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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’s Riffs on Life

Betty Rollin on How to Talk to a Widow

December 3, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Betty Rollin on what to say to a widow. I say ask her about her new rock-garden-path

Betty Rollin on how to talk to a widow: Betty says don’t assume she’s over it just because a year has gone by. I say, ask me about my garden. Read more.

An Urban Oasis: Keeping It Wild — And Fire Resistant

November 26, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

trimming-tree-urban-oasis

Beaconsfield Canyon was blighted with trash and invasive species — until its human neighbors took it upon themselves to restore their wild urban oasis.  Read more.

Widowed: I Get to Have It My Way Now

November 19, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

widowed I get to have it my way now, including this Mid-century-4-poster-bed

Jon is gone. He has forfeited his right to have a say in things. Now that I’m widowed. I get to have it my way, 100 percent of the time.  Read more.

Widowed: ‘Let Us Tend Our Garden’

November 12, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

let-us-tend-our-garden pussy-paws-plant-california

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.

Widowed: My Husband Keeps Dying on Me

November 5, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

pandemic-shut-down-recumbent-bike

It’s been a full eighteen months since Jon’s death, but even now my husband keeps dying on me.  Read more.

How to Describe My Late Husband? I Can’t Find the Words

October 29, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

2017-eclipse-of-the-sun

How to describe my late husband? I can tell the Jon stories, but when it comes to evoking the singularity that was Jon, words fail. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Shanghai Chic – Where a Woman’s Style Starts With Her Shoes

Canvas espadrille shoes decorated with stars and stripes in red, white and blue on the streets of Shanghai. Photo by BF Newhall

 

I thought I was traveling to China to explore the mysteries of China’s storied past — the big dynasties with their poetic one-syllable names: Ming, Tang, Han. But what really caught my attention was China’s storied present: The skyscrapers. The ubiquitous one-child families. The traffic jams. The fashionistas . . . Read more.

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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!

The back of a hiker's boots, on the trail. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Tending a Friendship — I’m on Her Calendar and She’s on Mine

Barbara Falconer Newhall in purple knit gown wearing Swarovsky fit silver shade earrings. Photo by BF Newhall

The Mother-of-the-Groom Diaries — Am I Too Old for Splashy Earrings?

I Let the Maytag Man Into the House. And I Here’s What I Learned About Human Nature. Sheltering at Home Week 7

Bare trunks of slender trees in an upper Midwest woods in winter. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Winter in the Midwest — When Trees Bare Their Souls

MORE DON'T MISS!

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