• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • WRESTLING WITH GOD BOOK
  • CONTACT

Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
  • WRITING & READING
  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

grandparents

Instead of My Toys, They Played With Peanut Shells

October 18, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

they-played-with-peanut-shells/ people-made-of-peanut-shells

Instead of playing with my toys, the visiting grandchildren played with a bag of peanut shells — and made tiny peanut people.  Read more.

People Don’t Die Anymore — They Pass

March 3, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

people don't die anymore they pass. this grandfather died a few years after helping his grandchild with her shoes

People don’t die anymore — they “pass.” Otherwise sophisticated, hard-headed people are resorting to euphemisms when the subject is death.  Read more.

Grandparents Day Is Today — How to Grandparent and Why

September 13, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Grandparent's Day. A grandfather, father and grandson, circa 1941. Photo by Tinka Falconer

It’s Grandparents Day today. How to be a grandparent? I haven’t a clue. Why do we do it? I have some thoughts on that one.  Read more.

Grandparenting Via Webcam — Helping Out Those Frazzled Parents. Sheltering a Home Week 13

June 11, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

babysitting-via-webcam

Babysitting via webcam: The grandchildren are sheltering at home with their frazzled mom and dad. Can grandparents give parents a break from afar? Read more.

Airbnb — When a Home Away From Home Gets Way Too Homey

August 25, 2016 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

It's no Airbnb, but rather a real Bed and Breakfast, cluttered but clean and cozy. Candlewyck House, Pentwater, MI. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Airbnb is supposed to be a good deal — homey and cheap. But maybe, really I’d be better off in a real bed and breakfast like this one. Read more.

I’m Going to Be a Grandmother — Or Will I Be a Grannie? A Grandma? A Nana?

January 21, 2016 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

1943 summer Nana Georgie Morrison & Barbara Ann Falconer. Photo by DG Falconer

What shall I call myself? Something tried and true like Grandma, Grannie, Nana, or Grandmother Newhall? Or should I revive one of my childhood nicknames — Bobbie or Fanny? Read more.

A Manners-Challenged Kid Who Became the Apple of His Grandma’s Eye

May 22, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Small children with grandmother on Lake Michigan beach. Photo by BF Newhall.

“Move,” said my 6-year-old son Peter to his grandmother. “I want to get by.” My mother looked up from her book and gave my son a hard look. Read more.

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

GET MY Riffs on Life BY EMAIL

True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone.

 

LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The Perfect Christmas Tree — I Finally Found It

Rows of perfectly shaped christmas tree on a tree farm. Creative commons photo

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.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
  • On Writing & Reading
  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

DON’T MISS!

hugging-hospital-workers

Post-Coronavirus, What Will Happen to All That Hugging We’ve Been Doing? Sheltering at Home Week 6

pregnant-woman

Unplanned Pregnancy? I Wasn’t as Alone as I Thought

watering-the-Christmas-tree

Widowed: Or, How to Wrestle a Christmas Tree Into Its Stand Without Calling the Neighbors for Help

covid-19-warning

Tales From the Pandemic Shut-Down — It’s Been Three Years

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2026 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in