• 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

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Need some levity? Read on!

A Cemetery Comes to LIfe — With Tulips

April 9, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

Tulips of many colors hang upside down over the entrance to the Tower Chapel at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif., during its annual Tulip Exhibition. The design, titled "Puddle Jumping," is by the Merritt College Floral Design Department. Photo by Barbara Newhall

By now my faithful readers know that I’ve got a thing about tulips. So, of course, I dropped everything to take in a local tulip show last weekend. Read more.

The Dracena Is Dead. Long Live the Dracena

March 5, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments

Homeowner succeeds in removing eight-foot stalk from an overgrown dracena marginata plant. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I did it. I cut the dracena marginata growing wild in our living room down to size. Read more.

Help! My Dracena Marginata Has Hit the Ceiling — What Can I Do?

February 26, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments

A dracena marginat houseplant has grown so tall that it is crushing itself against the homeowner's ceiling. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My dracena marginata is doing itself in. It’s hurling itself against our living room ceiling. What’s a plant owner to do? Please advise. Read more.

The Atheists Are Coming – Out of a Closet Near You

February 19, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

A bumper sticker offered at the Religion Newswriters Conference in 2014 reads "Praying Is Begging." Photo by Barbara Newhall

The Openly Secular movement is calling on atheists in America to come out of the closet and declare their unbelief to friends, family and coworkers. Read more.

A Crazy-Making Crazy Quilt — Finished at Last

February 12, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments

Sue Mary Fox quilting stitches a crazy quilt -- quilt top, batting and backing -- with her long arm sewing machine in her Berkeley, CA, studio. Photo by Barbara Newhall

In desperation I took the crazy-making crazy quilt that I’d begun–but never finished–over to Sue Mary Fox’s quilting studio in Berkeley. Read more.

The Quilt From Hell — Forty-Two Years Later, It’s Still Not Finished

February 5, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

An unfinished quilt and stray piece of calico overflow from a storage drawer. Photo by Barbara Newhall

It had been staring at me from that drawer for decades. The quilt from hell. My wedding present to my brother and his wife. Never finished, never presented. Read more.

Superbowl: My Guys Are Talking Sports — And All Is Right With the World

January 29, 2015 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

nfl 2015 superbowl playoffs, seattle-greenbay, TV screen shot of game. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I like listening to my husband and son talk about football and basketball. I like the comfortable, father-son tone: My guys are talking sports and all is right with the world. Read more.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 24
  • Page 25
  • Page 26
  • Page 27
  • Page 28
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 41
  • 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

Armistead Maupin: The Man Who Wrote the Quintessential San Francisco Novel — On a Newspaper Deadline

Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin reads from "The Days of Ana Madrigal" at Book Passage, SF Ferry Building

Army’s assignment was to show up at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle every weekday morning and produce seven hundred words, give or take. The challenging part was this: Unlike most newspaper journalists, Army did not sit down to his Selectric typewriter fortified with a fat notebook of stats and quotes. Army’s job was not to report the news. It was to make it up. 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!

arranging-furniture-with-a-view

Our Living Room Makeover: We Made Do With Our Old Stuff. Sheltering at Home Week 49

Bride in violet and cerise sari with guest in fuchsia sari at a wedding in San Francisco Bay Area. Photo by BF Newhall

When the Bride Doesn’t Wear White — And Neither Does Anyone Else

hand embroider pillowcase with french knots & daisies. Photo by BF Newhall.

A (Pillow) Case of the Human Condition: Time to Crack Open That Hope Chest and Live a Little

obsolete-tech-books

Widowed: My Husband’s Stuff Is Still Here. I’ve Got My Reasons

MORE DON'T MISS!

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