Category: #lifeizgood
Posted on September 24, 2025
by JANET L BARKER
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I’m a silly girl. A woman-girl growing inside her own womb, punching, kicking, absorbing nutrients, feeling excited, worried, and at peace, trusting that my caretaker-self won’t let her little girl down, has her best interest at heart, and would do anything to support, heal, comfort and… Continue Reading “The Flying Machine”
Category: #beachcamping, #camping, #hope, #lifeizgoodTags: #camping, #coastalcampiong, #fear, #grandparent, #iloveliterature, #iloveoregon, #journaling, #oregon, #pacficnorthwest, #raybradbury, #retirededucator, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #solowomencamping, #writing, facingfear, family, life, life-lessons, love, mental-health, pacificnorthwest
I’ve finally figured out my problem; the reason it’s hard to forge on, dig deep, actually do the thing I need to do, which is figuring out how to write this novel I’ve been pecking away at on and off for months: Drum roll….my problem is….I… Continue Reading “Who do you think you are?”
Category: #central coast, #centralcoast, #lifeizgood, #teachingTags: #almartinez, #California, #cambria, #cambriacolony, #centralcoastcalifornia, #centralcoastwriters, #creativity, #ilovecalifornia, #losangelestimes, #love, #mayaangelou, #procrastination, #rainbows, #raybradbury, #theartistsway, #writerslife, #writing, books, creative-writing, fiction, life
Posted on January 8, 2025
by JANET L BARKER
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I’m leaving. Again. I’m melancholy. Again. I don’t want to leave. Again. But I do. Again and again. Everywhere I leave I love. Same goes for the people I leave. Like my visit with Julie and Ken two days ago or my Littles in… Continue Reading “Simplicity vs. Elaboration”
Category: #beachcamping, #californiastateparks, #camping, #central coast, #centralcoast, #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #ilovecalifornia, #lifeizgood, #pismobeach, #pleasureway, #solowomencamping, #vanlife, #wintercampingalongthecoastTags: #camping, #campingfriends, #faith, #findinghope, #findinglove, #friendship, #godswhispers, #pismobeach, #pismobeachstatepark, #solocamping, #travelinggrandma, #trust, #vanlife, #writing, campingsolo, family, life, love, lovethyneighbor, mental-health, womencampingsolo
Posted on December 12, 2024
by JANET L BARKER
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For all the years I’ve been visiting my daughter, I rarely explore The City solo. That’s the best way to learn, when you have to figure it out by yourself. Like learning a language, when all roads lead back to you, you eventually get hip. Or… Continue Reading “Trust The Women”
Category: #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, UncategorizedTags: #adultchildren, #bestlifeever, #family, #grandchildren, #grandma #travelinggrandma, #lifeizgood, #lostinmanhattan, #loveofgrandchildren, #manhattan, #newyorkcity, #nyc, #peace, #retirement, #travel, @retirement, coffee, columbuscircle, family, food, life
Moss hangs from a sea of aged oak trees, dancing in the wind outside my friends’ forest-shrouded home in Atascadero, California. I’m residing here for a weekish, babysitting their two precious mini dachshunds as their mum and dad vacation in Kauai. Their original dog… Continue Reading “But today, it is.”
Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, @retirementTags: #bestfriends, #dogsitting, #faith, #findingpeace, #friends, #friendship, #happiness, #housesitting, #lessons, #memorialday, #Nature, #peace, #poetry, #relaxing, @retirement, life, love, spirituality
The Last Breakfast. The Last Sunset. The Last Frog-choral Midnight Concert. The Last Dinner with Friends. The Last Patch of Starry Quietude before heading south toward family and the past. “You could have stayed there forever, a small child in a corner, on the… Continue Reading “This Life of Mine”
Category: #camping, #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, #teaching, @retirementTags: #California, #cambria, #camping, #centralcoast, #findinghope, #hope, #maryoliver, #Nature, #peace, #retiredgrandma, #solograndmascamping, #solowomencamping, #travel, #writersontheroad, @retirement, birding, birds, love, photography
Posted on April 20, 2024
by JANET L BARKER
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Did I tell you, I’m working on a novel? I started it more than a year ago, but somehow, in my travels and wonky internet connections, lost the first five chapters. Which was a major bummer. So I ignored it, knowing I couldn’t recreate… Continue Reading “Did I tell you…?”
Category: #camping, #education, #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, #teaching, @retirement, stepupandtakeaction, Uncategorized, unconditional loveTags: #cambria, #camping, #centralcoast, #solowomencamping, #solowomentraveling, #vanlife, #writing, book-review, book-reviews, books, fiction
What links all these magnificent environments I’ve been blessed to visit? The common thread? Birds. Their song, while vocally unique to their breed, are joyous, unsolicited and a call to all to stop what we’re doing and listen. If you do, for more than… Continue Reading “Eclipse”
Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, coastal camping, unconditional loveTags: #cachumalake, #California, #eclipse, #faith, #findinggod, #findinghope, #grandmascamping, #Nature, #peace, #pleasureway, #santabarbaraparks, #solowomencamping, astronomy, love, nasa, solar-eclipse, sun
Posted on March 31, 2024
by JANET L BARKER
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I am the most blessed woman on Planet Earth. I embrace that, send praises to God and my unbelievably generous family. Eternally grateful. I’m beyond, beyond, beyond aware that if it wasn’t for my niece and her husband, I wouldn’t be here. No way, no how.… Continue Reading “Family Vacation”
Category: #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, @retirementTags: #disney, #family, #familyvacation, #gratitude, #hawaii, #kauai, #love, #margaritasbythepool, #onehotel, #paradise, #springvacation, #travel, family-travel, hotels, vacation-rentals
Posted on February 8, 2024
by JANET L BARKER
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Hope and sparkling crystals and all things magical and misty-eyed are Queen Melancholy’s cousin. Like George of the Jungle, I swing between the two, between longing for Kauai’s turquoise waters and Cambria’s soul-fortifying coast to the anticipation of missing the icy-slick-sidewalk-skating rink of Winter… Continue Reading “Ordinary Greatness”
Category: #gmashavingfun, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeizgood, @retirement, unconditional loveTags: #babies, #cambria, #children, #faith, #kauai, #loveeverymoment, #newyork, #newyorkcity, #parenting, #thebigapple, #travel, #winstonchurch, baby, book-review, family, grandparenting, love, motherhood
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