• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • WRESTLING WITH GOD BOOK
  • CONTACT

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

DON'T MISS!

I've written hundreds and hundreds of posts over the years. To help you find your way to the best of the best, I've tagged my favorites "Don't Miss!" Scroll down here to find them.

Another way to locate Riffs on Life that you might enjoy is to click above on your favorite category – "My Ever-Changing Family," perhaps, or "Funny Button." You can also use the search box located way up top to hunt for stories by topic. There's fun reading at "garden," "aging," "kids" and, of course, "Jon."

My Deceased Husband’s Laptop — I Fixed It Myself!

September 24, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

my deceased husband's laptop

My deceased husband’s laptop had become my favorite, fun laptop in the months following his death. But now I couldn’t open it. Read more.

Widowed: I Don’t Like My Life

September 17, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

I don't like my life, but I did like my sunny-cheerful-airbnb-house

I’m widowed and I don’t like my life. Stranded 2,000 miles from home with covid proved easier than facing the life that awaited me back home.  Read more.

Guo Pei’s Wearable Splendor (Wearable? Maybe Not. Splendid? Oh, Yes)

August 13, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

[caption id="attachment_36247" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]guo-pei-east-palace  [/caption]

The opulent imaginings of China’s premier couturier Guo Pei are on view at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor through Sept. 5.  Read more.

A Week With Fellow Writers — Surprising Me With Gifts

July 30, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

[caption id="attachment_36196" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]communityi-of-writers-2022 We writers go to workshops, manuscripts in hand, hoping to get helpful feedback from our fellow writers. Sometimes we get more than we hoped.  Read more.[/caption]

Happily Married? One of You Is Going to Get Your Heart Broken

July 23, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 18 Comments

couple-on-michiga-beach -- happily married? One of you is going to get your heart broken

When I see a happy couple, long-married or newlywed, I want to say, “Happily married? One of you is going to get your heart broken some day.”  Read more.

My Deceased Husband’s Mail — I Like Getting It

July 9, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

charity-donations

When my deceased husband’s mail arrives in our mailbox, it’s often from charities he supported, so a little bit of him shows up along with it.  Read more.

My Deceased Husband’s Voice — Coming at Me From the Stars

June 24, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

my deceased husband's voice father-daughter

My deceased husband’s voice came at me the other day — from across the years, all the way from 1988 and a summer’s night under the stars.  Read more.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 15
  • Page 16
  • Page 17
  • Page 18
  • Page 19
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 80
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

GET MY Riffs on Life BY EMAIL

True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone.

 

LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The Writing Room: Different From, Different Than – Which Is It?

[caption id="attachment_7493" align="aligncenter" width="500"]books on shelf by john gardener, sands hall, strunk and white, noah lukeman, robert mckee, theodore m bernstein, stephen koch, susan shaughnessy. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall Some of my favorite books on the craft of writing. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall[/caption]

I was at the gym working on my pecs and abdominals the other day when I spotted a flyer announcing, “Belly fat is different than other fat.” Shouldn’t that be different from? What’s correct? I hadn’t a clue. 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

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

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!

sunny-cheerful-airbnb-house

Widowed: I Don’t Like My Life

A dark hallway in a 1950s California ranch house obscures the beautiful canyon view available in the living room. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Too Many Walls — and Not Enough Bathrooms — at Our House

Multicolored Tibetan prayer flags strung on a rope fly at the Himalayan Fair Berkelely 2014. Photo by BF Newhall

Why Pray? — Some Thoughts from Karen Armstrong

Facade of the National Cathedral, Washington, DC. Photo by BF Newhall

The Rise of the “Nones” – Young Americans Are Doing Without Church

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2025 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in