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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

Barbara Falconer Newhall

Atotonilco, Mexico — High Art, Folk Art, Hot Springs, Food!

January 8, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Interior of Galeria Atotonilco, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with hand-painted figurines of jaguars. Photo by BF Newhall

If you’re planning a trip to San Miguel de Allende, be sure to budget time for a day trip to the nearby town of Atotonilco.

Confessions of a Nintendo Mom: The Day I Unplugged My Eight-Year-Old

January 4, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Ten-year-old Peter Newhall with monitor showing Nintendo game he has just won. Photo by BF Newhall

Like any normal person with a job, two kids and a front yard full of weeds, I had been sleeping in on a Sunday morning – until the sound of Jon and Peter playing the new Nintendo woke me up. I burst in on them. “HEY. YOU WOKE ME UP.” No answer. So enraptured were they with their dratted boomerangs and Oktoroks they didn’t care that they had wrecked my beautiful Sunday morning sleep-in. I stomped back to bed, covered my head and cried. Read more.

‘Read Me a Story, Mommy, But Not That One You Wrote’ (Or,The Nicest Thing My Husband Ever Said to Me)

December 28, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

1986 home office with computer monitors, toddler and sleeping cat. Photo by BF Newhall.

To save money, management had cut my hours back to one day a week. I did what every self-respecting writer does when she’s ticked off at the world. I sat down at the keyboard – and wrote. Read more.

My Mother’s Last Words to Me Before She Died

December 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Barbara Falconer Newhall and Tinka Falconer at Nordstrom Cafe, Stanford, for lunch. Photo by BF Newhall.

My mother’s last words to me were nothing much. No parting words of love. No heartfelt messages to the grandchildren. Read more.

A Cry in the Night — ‘Mommy, I’m Scared’

December 14, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Three-year-old girl in a red dress looking forlorn. Photo by BF Newhall
The baby books assert that American babies and children are ready to sleep through till morning and grant their parents an undisturbed night’s sleep by the time they are a year or so old. Not so in our household. A story from the Mommy Years. Read more.

Today’s Downer: ‘You Aways Kill Yourself Too Late’

December 7, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Emil Cioran in plaid cap and white hair.

I’m not very tough-minded. I discourage easily. So I’m careful about the writers I allow to spend time in my psyche, rearranging the furniture. Emil Mihai Cioran, for one, is not so welcome there.

I’m the Mother of the Groom – Now What Do I Do?

November 30, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Bride looks at herself in mirror wearing vintage gown. Photo by BF Newhall

Aside from hosting the rehearsal dinner and showing up on the wedding day in a dress that is neither black nor white, one that obscures the multiple necks and iffy upper arms yet still manages to be pretty – what’s the mother of the groom supposed to do? Read More.

 

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Widowed: The Superman at My House

the superman at my house Actor-christopher-dennis-superman

The Superman we spotted on Hollywood Boulevard was gorgeous. But Jon, my husband, was the man for me. He was the Superman at my house.  Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
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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!

Baby-boy-Peter-Newhall-with-dads-hands-holding-him. Photo by BF Newhall

Why Can’t a Dad Be More Like a Mom? . . . Do We Really Want Them To Be?

Olompali State Historic Park, CA, trees dying against a blue sky. Photo by Barbara Newhall.

Death Is the Only Guarantee

1940s-children

How to Grieve — A Message From My Mother-in-Law

near-empty-store-shelf

I Finally Got to Go Shopping. Here’s How That Worked Out. Sheltering at Home Week 19

MORE DON'T MISS!

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