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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

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."

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.

Widowed: It’s Jon the Old Guy I Miss the Most

October 22, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

old-man-on-his-deck

Widowed, I miss Jon the old guy of our last years together — when it had become clear we’d be sticking together till death did us part.  Read more.

I’m Thanking People a Lot These Days. Why Is That?

October 15, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

thanking people, including the man-power-washing-deck

I notice that I’ve been thanking people a lot lately. People — not God, not the Universe, not “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.”  Read more. 

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Widowed: Where’s My Lead Pony?

antler-bar

A lead pony is the seasoned horse who escorts a anxious racehorse to the gate, exerting a calming presence. I’m widowed. Where’s my lead pony?  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!

Author Jana Riess in a pink sweater. Photo by Barbara Newhall

They’re Saying Nice Things About “Wrestling with God”

religion-bookshelf

The Top Religion Stories of 2025 — From Religion News Association

man-hangs-quilt

Widowed: As He Lay Dying

TINKA-FALCONER

The Darkening Days — And My Mother’s Last Hours

MORE DON'T MISS!

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