Cogitation 26/204 Saturday 29 June 2019 This morning, fairly early, as we were walking to pick strawberries, we heard a train whistle, a factory humming away, and a motorcycle heading along 15th Street--and the welcome howdy-do of birds singing. There was peace and quiet in the patch. Today was the last day for the of …
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!
A call for Christians to dismantle ‘isms’
Cogitation 25/203 Saturday 22 June 2019 Last Sunday, visiting pastor Oscar Sawali challenged listeners to dismantle "isms." Pastor Oscar Sawali (left) poses with Steve Wiebe-Johnson, Africa director for Mennonite Mission Network. The world is going backwards in terms of racism and religious intolerance, the pastor from South Africa said. He sees the church again being …
Paris, ah fifteenth century Paris
Cogitation 24/202 Saturday 15 June 2019 For the first time ever I'm reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Victor Hugo, writing in 1830, placed his story in Paris, 350 years earlier. What a time travel. Slow, long, suspenseful, insightful, intimate, factual, frightening, engrossing, assertive, detailed, fanciful, spirited, funny. . . . Among other features of a …
10 steps in making a new home, home
Cogitation 23/201 Friday 7 June 2019 Twelve miles and 42 years in our former home separate us from a new start in retirement living in Goshen, Indiana. For me it's having lived in the City of Elkhart for 50 years. Change we can, and do. A Gerbera daisy bids welcome at our front door. We're …
A month called June
Cogitation 22/200 Saturday 1 June 2019 May gave way to June, the sixth month. It's a marker of passing time. Sometimes I'd like to stop the clock, hit the pause button. Then I'm reminded how futile, even frightening, such a prospect would be. Standing still happened to the ancient mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, …
Imagination, food for the journey
Cogitation 21/199 Saturday 25 May 2019 Journey in a new season has launched, albeit the elements having delayed farmers and gardeners from their plantings. Nevertheless, spring has woken, erupted even, from the slumber of winter. There's work--and imagining--to do. Imagining? As in looking beyond the reality, the practical, the probabilities, the problems, the work at …
Goodbye Friend, Rest in Peace
Cogitation 20/198 Saturday 18 May 2019 One of my best friends, Ray Schlegel, died suddenly on Monday. New life blossoming at Greencroft, Goshen, Indiana.. Ray was on his way to the final lecture in a six-part series of the Laurier Association of Life Long Learning at our Alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. He …
Ruminations from Guernsey, Channel Islands
Cornwall Cogitations 19/197 Saturday 11 May 2019 To chew the cud, that's one definition of ruminate. Also, to ponder, to meditate. Ah, ruminations. Then there's ruminant: an animal that chews the cud. Ruminant belongs to the cow. Ruminate I can do. In the colloquial sense I can chew the cud, too. My fascination with Guernsey, …
Hello Geevor, Bluebells and Guernsey
Cornwall Cogitation 18/196 Saturday 4 May 2019 Geevor is a mining museum. Bluebells are a blooming gallery. Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands. To each of these we've said a recent "Hello!" Geevor A day out to visit Geevor Mine at Pendeen, Cornwall, starts with lunch, right? The Gurnard's Head does wonders with meals, …
A delightful day on Devon’s Dartmoor
Wild ponies graze on Dartmoor National Park near Princetown, Devon, UK. Cornwall Cogitation 17/195 Saturday 27 April 2019 Airy, wild, open, mind-stretching, that's Devon's Dartmoor National Park. Brilliant! I knew Dartmoor offered much, but not how much. We knew Steve and Marilyn Bowden would come up with a fine plan for a day-trip there, come …
It's About Now 