29 February 2020 Cogitation 9 First off, if today is your birthday, Happy Leap Day Birthday! Imagine, 29 February created long ago just for you. I trust you've found old and new ways to make the most of your youthful years. Here's a Cornish language happy birthday greeting: Penn-bloedh lowen! Go 29! Featured image: Visiting …
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!
Goodbye, coal and wood
2/22/2020 Cogitation 8 Air pollution, estimated to cause 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, is coming in for mitigation in a crackdown on wood burners. News reports on Friday revealed the UK government is banning the sale of bagged coal and wet (unseasoned) wood for domestic use effective February 2021, with a prohibition …
Ready, Set, Wait . . .
Saturday 15 February 2020 Cornwall Cogitation 7 To leap across the pond takes some doing. Monday, the day before our departure from Elkhart County, Indiana to Cornwall County, England, I made coffee and sat down to finish the last chapters of a Daisy Dalrymple Mystery, Die Laughing, by Carola Dunn. It's the first of Dunn's …
Cornwall bound
Cornwall Cogitation 6, 2020 Saturday 8 February On Friday, 7 February Marty and I did an illustrated presentation of our visits to Cornwall, UK, at the quarterly Greencroft Goshen resident breakfast. I said, "In Cornwall you relax, enjoy getting closer to nature, imbibe a greater sense of community, and rather than focus on sight-seeing you …
Focus on getting from the day, not through the day
Cogitation 5, 2020 Saturday 1 February "Time takes all and gives all," said Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). I can only surmise what this Italian philosopher, Dominican friar and poet meant by his statement. How did he tie that, for instance, to his views on infinity, or the unity of truth in science and faith? I can …
Continue reading Focus on getting from the day, not through the day
All quiet on my Facebook
Cogitation 4, 2020 Friday 24 January It wasn't planned, but I've stopped doing Facebook for a spell. On Monday I was trying to post a Stanford University overview of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Somehow, I ended up in the early stages of creating a new account. Facebook wanted me to add friends. …
‘Go church’
Cogitation 3, 2020 Saturday 18 January 2020 This week's blog differs from my usual first-draft, journal-style, review of the week. Here, I look back on my experience of church as we look forward to a new church home in the city where we moved a bit more than a year ago. The blog's plenty long. …
Quest to find home
Cogitation 2, 2020 Saturday 11 January Featured image: Sunrise. We made several trips to the City of Elkhart this week for some appointments and a few errands. It's where we lived for more than 45 years. Elkhart is only 12 miles from our new home in Goshen, though it seems like many more. We're happy …
What to say? 2020
Cogitation 1, 2020 Friday 3 January A New Year, a new decade, an old question: What's to say that hasn't been said? Personally, what I haven't said in 230 previous weekly posts? My, my. What to say? My nephew, Graham, helped me with that question some 33 years ago. I'm dipping back to the letter …
For the love of dogs
Cogitation 52 We enjoy seeing other people's dogs. We do not have a dog of our own. Once upon a time I was allergic to dogs. But, for some strange reason, the allergy took flight. For 17 years, we were owned by a cat, Miss Kitty. For the moment, we're happy to interact with other …
It's About Now 