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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

A Case of the Human Condition

I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got an incurable Case of the Human Condition. And since you do too, I’m counting on you to laugh and cry along with me as I riff on life as we know it . . . Below you'll read about my creaky, old fifties house, my forays into home gardening, my shopping stories, my spectacularly low-fashion wardrobe -- and more.

Photo Op: It’s Blooming Springtime on Our Hill — In March

March 16, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Varigated camelia blossom with foliage. Photo by BF Newhall

It’s spring in March and the daffodils are going strong on the local hillsides in the San Francisco Bay Area. So are the camelias, abutilons and iceland poppies in our front yard.

Real Snow in Minnesota . . . and Real Warm in My Real Austrian Walkjanker

February 8, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Snowplow clearing snow in a snowstorm in Eden Prairie, MN. Photo 2013 by BF Newhall

 

My authentic Austrian Walkjanker jacket has hung forlornly at the far end of a plastic garment bag for decades. It had no place to go till my son got engaged to a Minnesota girl — and I had a chance to show it a good time on a snowy weekend in Minneapolis.

The Luscious Lip, Skinny Lip Quiz — And the Answers!

January 25, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Oprah Winfrey's lips up close.

My Upper Lip and Other Sorrows

January 18, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Lucille Ball with red lipstick and hair

I feel bad about my lip. My upper lip. Nora Ephron felt bad about her neck, a body part she made famous back in 2006 with her book I Feel Bad About My Neck. Nora also felt bad about her frizzy grey hair, parched skin, incipient mustache, flabby upper arms, and tendency toward belly fat. She was getting older.

 

Sue Johnson’s Lamps and Shades — Works of Art From a Little Shop in Berkeley

November 9, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A hand-blown glass lamp by Lindsay Art Glass. Photo by BF Newhall

On Solano Avenue in the far north reaches of Berkeley, California, a modest storefront softly glows, luring me in every time I pass by. It’s Sue Johnson’s custom lamp and shade store.

Amazing Clay — More Wonderful Stuff from the Berkeley Art Center Show

October 3, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Massive ceramic figure by Wanxin Zhang, "God Bless You." Photo by BF Newhall

Some more wonderful stuff made of clay by three artists featured in the show, "Local Treasures: Bay Area Ceramics," at the Berkeley Art Center through Nov. 18 — Wanxin Zhang, Ted Fullwood and Clayton Bailey. Read more.

Book Openers: A Heather Donahue Lexicon — Flopsweat and Larfy Defined

September 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Heather Donahue's book jacket Grow Girl: How My LIfe After "The Blair Witch Project Went to Pot"

Here’s some help with the pot-growing argot in Heather Donahue’s book, "Grow Girl."

 

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Jack Shoemaker of Counterpoint Press Shares Fifty Years of Book Publishing Wisdom

Jack Shoemaker of Counterpoint Press spoke at the Oct. 5 meeting of Left Coast Writers.

Jack Shoemaker of Counterpoint Press shared 50 years of publishing wisdom at a meeting of the Left Coast Writers at Book Passage in Marin County. 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

 
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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!

Detail of a grren, white and red mural depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe on the outer wall of a laundromat in East Austin , TX. Photo by BF Newhall.

SXSW: Austin — A City With Its Soul on Its Sleeve

says-who-book-cover-curzan

Linguist Anne Curzan: Grammar That’s Funner Than Ever

Tinka Falconer on beach at Pentwater, MI, 1982. PHoto by BF Newhall

Tinka Falconer: Her Ninety-Three Years

JON-NEWHALLS-OFFICE

Widowed: I Got Caught in the Act of Crying for My Husband

MORE DON'T MISS!

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