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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
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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."

Photo Op: Yosemite Rocks — And Sometimes It Rolls

November 2, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Glacial erratics piled on a sloping rock at Inyo National Forest, CA. Photo by BF Newhal

 

The big rocks and cliffs at Yosemite are spectacular, but so is the smaller stuff — the boulders, rocks, stones and pebbles that litter every inch of the 12,000-square-mile national park. I’m especially partial to the glacial erratics.

Walk 1000 Miles Around Lake Michigan? She Did It — Now I Don’t Have To

October 26, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Loreen hikes alongside Lake Michigan snow drifts. Niewenhuis photo

Walk around Lake Michigan . . . the whole thing. I’d start in late spring and finish up in the fall. And when I was done, I’d write a book about it. Lucky for me, Loreen Niewenhuis beat me to it.

Will Our Kids Grow Up to Be Cheaters Like Lance Armstrong?

October 20, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Peter Newhall looks up to catch the baseball. Photo by BF Newhall

Will my kids grow up to be cheaters? Is it possible to raise honest children in this Pete Rose-Bernie Madoff world — where something like 50 percent of students admit to cheating? Read More

Belief Is Seriously Overrated — You Don’t Have to Be a Believer to Believe

October 14, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Peter Newhall at St. Vincent Catholic church, Pentwater, MI. Photo by BF Newhall

Some of my family members were uneasy at the thought of standing up at my mother’s memorial mass to read from the Bible, a document they didn’t believe in. I told them I thought belief was seriously overrated.

The Somethingists — They Don’t Believe in God, but They Do Believe in . . . Something

October 10, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="attachment_1163" align="aligncenter" width="427"]The Helix Nebula. NASA Photo. The Helix Nebula. NASA Photo.[/caption]

Good news for those of us – count me in – who aren’t at all sure of what God is like. It’s called Somethingism. Read more.

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

October 9, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Rose window from interior of the National Cathedral, Washinton, DC. Photo by BF Newhall

 

I was in Bethesda, Maryland, for the annual Religion Newswriters Association conference last weekend. Here’s what I found out about the religiously unaffiliated in America. Read more.

When Your Kids Don’t Fight — Enough

October 6, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

brother-and-sister-holding-hands-halloween

My children do not tease each other like the normal sibling pair. They are nice to each other. I worry. Where did Jon and I go wrong?

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Mom With Kids — The Home Office Blues

A 1986 home office with computer, crib, toddler and cat. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I liked being shoehorned into a 9-by-11-foot home office with three computers, a telephone, a cat, and a dear husband — most of the time. Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
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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!

man-hanging-a-quilt

How to Hang a Quilt — We Did It Our Way. Sheltering at Home Week 36

honeycomb-shades

Our New Honeycomb Shades: Out of Sight. Out of Mind. Sheltering at Home Week 47

A flowering trees buds out in February 2013 in California. Photo by BF Newhall

Impermanence: Everything Changes — And So Can I

The Ghost of 300 Million Drought-Killed Trees Hovers Over a Lake in Texas

MORE DON'T MISS!

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