The Ghost of 300 Million Drought-Killed Trees Hovers Over a Lake in Texas
Some temporary art installations – you’re glad they’re temporary. But there’s an installation in Austin, Texas, right now that deserves its full ten weeks of fame.
Xi’An to TX and Mao to LBJ — I’ve Been Traveling and I’m Back
China, Austin, a Religion Newswriters conference — I had a great, traveling September. It started with on my birthday on September 6, which lasted only a few hours because Jon and I were on a plane to Shanghai when somewhere over the Pacific we hit the International Date Line. Read more.
Shanghai Chic — It’s All About the Shoes in This Skyscraping Town of 24 Million
By Barbara Falconer Newhall Young people are flocking to swashbuckling, get-rich-quick Shanghai. Come back soon to see what they’re wearing on their feet. I’m just back from a two-week blitz tour of China and am off to Austin for a Religion Newswriters Association conference tomorrow. There will be plenty to share when I get back. […]
Five Things I Like Best About My Kitchen
We remodeled our kitchen in 2000, and we made some design decisions that still make me happy. Read more.
Photo Op: Pentwater, Michigan — A Small Town on a Big Lake
When I was a kid, Pentwater was not the place to be. The place to be was on the beach or in the woods with the wild critters. But now that I am thoroughly grown up, I’m preferring the charms of Pentwater village to the toads and grasshoppers of my 9-year-old self. Read more.
Los Angeles — The Good, the Bad and the Truly Ugly
Los Angeles is an awful place. It is 469 square miles of bumper to bumper traffic, sinus clogging air pollution, starless nights and unrelenting summer sun . . . Read more.
A Dune on Lake Michigan: We Couldn’t Climb Eagle Top — So We Paid Homage From Afar
I emailed my cousin Jeanie. Did she want to visit some of our childhood haunts, like Eagle Top? Read more.
It’s August, But It’s Not Too Soon to Wonder — Can Christmas Be Christmas Without the Kids?
Christmas has gotten to be a scheduling nightmare. Peter lives in Minnesota. Christina lives in Southern California. Jon and I live in Northern California. That puts 400 miles between us and our daughter and 2,000 miles between us and our son. Not exactly over the river and through the woods. Read more.
Wanted: An Evening Handbag That’s Pretty — And Big Enough to Do the Job
There’s no such thing as a presentable evening bag that can hold what a woman – a real one – needs to put into her purse these days. Read more.
A Forgotten Gift From My Teenaged Daughter — No Good After December 31
Look what reorganizing my stationery drawers turned up: Coupons from my then 13-year-old daughter Christina promising to do chores around the house — including yard work, for heaven’s sake. Read more.








