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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

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About Barbara

Barbara Falconer Newhall at her home office desk getting ready to do final edits on her book, "Wrestling with God." Photo by Barbara Newhall

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

The Trouble With Poinsettias

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

poinsettias

The trouble with poinsettias is — they don’t know that Christmas is over and it’s time to make an exit.  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.
"Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith" book cover with photo of author Barbara Falconer Newhall

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

Click to learn more about "Wrestling with God"

Recent Riffs on Life

Widowed: If I Visit His Grave, Will It Help?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

newhall-gravesite-colma

I said hello to Jon and his family, and then there was nothing more to do in this graveyard.  Read more.

Maybe I Want a Facelift After All

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

window-with-houseplants

Facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds are not for me. Or are they?  Read more.

MORE RIFFS ON LIFE

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition

  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

  • My Ever-Changing Family

  • On Writing & Reading

Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

DON’T MISS!

Writing Tips From a Famous Author — I Put on My Best Socks to Get Them

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

balega-socks famous author class

I’ve got years of writing experience to my credit. Why in the world would I spiff myself up to take a writing class from that famous author?  Read more.

My Deceased Husband’s Voice — Coming at Me From the Stars

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

my deceased husband's voice father-daughter

My deceased husband’s voice came at me the other day — from across the years, all the way from 1988 and a summer’s night under the stars.  Read more.

Widowed: Do I Still Miss Him?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

widowed do i still miss him cloud-gate-millennium-park

Widowed: Do I still miss him? Not really. Missing Jon is not the shape my grief takes. Most days.  Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The Baby Quilts Are Ready — Now All We Need Are the Babies

Author Barbara Falconer Newhall with the four calico crazy quilts she designed for the four grandchildren she hopes she'll have. Photo by Jon Newhall

Grandchild No. One is due in February, and I’ve managed to finish the baby quilt in plenty of time . . . Make that four baby quilts. 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!

A Thanksgiving turkey, roasted brown and ready to carve. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m Thankful for Friends, Family, Pumpkin Pie and — It’s a Girl!

A periwinkle blue fiberglass cast on a man with a broken ankle and a torn ligament. Photo by Barbara Newhall

One Broken Ankle, and Two Lives Grind to a Halt. Or, Why You Should Definitely Stop and Tie That Loose Shoelace

john-singer-sargent-la-carmencita

Widowed and Lonely

A frozen lake surrounded by trees, snow and animal track in the Midwest in winter. Photo by Barbara Newhall

A Midwestern Flower Garden — Beautifully Dead In the Dead of Winter

MORE DON'T MISS!

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