• 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."

Our New Digs — A Room-by-Room Video. Sheltering at Home. Week 16

July 2, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

room-by-room video two-slider-with-view

We took out that kitchen wall. We weren’t sure we’d like all that openness. Check out this room-by-room video and decide for yourself. Read more.

My Nasty New Hair Stylist Has Given Me a Cool New Look. Sheltering at Home Week 15

June 27, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

my nasty new hair stylist COVID-19-hairdo

My hair is getting really long, 4-plus inches, and kinda loose and sexy, thanks to my nasty new hair stylist, COVID-19. Am I done with the Judy Dench look?  Read more.

The Lights Are On. But the Guests Have Yet to Arrive. Sheltering in (Our Brand New) Place. Week 15

June 23, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

brand-new-place-crate-and-barrel-pendant-lights

See the renovated details of our brand new place. Lighting. Millwork. Floors. All designed to wecome guests who, sadly, won’t be coming by any time soon.  Read more.

The Lost Art of the Telephone Conversation — Here’s What Happened to It. Sheltering at Home Week 14

June 19, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

the lost art of the telephone conversation

I know why young people do all that texting. It’s because 21st-century wireless phones make for a lousy telephone conversation, and kids want to — talk. Read more.

Hey, HGTV Fans. Take a Look at Our Remodel — It’s Finally Done. Sheltering in Place Week 14

June 18, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

remodel-kitchen-wall-like-HGTV

Our kitchen wall is gone, and our new space is beautiful. You won’t see it featured on HGTV. But Jon and I will be seeing it every day from now on. Read more.

Grandparenting Via Webcam — Helping Out Those Frazzled Parents. Sheltering a Home Week 13

June 11, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

babysitting-via-webcam

Babysitting via webcam: The grandchildren are sheltering at home with their frazzled mom and dad. Can grandparents give parents a break from afar? Read more.

Our Remodel Has Kept Us Company — We’ll Miss the Carpenters, the Electricians and the Pile Drivers. Sheltering at Home Week 11

May 28, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

our remodel has kept us company

With the coronavirus sequestering us at home, our remodel has kept us company. It’s brought living, breathing — masked — people into our house. Read  more.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 33
  • Page 34
  • Page 35
  • Page 36
  • Page 37
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 85
  • 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

Confessions of a Nintendo Mom: The Day I Unplugged My Eight-Year-Old

Ten-year-old Peter Newhall with monitor showing Nintendo game he has just won. Photo by BF Newhall

Like any normal person with a job, two kids and a front yard full of weeds, I had been sleeping in on a Sunday morning – until the sound of Jon and Peter playing the new Nintendo woke me up. I burst in on them. “HEY. YOU WOKE ME UP.” No answer. So enraptured were they with their dratted boomerangs and Oktoroks they didn’t care that they had wrecked my beautiful Sunday morning sleep-in. I stomped back to bed, covered my head and cried. 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!

The cover of The Best of KidSpirit OnLine, Vol. II, shows a intense sport bicyclist. Photo by Jack True.

KidSpirit OnLine: Where Young Souls Take On the Big–Old–Questions

white blossoms of flowering tree up close

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder – But What If There’s No Beholder?

Shopping at the Berkeley Potters Guild — Three Artists, Three Visions

Russian roulette in the 1978 movie "The Deer Hunter."

Today’s Downer: ‘You Aways Kill Yourself Too Late’

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2026 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in