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About Barbara
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 Feminine Feminist — An Oxymoron?
By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment
The feminine feminist — is she a contradiction in terms? Can a woman wear pink to the boardroom? Inch-long fingernails to the track meet? Read more.
New! Get Barbara’s Special Gift
Wondering how that kid of yours will turn out?
Take heart. They might surprise you. My daughter did!
I tell that story in this free Special Edition, Was our daughter headed for the dark side?
To get your copy of this free downloadable PDF, enter your email below – and check your Inbox. Enjoy!
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Recent Riffs on Life
I’m Going on a — Homemade — Writer’s Retreat
By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment
I’m going on a homemade writer’s retreat. Just me and my laptop. No dental appointments. No lunches with friends. No Facebook. No Instagram. Read more.
It’s Spring and My Garden Looks Dreadful. Here’s Why
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments
My garden looks dreadful. Here’s why. My plants won’t cooperate. The iris wants to be an iris. The azalea, an azalea. The poppy, a poppy. 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.
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
DON’T MISS!
The Olympic Sculpture Park — An Artful Stroll on Seattle’s Waterfront
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments
By Barbara Falconer Newhall Photographing Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park was fun. Even more fun was downloading all my wannabe works of photo art and poring over over them for hours on end. Especially the photos I took of Teresita Fernandez’s magical, elusive glass wall, “Seattle Cloud Cover.” And Mark di Suvero’s steely “Schubert Sonata.” Which […]
A Case of the Human Condition: I Want to Kill My Snapdragons
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments
Those maroon snapdragons in my front yard are ugly. But they’re alive. Can I rip them out? Read more.
Tulips and Sex — Writing as If Everyone I Know Were Dead
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 11 Comments
I want to write about tulips today. I don’t want to write about sex. The trouble is, for me, writing about tulips means writing about sex: something about their juicy curves brings erotic metaphors to my particular mind. I had thought that once my mother — and father — were no longer alive and reading over my shoulder, I’d be able to write my heart out, but . . . Read more.