Featured image: Jack Frost decorated the garage door at the home of Doris Mast, Marty's sister. Cogitation 6/184 Saturday 9 February 2019 "Up-anchor and away," I said to the piles of papers moored on my desk--or something to that effect--as I cleaned up for travel to Cornwall, UK. In the process I found assorted items begging for …
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!
‘For more cold weather, go to: page 5’
Featured image: Remember eating an icicle, pulling taffy in snow, getting a finger or tongue stuck on an outdoor pump--surely not the latter. Childhood winters evoke fun memories. Cogitation 5/183 Saturday 2 February 2019 If not page 5, then go to the TV storm team. Better yet, go to winter memories of childhood. We've seen plenty …
There’s change in the air
Featured image: Farm dog Milt examines the felled silo on the farm where I grew up. Cogitation 4/182 Friday 25 January 2019 There's change in the air, even with evidence to the contrary. There's change in the air in people recognizing the folly of what passes for prime time national politics. What we see in the US …
An easy step to home from home
Featured image: An Amish school in LaGrange County, Indiana. One of many. Scene from Friday. Cogitation 3/181 Saturday 19 January 2019 It's an easy step from our home in the US to our rental flat in the UK. We plan to be there in less than a month, home in the village of Carbis …
‘Make haste slowly’
Featured image: A dramatic sky slowly passes over a field in LaGrange County last Saturday. Cogitation 2/180 Saturday 12 January 2019 "Make haste slowly," said Suetonius of old. Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, born AD 69, died after 122, was a Roman biographer and antiquarian, a member of the equestrian or knightly class. If Suetonius were …
‘Ring out, wild bells,’ as the New Year dawns
Featured image: Fresh snow on Cowles Bog. Cogitation 1/179 Friday 4 January 2019 This is blog #179 since I started publishing Cogitations. One by one I've posted a first draft of part of my week, shared a thought or two on the present with some reference to the past, and aimed for a word of hope for …
Continue reading ‘Ring out, wild bells,’ as the New Year dawns
Are we there yet?
Featured image: St Ives chocolate from friends in Lelant, Cornwall, UK. Here, at St Uny Church, St Michael's Way crosses to St Michael's Mount in the English Channel, part of the route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Cogitation 52 Saturday 29 December 2019 My vivid memory of the "there" question is that of taking …
On the second day of winter . . .
Featured image: I'm intrigued by solitary trees still at home in fields cleared of fences. It's a reminder to go and hug a tree. Cogitation 51 Saturday 22 December 2018 . . . I pause to reflect on the week as this year's moments, and gloom, melt away. We've been at home at Greencroft Goshen …
The patient impatience of Advent
Featured image: Cello ornament on one of the Christmas trees at Greencroft Goshen. Cogitation 50 Saturday 15 December 2018 In the music of Advent I hear and see hope. For Christians, Advent sets the stage for Christmas. The music of Advent gives voice to the longing for light to penetrate darkness. In recent Sundays we sang, …
Tree’s up
Featured image: One of the angelic host of ornaments that adorn our Christmas tree. Cogitation 49 Saturday 8 December 2018 Last week we moved house after more than 40 years of shaping, and being shaped by house and home in one place. The move itself went well--decent weather, in contrast to the blizzard on …
It's About Now 