Tag: #hope

This Life of Mine

Posted on May 10, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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

Lucky Enough

Posted on March 15, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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The sun warms my shoulders as the ocean re-charges my gaze as the gregarious Snow White singing birds kerchief my ears as teeming black tea stimulates my soft-focus high school yearbook portrait ala 1970s brain. Adjust the lens and it becomes clear, sharp, bursting… Continue Reading “Lucky Enough”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #50threunion, #bestfriends, #cambria, #camping, #faith, #findinghope, #god, #godslove, #grandmashavingfun, #hope, #inspiration, #peace, #pleasureway, #retiredteacher, #ruhs, #solowomentraveling, #thebeach, #theocean, #vanlife, @grateful, @retirement, jesus, life, love

Really, not really

Posted on March 2, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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Home, not really. South Bay, not really. Schedule, not really. Ambition, not really. Stress, not really. Anger, frustration, blame, regrets, not really. I’m here, sitting on a camp chair overlooking the blustery sea in my sister and cousin’s unfinished Palos Verdes Estates home, a… Continue Reading “Really, not really”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #birthday, #grandma, #gratitude, #growingold, #home, #hope, #lifeizgood, #palosverdesestates, #pleasureway, #purpose, #rvlifestyle, #solowomen, #solowomencamping, #southbay, #thenextchapter, #travel, #travelingwithgrandma, #travellinggrandma, #whatsitallabout, #wisdom, @retirement, celebrations, comingtopeace, fallinginlove, family, gettingolder, grandparenting, momsok, traveling-grandma

A Whole New World

Posted on February 17, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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Waking up to snow when you’re a native Southern Californian, not in your own bed, but in the bed you’ve modified to make your own, feels as if I’m gazing out the window of Apollo 13: the glistening, marshmallow puffs of new fallen snow… Continue Reading “A Whole New World”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #diversitycounts, #embracediversity, #grandchildren, #grandparents, #hope, #immigration, #inclusivity, #loveeverymoment, #lovenothate, #lovetheyneighborsasthyself, #nyc, #retiredteacher, #winter, #winterinnyc

Breaking Bad and other News of the Day

Posted on January 13, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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You’ve caught me in a Hope Diamond moment: I’m alone. In the apartment. Windows and blinds wide open—high winds and 30-degree temps be damned. I’m in short sleeves. Showered. Hair brushed. Pink lipstick applied. Perfume generously spritzed. Funny how simple acts can make you… Continue Reading “Breaking Bad and other News of the Day”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #breakingbad, #children, #daughters, #grandchildren, #grandmas, #grandparents, #hope, #mother-daughterrelationshipss, #newbabies, #newmexico, #newyorkcity, #nyc, #parenting, #retiredteacher, #whenitstimetogo, family, love, mama, mom, motherhood

Two weeks ago …

Posted on January 1, 2024 by JANET L BARKER

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It’s 1 a.m. and the apartment is quiet. The parents are taking their shifts, The Littles are in Dreamland and I’m two glasses into a new bottle of Rangeland Cabernet and the final season of “The Crown”. It’s raining outside and will do so… Continue Reading “Two weeks ago …”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #2024, #bestlifeever, #findingthegood, #god, #grandchildren, #grandma, #grandparents, #grassisntalwaysgreener, #hope, #joy, #parenting, #peace, aging, family, happynewyear, love, memories, newyearsresolutions

A Baby is Born

Posted on December 14, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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7:10 a.m. November 28 The sun has risen and traffic outside Room 4 in Labor and Delivery at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan is officially jammed with taxis and Ubers and police cars and silly drivers honking their horns for God knows what reason.… Continue Reading “A Baby is Born”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #babies, #Christmasbaby, #daughters, #daughtersandmothers, #grandma, #grandmasboy, #hope, #lenoxhillhospital, #manhattan, #newbaby\]\\, #newlife, #newyorkcity, #pregnancy, #thechristmasstar, baby, birth-story, Christmas, labor, love, motherhood

Born again

Posted on December 7, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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Nov. 27, 2023: 8:50 p.m. Full moon Monday in New York City My daughter yells from her bedroom as her husband drills-in screws to hold up a curtain rod for the new beachy curtains she recently purchased to soften the paint-chipped 1960s windows in… Continue Reading “Born again”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #babies, #blessings, #daughters, #findinghope, #fullmoon, #grandparents, #gratitude, #hope, #loveeverymoment, #newgrandma, #newmommy, #newyorkcity, #nyc, #prayer, appreciation, birth, Christmas, family, following-god, love, mothers, newbeginnings, newbornbabies, peaceonearth, photos

Learning to pivot

Posted on November 13, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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Def.: to adapt or improve by adjusting or modifying something. Much has happened since getting off the road, which was inspired by a doctor’s appointment, which, thank God, turned out A-OK. Just one layer of basal cell nastiness had to be removed, so all… Continue Reading “Learning to pivot”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #bestfriends, #challenges, #faith, #god, #godlove, #goodnews, #heart, #hope, #loveeverymoment, #nevergiveup, #peace, #thankful, @grateful

The Last Day

Posted on October 31, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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To say I’m in mourning isn’t exactly accurate. I’m Grateful with a capital G, but also stunned that so much time passed so quickly. Almost two months. Gone. Just like that. Snap! A trip I imagined for years and years and years. My dream of taking off… Continue Reading “The Last Day”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #cambria, #campervanlife, #centralcoast, #faith, #findingpeace, #godslove, #grandmacamping, #gratitude, #hope, #love, #morrobay, #retirement, #sansimeon, #selfcare, #selflove, #solowomencamping, #vanlife, lifeizgood

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