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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
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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Need some levity? Read on!

The Mother-of-the-Groom Diaries — Am I Too Old for Splashy Earrings?

April 25, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Writer Barbara Falconer Newhall tries on Swarovsky earrings with her mother-of-the-groom gown. Photo by BF Newhall

The long dress I was planning to wear to my son’s wedding needed earrings. Not a necklace. Not a bracelet. Not a glitzy ring. My gown needed earrings. Big, attention-grabbing, dangle earrings. Read more.

My Killer Shoes — Brought Down to Size by Those Four-and-a-Half-Inch Heels

April 18, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Barbara Falconer Newhall tries on a pair of Glint pave shoes with 4 1/2-inch high heels. BF Newhall photo

Dress shoes for women right now, as you may have noticed, sport heels that go on forever. Wedge heels, spike heels, stack heels – everywhere I look I see nothing but heels of skyscraper proportions built to lift their wearers four or even four-and-a-half inches off the ground. Read More.

A Dad, a Mom and an 8-Year-Old With a Bashed Lip

April 11, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

eight-year-old boy smiling up from a swimming pool. photo by bf newhall

At 7 on a Saturday night, eight-year-old Peter came home from the park with a lip the size of a ping-pong ball. He had been hit by a hardball on the fly. I wanted to take him to the ER. Jon said no, it was just a fat lip. Read more.

Shopping for a Mother-of-the-Groom Dress — Is That Me in the Mirror? Or Somebody’s Grandmother?

March 30, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

a long rack of fluffy white wedding gowns for sale at David's Bridal Salon, Pinole, CA. Photo by BF Newhall

My son is getting married. I’ll need a dress. A dress that makes me look terrific. It’s time to hit the department stores and bridal salons. Read more.

The (Two-Year-Old) Rhetorician at Our House

February 15, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Two-year-old girl enjoys her bottle in her crib with blankies. Photo by BF Newhall

What’s rhetoric? I’ve always thought of it as the high-flown language of politics. But really, it’s something we humans do all the time, and that includes the two-year-old humans among us.

 

Real Snow in Minnesota . . . and Real Warm in My Real Austrian Walkjanker

February 8, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Snowplow clearing snow in a snowstorm in Eden Prairie, MN. Photo 2013 by BF Newhall

 

My authentic Austrian Walkjanker jacket has hung forlornly at the far end of a plastic garment bag for decades. It had no place to go till my son got engaged to a Minnesota girl — and I had a chance to show it a good time on a snowy weekend in Minneapolis.

Grace Falconer Perlmutter Kleis — How to Be a Glamorous Gal at Age 98

February 2, 2013 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A glamorous red-head with her great nephew

My aunt was tall, red-headed, blue-eyed, self-sufficient and glamorous at a time and place when most women in her hometown wanted nothing more than to get married, have babies and put up green beans and blackberry jam. Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

A Case of the Human Condition: Four-Year-Old Girls — The Last Bastion of Pretty

four pretty preschool girls in tutus at the ballet barre. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Pink dresses. Powder blue dresses. Dresses with nosegays, kitty cats and sunbursts. Are little girls the last hold-outs for pretty these days? 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!

11th Annual Tower Chapel Tulip Exhibition, Mouintain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA "F9UND OBJECT IN A BED OF TULIPS," STAFFORD BUCKLEY GARDEN RESTORATION, OAKLAND

What a Tulip Can Do — If You Ask It

invasive-eucalyptus-in-california

Is It OK to Kill Stuff? Yes, If It’s a Mosquito or a Eucalyptus Tree

"Seattle Cloud Cover," by Teresita Fernandez, 2006, a pedestrian bridge with photographic material between layers of glass. Photo by Barbara Newhall

The Olympic Sculpture Park — An Artful Stroll on Seattle’s Waterfront

Christina Newhall, age 7, playing tug of war at a party. Photo by Barbara Newhall

No to Bride Barbie — Yes to a Real-Life Wedding

MORE DON'T MISS!

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