Tag: #teaching

Diving acrobats of the sea

Posted on January 28, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

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

Sitting at a bar in Barstow

Posted on January 1, 2023 by JANET L BARKER

3 Comments

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

Leave a Comment

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

1 Comment

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

Leave a Comment

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

Leave a Comment

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

The Weather Outside is Frightful for This California Gal

Posted on November 19, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

Leave a Comment

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

2 Comments

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

The Library

Posted on September 13, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

Leave a Comment

This is the third time I’ve been to the Cambria Public Library on my trip to nowhere, my pause, before the next step. I am surrounded by masters. I am in a sanctuary of accomplished and one-hit (maybe) wonders and writers who got their… Continue Reading “The Library”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #cambria, #cambriapubliclibrary, #education, #grandparents, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching, #thewriterslife, #travellingwithdogs

Sound of Silence

Posted on September 12, 2022 by JANET L BARKER

Leave a Comment

The campground is still. Everyone cleared out early this beautiful, drizzly, grey morning because of last night’s downpour. I can’t blame them. I did the same thing, breaking camp at record speed from the primitive campground I was able to secure at the last… Continue Reading “Sound of Silence”

Category: UncategorizedTags: #California, #eberlewines, #education, #grandparents, #hope, #love, #loveeverymoment, #pasorobles, #rangelandwines, #retiredteacher, #retirement, #teachers, #teaching

1 2 3 4 »