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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
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Barbara’s Riffs on Life

My Mother’s Last Words to Me Before She Died

December 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 13 Comments

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 6 Comments

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 4 Comments

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 12 Comments

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.

 

I’m Thankful For a Clean Oven, Fresh Ice Cubes . . . and a Daughter-in-Law-to-Be

November 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Lava rocks laid in ground for steppingstone garden path. Photo by BF Newhall

 

What I’m grateful for, what I’m jazzed and excited about today, are the small things that have gone right for me lately: A clean oven, freshly washed windows, and a new steppingstone path for the garden — all in time for Thanksgiving. See more.


Anne Lamott on Getting Older — Drop That Rock

November 16, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

Ann Lamott at a book signing in Oakland, CA, spring 2012. photo by BF Newhall

It’s time to drop that rock we’ve been carrying around, says Anne Lamott. It’s time to surrender to the fact that we can’t do it all. We’re getting older and it’s time to have ourselves some peace.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Widowed: We Were Two People — And a Marriage

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Jon and I were two people — and the marriage we’d created over the years.  Read more.

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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.

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Tinka Falconer in a flowered dress arms akimbo, 1940's. Photo by DB Falconer

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