Main Content
About Barbara
I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got a serious case of the human condition.
I’ve done it all: career, family, house, garden, and a prize-winning book, "Wrestling with God." The result: I'm a woman of years, lots of them, who can't help seeing things from the funny side.
Tucked away on this website are hundreds of riffs on life. I hope you’ll seek them out – and keep me company as I discover the humor, if not the meaning, in what life throws my way. Learn More
THE LATEST
Happy Birthday, US of A. You Made It to 250.
Happy birthday, US of A! You made it to 250. A little the worse for wear, but still here. Read more.
BARBARA’S BOOK
★ Publishers Weekly, starred review
Any seeker of any faith will be blessed to read the words of this fine author and observer. Read more.
An inveterate doubter for most of her adult life, journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall embarks upon a quest to find a way to believe in God in the twenty-first century.
The result is Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, which details her search for the Divine in the lives of diverse Americans – from a fundamentalist Christian to a progressive Muslim to a Buddhist monk.Seekers of all persuasions will feel represented here, from priests, ministers, and rabbis to engineers, physicists, and avowed non-believers . . . a riverflow of a book. — Phil Cousineau, host of PBS’s Global Spirit
Recent Riffs on Life
Sixteen Years Left to Live. How Many Bowls of Froot Loops Is That?
In the sixteen years I’ve got left, how many of the gotta-do items on my to-do list will I get done? Read more.
Was My Mother a 1950s Tradwife?
My mother was a tradwife, a bona fide 1950s tradwife. That’s what she wanted. That’s what she got. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
My Mother’s Last Words to Me Before She Died
My mother’s last words to me were nothing much. No parting words of love. No heartfelt messages to the grandchildren. Read more.
The Little Tug That Could — Cross an Ocean. Scott Newhall and the Eppleton Hall
Scott Newhall and the Eppleton Hall: A doughty San Francisco crew sails an English paddlewheel across the Atlantic and on to California. Read more.
Autumn in the Garden, When Sensible Plants Pack It In for the Winter . . . And a Healing Ankle
It was autumn in the garden and all the grim stuff that happens as winter sets in — death, rot, shrivel and retreat — made for a thing of beauty. Read more.