed--yes, we've heard it a thousand times--by the global pandemic. It is global. It is …
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!
Lakeside daisies bade us welcome
Post 16/2021 Saturday 17 April . . . It may have been two decades since we were introduced to the rare lakeside daisy on a guided walk on Kelleys Island on the Ohio side of Lake Erie. Kelleys Island is a 20-minute crossing on the Shirley Irene ferry from Marblehead. We spent the past week …
Nature, be nice
Post15/2021 Friday 9 April . . . The "be nice" part of the title made me laugh. Ha, ha, ha. Yes, "be nice." Our late friend Mick Bevan would have responded with, "Hee, hee, hee!" What, even if kindly, tell nature to tame things down? Hee, hee, hee! Mick lived in St Ives, Cornwall, UK, …
Resurrection, amazement and terror
Post 14/2021 Easter Sunday 4 April . . . Easter lilies gracing homes or churches symbolize new life. They also propel us to seek the peace in the here and now. We've had opportunities to provide an Easter lily in memory of loved ones who have gone before, to the peace of their reward. But …
March marches on
Post 13/2021 Friday 26 March . . . A twinge of unease underlies my feelings of delight as I walk among the first signs of spring. It's a slight twinge, alongside my delight in bird song. First flowers. Buds. Balmy temperatures. The grand awakening of the out-of-doors. Freedom, again, to have company indoors. Friends Dean …
Beyond the bubble, connection and hallelujah!
Post 12/2021 Thursday 18 March . . . Carol Bly spoke her mind as a writer, teacher and ethicist. Her heartland was rural Minnesota, USA; her voice urgently timeless in promoting "national-scale virtues." In recent months I've finally read one of her books, Letters From the Country (Penguin Books, 1981). This collection, 31 essays published …
Continue reading Beyond the bubble, connection and hallelujah!
Cleaner water, thanks a million
Post 11/2021 Friday 12 March . . . I'm drawn to water. I've lived next to it. Vacationed near it. Gotten sick on board ship. Oh, the memory: In 1964, even on the calmest day crossing the Atlantic on the Castle Felice, I fed my breakfast to the fish. Returning home, after a volunteer year …
Buggies, horseless carriages, early motor cars
Post 10/2021 Saturday 6 March . . . A visit to LaGrange County, Indiana, brings one face-to-face with a way of life that took form ages ago. The Amish still get around by horse and buggy, bicycle, and on foot, though they also use public transportation or hire drivers with vans or cars. The Amish …
Continue reading Buggies, horseless carriages, early motor cars
Glad for winter, as for spring around the corner
Post 8/2021 Friday 26 February . . . From weeks of bitter cold we now latch onto signs of a soon-to-arrive spring. Only yesterday, it seems, we entered the daunting winter sojourn of February. Now, here we are, the shortest month about to end. I'm glad for the now; add a "s" and I'm still …
Continue reading Glad for winter, as for spring around the corner
Enough cold to go around
Shared Views #8/2020 Saturday 20 February . . . Even our car got into the cold weather act. By cold weather I'm referring to temperatures that hovered between plus and minus single and double digits (degrees Fahrenheit). When I tried to start our car, after not having driven it for almost a week, it didn't …
It's About Now 