Nod to September Cogitation 36/213 Saturday 7 September 2019 Thankfully, relationships with close friends do not always go smoothly or last without cultivation. What? Thankfully? Friends keep one honest, on track, resilient. In touch with our humanity. Through a friend we can face our vulnerabilities, be there, learn to listen, pay heed, laugh, weep, be …
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!
Notes of thanks
From a walk on the Greencroft Goshen campus.From a walk through the Goshen College campus. Sandhill cranes on Perrin lake, Michigan. Spotted from a boat ride at the home of John and Jan Schwartz a week ago. Cogitation 35/212 Saturday 31 August 2019 Three notes of thanks surface this week. One. Celebration with friends We …
Power
Rain and wind swept across Oliver Lake Sunday evening a week ago, seen from Mary and Gerald's cottage. Cogitation 34/211 Saturday 24 August 2019 Last weekend the power of nature delighted me with deep thundering chords and stormy deluge. Within days parched grasses turned green again. One of the green areas on the Greencroft Goshen …
Treasured taste of a Danish . . . cucumber salad
The cherry tomato plants in a container at our front door are bearing fruit . . . and wonder, occasioning gratitude. Cogitation 33/210 Saturday 17 August 2019 My bedtime reading this week included a couple cookbooks--a respite from history, mystery, biography, travel, and climate. One of the books is a small 78-page volume, Danish Cookery …
Continue reading Treasured taste of a Danish . . . cucumber salad
Why did we move here?
On Tuesday evening we saw this hawk flying low over the Greencroft Goshen campus. Rodents beware. Cogitation 32/210 Saturday 10 August 2019 Last November we sold our home and moved to Greencroft Goshen, a continuing care retirement community. The physical distance from Elkhart to Goshen is short (12 miles); the psychical measure is less precise, …
Born to do benefits
Cogitation 31/209 Saturday 3 August 2019 Where's Shakespeare when we need him? Right at hand, actually. The Shakespeare who more than 400 years ago gave deep voice to the world's ills, its goodness and its hopes in works of tragedy, history, comedy and love--words that ring true today. William Shakespeare bust in the Shakespearean Gardens …
Fair fall you
Cogitation 30/208 Saturday 27 July 2019 This morning we walked in warming weather to breakfast at Goshen Family Restaurant on the outskirts of town--four miles round-trip. What's nice about this destination is that we can walk there on the Winona Railway Trail. The trail runs alongside still-in-use train tracks but stays away from street traffic. …
How hot is it?
Cogitation 29/207 Saturday 20 July 2019 This week it's been almost too hot to spend much time outside, though the large shade trees in our yard helped keep us cool. The Dean's List headlined the entertainment at Fernwood Friday night. Fernwood Gardens is 45 minutes away in Michigan. It was too hot to do the …
Making memories, remembering
Cogitation 28/206 Saturday 13 July 2019 Activities of this week, thoughts of a year ago. A walkabout in Goshen, Indiana Blooming in New Hamburg, Stratford & Cambridge Ontario Part of the Cambridge Sculpture Garden.Untitled 1981, by Peter Powyer. Lunch in Paris Paris, where the Nith River meets the Grand River, where cafes overlook the water, …
Let’s underscore our journey together
Cogitation 27/205 Saturday 6 July 2019 Yesterday morning I made a cup of coffee and took it out on the deck. A mourning dove cooed in the distance. A robin sang. A fisherman sat on a pontoon across the lake, stillness and calm held sway in the early morning sunshine. In due time a speedboat …
It's About Now 