John Valentine

We arrived in Beijing on the second day of mourning for the Sichuan earthquake victims. All live entertainment and the cable shows were cancelled in hotels. Nine Chinese channels broadcast earthquake scenes of rescue, destruction and bravery around the clock. It was very, very moving. Premier Wen Jiabao was shown frequently comforting families at the […]

It’s just so easy to put off cleaning out the chicken coop. It’s an annual task at our house for which no one else raises their hand. The best time of the year to do it is when the garden wakes me up, gets me out of bed on a cool Saturday morning and says, […]

In the gluttonous, grass-planting outdoor life-extension that was the 1990s, I was Johnny Grass Seed. I believed the television turf-builder dream. With two toddlers, I wanted a safe, soft, green launching pad for all their nature discovery lessons. A giant play set with a slide and swings surrounded by a fairway-quality grassy plain, children romping […]

“Ssh, here comes Dad,” my oldest daughter whispered, smiling and looking over her shoulder. “We better stop talking or he’ll write an article about it.” My family was huddled together, sharing a mirror, doing their morning hair/ makeup/ earrings thing. I had wandered in, following the laughing voices. For the past two decades, I’ve written […]

The first call came in at 5 a.m. on a dark, cold Friday morning in North Carolina. I was dreaming of bubble tea. “Hi, Dad!” It was our oldest daughter calling from China. She was excited, ready for the weekend. Her classes were over for the week. While I was groggily pushing the coffeemaker button, […]

This time last year, on a bright, beautiful Saturday morning, I woke up with no feeling in half of my face, a loose lower lip and a drooping eyelid. I thought I must have been stung or have some kind of allergy. I knew it would go away. I Googled my symptoms and got a […]

It’s spring. Finally. Time to push aside Robert Frost’s introspective “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and pick up Ruth Krauss’ ode to exuberance, “A Hole is to Dig.” These flirtatious, teaser springs we get each January are like nature movie trailers for the next season’s upcoming blockbuster launch. They make me think of […]

This promises to be quite a week. Take a few deep breaths. Daylight is to be cherished on Saturday, the shortest day of the year. It will also be the biggest shopping day of the year. A good day to buy some candles. Sunday evening brings the year’s final full moon, the ominously named (by […]

We move it all inside this month; the people, the plants, the dogs, even the cats some nights. The first frost warning is a reminder. Did I clean out the woodstove and the flue pipe last spring? Where’s the nearest woodpile with the driest logs? We have button heat, too, but it’s the living room […]

“Everything I planted this spring has either died or been eaten,” whispered my wife, with uncharacteristic apocalyptic gloom, into her cup of coffee early one Saturday morning during that dog days of August heat wave. I was spurred into action later that same day when, rounding a driveway curve, I surprised a deer “inside the […]