Barbara Falconer Newhall

From the Mighty Rose to the Humble Daisy — I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Those Blossoms

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:01:26 +0000

The fine artist wannabe in me asserts that, as a rule of thumb, flowers are just too nice, too darned pretty to be the subject of Real Art. Real Art needs grit. It needs to be problematic. It needs tension. Something has to be askew. Flowers, on the other hand, never seem troubled to me, or even ruffled.

At Point Reyes: Wild Flowers . . . and Animals Wild and Tame

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:01:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I mourned the loss of little hill in Michigan called Eagle Top. This week I’d like to celebrate a place that -- unlike Eagle Top -- has been preserved in all its wild and pastoral beauty – the vast triangle of land along the California coast known as Point Reyes, and especially the narrow outcropping called Chimney Rock.

In the Garden: Look What Happened to My Front Yard Over the Weekend

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 09 May 2013 07:01:26 +0000

I wasn't looking. I was at the computer all weekend with my back to the world. When I finally took a bleary look out the window Monday morning, I saw a front yard crazy with life -- poppies, blue-eyed grass, armeria, pansies and several lascivious stalks of lupine blossoms. Read more.

On the Shores of Lake Michigan — Eagle Top, a Wild Place Tamed

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:01:15 +0000

Somebody owns Eagle Top. They bought it ten years ago and built a cottage on it. I didn’t think it was possible to buy, sell or own Eagle Top. Eagle Top was a wild place. I thought it belonged to itself. Read more.

The Mother-of-the-Groom Diaries — Am I Too Old for Splashy Earrings?

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:01:24 +0000

The long dress I was planning to wear to my son’s wedding needed earrings. Not a necklace. Not a bracelet. Not a glitzy ring. My gown needed earrings. Big, attention-grabbing, dangle earrings. Read more.

My Killer Shoes — Brought Down to Size by Those Four-and-a-Half-Inch Heels

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:30:10 +0000

Dress shoes for women right now, as you may have noticed, sport heels that go on forever. Wedge heels, spike heels, stack heels – everywhere I look I see nothing but heels of skyscraper proportions built to lift their wearers four or even four-and-a-half inches off the ground. Read More.

Look for Me on Thursdays

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:04:30 +0000

Dear Readers. From now on I'll be posting on Thursday mornings instead of Saturdays. Here's why.

A Dad, a Mom and an 8-Year-Old With a Bashed Lip

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:01:10 +0000

At 7 on a Saturday night, eight-year-old Peter came home from the park with a lip the size of a ping-pong ball. He had been hit by a hardball on the fly. I wanted to take him to the ER. Jon said no, it was just a fat lip. Read more.

. . . And Two Books I Did Read, Sorta — By Lauren Winner and Anne LaMott

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 07:01:42 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about five intriguing books that have come across my desk in recent months, good books that I never got around to reading. Here are two more books -- by memoirists Anne LaMott and Lauren Winner -- that I've actually managed to blast through in a couple sittings each. Read more.

Good Books I Haven’t Really Read: Anna Quindlen, Stephen Prothero, David Talbot and a Book About French Love . . .

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 07:01:07 +0000

There are seven intriguing books currently languishing on my bookshelf, crying out to be read. Books I’ve dearly wanted to spend quality time with in the past year, but haven’t. And that's because I’m writing -- and promoting -- a book myself. Read more.

Shopping for a Mother-of-the-Groom Dress — Is That Me in the Mirror? Or Somebody’s Grandmother?

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:01:58 +0000

My son is getting married. I’ll need a dress. A dress that makes me look terrific. It's time to hit the department stores and bridal salons. Read more.

From the de Young — A Final Toss of the Bouquet

Barbara Falconer Newhall — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:01:42 +0000

At times during my visit to the Bouquets to Art exhibition at the de Young on Tuesday, I wondered whether my soul might be better off if I'd just stand there quietly looking at the floral arrangements -- instead of taking so darned many pictures. I took 254 photos to be exact.