Category: Uncategorized

Don’t worry, be happy

Posted on January 30, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

A public declaration of change is mighty. Expectations shatter the very ground. Will she fall in love? Will she enter the priesthood? Will she become a public figure representing the plight of American senior citizen women? Will she return to teaching? Will she become a… Continue Reading “Don’t worry, be happy”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #anewday, #California, #change, #dontworrybehappy, #education, #grandparents, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #portofinohotel, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers

Diving acrobats of the sea

Posted on January 28, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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The sun warms my face and bones. It’s summer, late January. Cloudless. With this exciting cornucopia of impromptu events taking place right outside my balcony. Including the heartbreaking cries of a baby downstairs. This has thus far been such a quiet apartment complex, except… Continue Reading “Diving acrobats of the sea”

Category: UncategorizedTags: ##portofinohotel, #California, #education, #grandparents, #gratitude, #healing, #hope, #lifeizgood, #loveeverymoment, #movingon, #ocean, #peace, #portofinoapartments, #redondobeach, #redondobeachmarina, #retiredteacher, #teachers, #teaching, #wonder, @retirement, love

What did you do today?

Posted on January 25, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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The Christmas I missed. All the year(s) and (s) and (s) I missed by working and stressing, stressing, and working. The brunch I didn’t savor. The friendships I took for granted. The winter rain I wished was over. The doomed relationship I spent decades… Continue Reading “What did you do today?”

Category: UncategorizedTags: ##portofinohotel, #California, #education, #forgiveness, #grandparents, #hope, #loveeverymoment, #purpose, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, @retirement

Thanks, thanks and thanks

Posted on January 20, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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An Open Letter to the Folks at the Portofino Hotel and Apartments: The sliding windows are open and although it’s brisk, it is blue, and blue and cornflower blue and the seagulls are singing and the sailboat ice-skates through the sea reminding me that… Continue Reading “Thanks, thanks and thanks”

Category: UncategorizedTags: ##portofinohotel, #bekind, #California, #grandparents, #gratitude, #hope, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, #roomwithaview, #sealove, @retirement, love

The Silly String Saga

Posted on January 10, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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Junky, junky, junky stringy stuff invades my thoughts, my days, like a wild river that steals innocent trees and summer’s lawn chairs. Minding my own business, doing my thing, wading through a different kind of Christmas, the volatility of a California New Year like… Continue Reading “The Silly String Saga”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #angels, #California, #education, #familystrife, #forgiveness, #grandparents, #healing, #hope, #loveeverymoment, #maryoliver, #powerofpoety, #retiredteacher, #teachers, #thebiggerpicture, @retirement, family, love

Limbo Land

Posted on January 6, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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I’d like to credit and thank Royce Morales of Perfect Life Awakening for her recent blog and exactly perfect word that describes how I’m feeling these days. I suspect I’m not alone. First, the definition of limbo from Webster’s: 1. place or state of… Continue Reading “Limbo Land”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #calmbeforethestorm, #education, #grandparents, #gratitude, #hope, #lifeizgood, #loveeverymoment, #malibu, #perfectlifeawakening, #retiredteacher, #roycemorales, @retirement, love

Sitting at a bar in Barstow

Posted on January 1, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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Family. Family. Family. Mucho complicated. In a not so “It’s a Wonderful Life” way. Though, I wish everyone had a Donna Reed mom and a Jimmy Stewart dad. They knew what to say and when to say it. Those big-hearted Bailey’s could rally the… Continue Reading “Sitting at a bar in Barstow”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #Barstow, #calico, #California, #families, #grandparents, #hope, #loveeverymoment, #newyear, #retiredteacher, #teachers, #teaching, @retirement, love

Room Service

Posted on December 23, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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Learning to say yes instead of oh-no. This is my lesson for today as Christmas Day festivities avalanche my plans, causing me and thousands of travelers who’ve had to wait-out the storm to make lemonade out of lemons. My beloved van. Fixed. Maybe. When I picked her… Continue Reading “Room Service”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #change, #changeisgood, #christmas, #education, #grandparents, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #portofinohotel, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching, #thecrown, #vanlife

Not exactly a Disney movie, but close

Posted on December 17, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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I’m going to write about something strange and wonderful and inspiring and sad and curious and real. First, the setting: I am sitting on a balcony overlooking a parking lot which overlooks the Redondo Beach Port Royal Marina next to the marina where my… Continue Reading “Not exactly a Disney movie, but close”

Category: UncategorizedTags: ##portofinohotel, #California, #education, #grandparents, #home, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #portroyalmarina, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching

Hiraeth

Posted on December 12, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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It’s a Welsh word that means longing or a sense of homesickness. One of my niece’s Malibu neighbors, who is Welsh, nodded his head while we walked and talked one brisk, Starbucks-armed morning. Gazing at the newly greened hillside, he shared, “I’m feeling it… Continue Reading “Hiraeth”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #change, #christmas, #education, #grandparents, #holidayseason, #hope, #llbehomeforchristmas, #love, #loveeverymoment, #malibu, #melancholy, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching, #welsh, #winter

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