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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
It’s Spring and My Garden Looks Dreadful. Here’s Why
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments
My garden looks dreadful. Here’s why. My plants won’t cooperate. The iris wants to be an iris. The azalea, an azalea. The poppy, a poppy. Read more.
New! Get Barbara’s Special Gift
Wondering how that kid of yours will turn out?
Take heart. They might surprise you. My daughter did!
I tell that story in this free Special Edition, Was our daughter headed for the dark side?
To get your copy of this free downloadable PDF, enter your email below – and check your Inbox. Enjoy!
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Recent Riffs on Life
Widowed: He Knew How to Show a Girl a Good Time
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 6 Comments
I was in the right place at the right time for the 2017 solar eclipse because my husband, Jon Newhall, knew how to show a girl a good time. Read more.
Spotted: Red Mary Janes at the Easter Vigil
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments
When I spotted a pair of red Mary Janes at the Easter Vigil, my meditations flitted from shopping to death and resurrection and back to shopping. 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
DON’T MISS!
Our Remodel Has Kept Us Company — We’ll Miss the Carpenters, the Electricians and the Pile Drivers. Sheltering at Home Week 11
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments
With the coronavirus sequestering us at home, our remodel has kept us company. It’s brought living, breathing — masked — people into our house. Read more.
Widowed and the We-Ness of Marriage
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 24 Comments
I’ve been widowed nearly nine months now, and I still can’t let go of the we — the we-ness of marriage. Here’s why. Read more.
The Perfect Christmas Tree — I Finally Found It
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments
At the Christmas tree lot, the kids played hide ’n’ seek amid the trees, leaving me to find the perfect Christmas tree. The responsibility weighed heavy. Read more.