Journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall reports from the the second half of life -- on books, writing . . . her husband, house, aging relatives and grown-up kids.
Great things are happening. A new look for my website is in the works. And lots more posts and pictures are waiting in the wings to be shared. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, we’re making some last minute changes, so if a few things aren’t working quite right, please be patient. – Barbara
My mother liked her purse's tweedy, sporty look. Photos by BF Newhall.
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
My mother is gone. But when she died she left a few things behind, including the love seat that followed her from Birmingham, Michigan, to Phoenix, and finally to California, where it moved into and out of three different assisted living facilities.
Some people preferred to sit across the room from my mother when they visited. But I always wound up on that loveseat, alongside her. [Read more...]
Three caterpillar-like beards rest on three veined hafts. Photos by BF Newhall.
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
I think of irises as a common, garden-variety flower.
You see them growing everywhere. Our own back yard had dozens of them growing wildish when we moved in thirty-plus years ago, and now we have a mess of them growing in our front yard and along the street. But it wasn’t until this spring that I took the time to notice how intricate — and elegant — these flowers truly are. [Read more...]
My desk as I write this post. And yes that's me in the wallpaper -- and New York City, a place that still shows up in my writing life dreams. Photos by BF Newhall.
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
“Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” — Ecclesiastes 12:12
Apparently, you and I are not the first writers to complain of the butt-wearying effects of too much time spent arranging and rearranging words. [Read more...]
A car rusting on a Mt. Tamalpais hillside, Marin county, CA. Photo by BF Newhall
“There is no sense and no sanity in objecting to the desecration of the flag while tolerating and justifying and encouraging as a daily business the desecration of the country for which it stands.”
Those are Wendell Berry’s thoughts on the discarded trash — the scraps of plastic, the soiled diapers, the flimsy lamps and hair dryers, the refrigerators, stoves and automobiles — that blight the American countryside:
Wendell Berry’s thoughts were published in an article, “Waste,” in the May issue of The Sun. The article is from Berry’s essay collection, What Are People For? published in 2010 by Counterpoint.
