Modest plan for a spring weekend
by John Valentine
Move the TV outside.
Give away half of the long-sleeved shirts, sweatshirts and sweaters that I never wore this winter.
Build another birdfeeder for the woodthrush songbirds, returning any day!
Clean the wood stove ashes for "the last time."
Add crushed oyster shells to the chicken's cracked corn.
Go 12 hours without buying something or checking e-mail.
Change the oil in the lawnmower.
Finally put away the final strand of Valentine's Day lights.
Notice the wind blowing in the treetops.
Take a low woods walk with my wife to her secret marsh of Atamasco lilies.
Dry an entire load of laundry on the clothesline. (Get a new bag of clothespins.)
Sweep off the foul line at the basketball slab. Don't quit until I make five in a row.
Pick a vase full of daffodils for the kitchen table.
Get out the hammock.
Write a thank you note.
Make another list.
- To create paragraphs in your comment, type <p> at the start of a paragraph and </p> at the end of each paragraph.
- To create bold text, type <b>bolded text</b> (please note the closing tag, </b>).
- To create italicized text, type <i>italicized text</i> (please note the closing tag, </i>).
- Proper web addresses will automatically become links.
Latest in Front Porch
-
Clear for departure
My father is 83 now, and his health is declining. In mid-April, my brother called: "You need to get up here now."
- May 22, 2013
-
Being the community
In Raleigh's Moore Square and around Main Street in Durham, we ignore people who we assume don't have housing. Rocky and those like him go to Love Wins or the Maurin House to find eye contact, to hear a "good morning," to be a part of their cities.
- May 15, 2013
-
High places
Quietly, by the guidance of our flashlights, we climbed a very long, tight spiral staircase up to the top of the Duke Chapel tower. And not just the bell-tower top, but beyond that.
- May 8, 2013
- More »
More by John Valentine
-
Blade running
There it was, for half price: a snow blade/grader attachment for my almighty DR All-Terrain brush mower. "Who doesn't need one of those?"
- May 1, 2013
-
Hatching the bloom
I'd thought I was running a chickens' retirement home. But here they were, in the face of flurries and frosts, announcing as only chickens can, "Hey, look around, it's spring!"
- Mar 6, 2013
- More »
