Post 7/2024. We're here. Indiana to Cornwall. Arrived Friday at 5:30pm. Smooth sailing via ride to the South Bend airport, change of planes in Atlanta for overnight flight to London, train to St Erth, car to Carbis Bay. Greeted with mizzle Friday evening; fog and rain today. Dinner at Beck's Restaurant proved fine as usual. …
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!
Ready, set, fly away . . .
Post 6/2024. We're almost ready to hop across the pond to Cornwall, UK. I got a new passport in July. Plane, Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway tickets in hand. New waterproof walking shoes tested. Walking boots packed. Packing list checked and rechecked. New luggage scale at the ready. Gwen and Dean graciously on tap …
Seize the day
Post 5/2024. Library. Weather favorable for walking. All-clear post-surgical meeting with doctor. Packing for Cornwall. Phone chats with family. Memorial Service for Darrel H. this afternoon, "How can I Keep from Singing?" It has been a week of blessing, interaction with family in the area, anticipation and countdown to Cornwall, UK. Ox Bow Park We …
Personal notes of gratitude
Post 4/2024. So soon started, January's ending. February's in the wings. Today is not a day to turn philosophical, whimsical, analytical, or some such reflection thing concerning the passage of time. I'll just touch on personal notes of gratitude. Notes of gratitude I'm grateful for times with friends at dinner. Last week at our home …
Stories that stir the soul
Post 3. One gets tired of the nonsense that gets bandied about in the halls of power, especially in this election year. Postering aimed to get attention. Bluster over and over and over to bury inconvenient truths. Noise. Lack of decorum. Neglect of real issues. Rupture. Incivility. Seemingly blind obeisance to strongman disregard for democracy. …
Before Covid, 2019
Post 2/2024. I'm sorting files of our winter/spring stays in County Cornwall, England. What to keep, what to toss. Some sorting hours later, on a cold and getting colder, stay-indoors-weekend, from my 2019 Notebook I extrapolate a few thoughts on what holds true for our planned return this year. 2024 2019 Benefits of being outside …
Look back to face forward
Post 1/2024. New year. New opportunities. New challenges. Still, the old comes with us. We face forward on the wings of all that has gone before, whether "before" spans thousands of years, a few generations, or last year. With the new, humans can review and renew the kind feelings we have for each other. The …
Memories came flooding back
Post 50/2023. Rather than write a Year in Review blog, I've opted to comment on memories that were biding their time among a collection of things stored in a box. With almost each item memories came flooding back, along with questions of "What now with the stuff?" Sorting through boxed memories Assorted items from a …
Christmas Eve ’23
Post 49/2023. I do not remember ever reading A Christmas Story, by Charles Dickens. The movie, yes, but not the wonderfully written text published in 1843. For the youngest set, Dickens (1812-1870) tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley and …
It won’t be long now
Post 48/2023. Sister-in-law Doris recently came up with a joke that flips the frenetic dash of shopping, holiday preparations, yearend planning. "'It won't be long now,' said the monkey when it lost its tail in the lawnmower." Good time to pause and immerse oneself in a book or two. Hot chocolate alongside. Set in Scotland …
It's About Now 