• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 26
  • Page 27
  • Page 28
  • Page 29
  • Page 30
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 43
  • 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

My Purple Rain Garden: Is the Universe Trying to Tell Me Something?

Pansies so purple they appear black -- are they flourishing in honor of Purple Rain by pop singer Prince? Photo by Barbara Newhall

Lots of rain and lots of purple in our garden this year. Purple nemesia, purple iris, purple pansies. What gives? Is this a Purple Rain message from the spirit world? 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!

camellia-blossom-in-full

Finding Hope for Our Time — In Handel’s ‘Messiah’

Author Barbara Falconer Newhall with the four calico crazy quilts she designed for the four grandchildren she hopes she'll have. Photo by Jon Newhall

The Baby Quilts Are Ready — Now All We Need Are the Babies

abbotts-lagoon-poppy-trail

What Is Beauty? It’s Seeing the World for the First Time — At Abbott’s Lagoon

A granite boulder in Yosemite's high country. Photo by BF Newhall.

Photo Op: Yosemite Rocks — And Sometimes It Rolls

MORE DON'T MISS!

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