Tag: #love

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

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

A Gulp of Sea

Posted on December 8, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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Nature is my healer. I feel such peace, such love and acceptance when I am enveloped by the ever-changing grandeur and gentleness of Nature. I’m sitting at a picnic table overlooking Encinal Canyon in Malibu. Monet is sleeping, snoring, by my feet. The clouds are… Continue Reading “A Gulp of Sea”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #anewlife, #California, #cattledoglove, #cattledogs, #change, #grandparents, #hope, #lifeontheroad, #love, #loveeverymoment, #malibu, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching, #vwcampervan

Swimming Solo

Posted on December 3, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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I am, at last, an almost-nomad. I have been on the road since August. Not exclusively. I’ve had some much, much-needed layovers here and there; Kauai, Malibu, Rancho Palos Verdes, New York, for example. Not too shabby real estate, I’d say. But I’ve been picking… Continue Reading “Swimming Solo”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #cambria, #camping, #centralcoast, #dogs, #eurovancamper, #grandparents, #hope, #lessonsfromadog, #love, #loveeverymoment, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #sologirlcamping

The Weather Outside is Frightful for This California Gal

Posted on November 19, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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You know you are a REAL writer when… You are observing your gifted daughter teaching her Fourth-Grade students a stone’s throw from the Hudson River and the only thing you can think of, besides how so damn proud you are of her and where… Continue Reading “The Weather Outside is Frightful for This California Gal”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #daughters, #education, #grandparents, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #manhattan, #newyork, #nyc, #NYCPublicschoolteacher, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching, #thanksgiving

Why Wait for New Year’s Eve?

Posted on November 8, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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New York is hot. Hotter than The Southern California I left two days ago. I’m in short sleeves, a skirt, sitting in the sun on my daughter and son-in-law’s Forest Hills balcony, relishing the 76 temps and bone-warming rays. At this point, I did… Continue Reading “Why Wait for New Year’s Eve?”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #education, #grandparents, #health, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #nevergiveup, #newyorkcity, #nyc, #NYCMarathon, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching

But now, I Feel Different

Posted on October 28, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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I’m relaxing in front of my Big Red propane campfire, steaming cup of Mt. Whitney French roast organic coffee at my side, Winnie the Pooh slippers warming my normally never-cold feet on this gorgeous last full day of my October Solo Camping Adventure. The… Continue Reading “But now, I Feel Different”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #bestfriends, #California, #camping, #grandparents, #hearstsansimeonstatebeach, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #redondobeach, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #ruhs, #solocamping, #vweurovancamper

The Gift

Posted on October 18, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

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Like opening the fridge door. Like popping a balloon full of amber confetti. Like being immersed in a painting by Claude Monet. Like being in a movie about a woman whose heart is finally open to a life she once only dreamed of. Cinnamon… Continue Reading “The Gift”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #beinthemoment, #bridgeport, #doesn'ttakemuchtobehappy, #easternsierras, #enjoyeverymoment, #eurovancamper, #fall, #fall2022, #fallinthesierras, #gratitude, #homemadeveggiechili, #hope, #love, #peace, #retirededucator, #retiredteacher, #tinycabins, #travelinggrandma, #twinlakes, #vanlife, #virginiacreeksettlement

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