Cathy Bendle, Columnist
Welcome to Swept From The Corners of My Mind, a compendium of stories, memories, humour and pathos. Here you will find stories from my life, like the time I was dressed up for church and ended up rolling in the mud castrating a calf; or when a muskrat got into the ducts in our broken-down singlewide house trailer. Perhaps I will delve into stories from my menagerie, such as time Fidget, one of my birds, tried to put me to bed by repeatedly walking from the couch towards the bedroom cheerily chanting “goodnight”. There may be stories of The Great Wells Misadventure of 2020, or the Dinosaur Dance of 2023. Whatever it is, I hope that you enjoy these stories and observations as I sweep them from the corners of my mind into yours.
I am excited because writing and telling stories are integral to who I am. I am a performer at heart; too awkward to travel with a circus, I take over coffee breaks, staff meetings, and chats in the aisles of Safeway to share my latest misadventures (of which there are too many). I love to MC events or announce at animal shows. Hand me a microphone and set me loose. I find something to laugh at in most things because, as Kurt Vonnegut Jr said, “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” I strive for kind humour, and not just because I usually laugh at myself.
Unfortunately, besides being a writer and performer, I am also a procrastinator of the first order. The chance to regularly write here was offered to me several months ago, but I delayed. After all there was a septic ankle injury; A return to work; A beautiful sunset; Learning to drive again; Picking up coffee; Petting the cat; reading a book. Yes, yes, I know none of these should have affected my ability to write, but they did. So there.
There is also my fear of not measuring up. I am blessed to be part of Sans Nom, a poetry-writing group. It has been around for over 20 years and has all kinds of published authors gracing its ranks. I also work with and meet brilliant, engaging people who have fascinating lives. I’ve barely been to 2 county fairs and a dog show. The bar is high and I’m not sure I can see it, much less pass it.
Then I had a chat with Herald columnist Lorna Blakely, a member of Sans Nom, and a darn sweet person to boot (one of the membership requirements…but then how did I get in?). We talked about deadlines, column subjects and the joy of sharing our writings, as well as a writer’s fears and purposes. Like a Nike t-shirt, she suggested I “just do it” and here I am, inviting you to share the foibles of my life.
Expect too many parentheses and exclamation points, wry observations, and wandering asides, in the weeks to come. I hope my writing will lighten your day as I sweep the stories from the corners of my mind for your enjoyment. Cathy Bendle finds humor in the quirks of everyday life, from training teachers to dodging housework. When not writing, she’s either laughing at her pets, frantically Googling for her work assignments, or playing on her iPad. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
