Cornwall Cogitation #1 Saturday 4 February 2017 "Go Cornwall!" said a little voice in my ear. "Cornwall's calling. Go." Soon we shall. How to get there and settle in. Take a plane to London. From Paddington Station take the Great Western Railway to St Erth. Transfer to the branch line for an 11-minute ride along the …
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!
Calm in the storm
REVIVE US AGAIN #11 Sunday 29 January 2017 The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus may be closing down for good on May 21, 2017, but the political show this week in D.C. sadly failed to match the circus for true deeds of derring-do. It was a frightening week, as though wild beasts have been let loose. I know some people …
Power nap
REVIVE US AGAIN #10 Sunday 22 January 2017 It's a bit past 5pm. I just woke up from a nap. (Wow, according to the date I had just posted I had a long nap. It's 2017. I know that. I'm corrected.) Today is Anabaptist Fellowship Sunday. At church we celebrated the Anabaptist movement that started …
What’s a duchy?
REVIVE US AGAIN Sunday 15 January 2017 On Saturday, Marty looked up from the Victorian mystery she was reading and asked, "What's the definition of a duchy?" Collins English Dictionary Mini Edition came to the rescue: "territory of a duke or duchess." Duh. The book, The Inheritance, by Charles Finch (Minotaur Books, 2016) is set in …
We three kings of orient are . . .
REVIVE US AGAIN #8 Sunday 8 January 2017 . . . "Bearing gifts we traverse afar / Field and fountain, / Moor and mountain, / Following yonder star." We sang that song after lunch at church today n celebration of Three Kings Day (that took place on Friday). The Rosca, a sweet bread baked in …
Happy
REVIVE US AGAIN # 6 Sunday 1 January 2017 Happy means feeling or causing joy. Late this afternoon of 1 January we took a walk of almost four miles. The sun was setting as we returned home. Winter happy. New Year's Eve with friends happy. New Year happy. Just happy. Willard and Alice Roth hosted …
Put your hand into the hand of God
REVIVE US AGAIN #5, 25 December 2016 It's Christmas Day 1939. England has been at war with Germany for some three months. King George VI gives his Christmas Day broadcast. In his speech the King quotes this poem: "I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year/ 'Give me a light that …
Brrr . . .
Sunday 18 December 2016 REVIVIE US AGAIN Brrr . . . it's cold out there. And warm in here. The week has been a whoosh. The roads I traveled varied from dry, to slushy to icy. One morning I was delighted to hear and feel the squeaky crunch of tires on our icy, rutted, and snow-packed street. It …
Chicago at midweek
Sunday 11 December 2016 REVIVE US AGAIN I'm not a dog person. However, the novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (Harper Perennial, 2008), makes me want to scratch any dog's ears. Enzo, the dog who tells the story, reveals what it's like living with a human family, Denny and Eve Swift and …
Who goes there?
Sunday 4 December 2016 REVIVE US AGAIN #2 It's a fitful time, a time fraught with ill political winds, fiction masquerading as fact, climate upheaval, seasonal change. It's also a time for reflection. First of the season snow arrived today. Nice flakes are falling this Sunday evening. Thank a Salvation Army bell ringer when you shop--and give. The week, not …
It's About Now 