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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
When the Rough-In Plumbing and Electrical Are Things of Beauty
The hidden secret behind the sheetrock in my bathroom — the rough-in plumbing and rough-in electrical are things of beauty. 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
My Porta-Potty Has Finally Arrived! And Coming Soon — A Bath Remodel
My Porta-potty has arrived. Finally. Coming soon, a brand-new bathroom with a huge stall shower, comfy bench and lots of grab bars. Read more.
Five Years Ago This Month — Covid Shut Down Our World
Five years ago this month covid shut down our world. There wasn’t much to do, so I wrote a lot of covid stories, some sad and some, I like to think, amusing. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
Widowed: ‘Let Us Tend Our Garden’
Translating Voltaire for my backyard: “We must cultivate our garden,” feels bossy and rife with certitude. I prefer, “Let us tend our garden.” Read more.
Wedding Dress Shopping — When Your Daughter Lets You Tag Along
When I went wedding dress shopping forty years ago, I went all by myself. My daughter was smarter. She phoned and asked me to go with her. Read more.
Where Author Richard Rodriguez Sees the Face of God
When asked why he believed in God, Richard Rodriguez, author of Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography, answered the question with a story about Mother Teresa. Read more.