Carrie Classon

It wasn’t much of a joke, as far as jokes go. I saw the man wearing two hats, one on top of the other. The second hat may have been for his wife. It was decorated with intricate drawings. He was walking with her, a third hat tied to the handle of a stroller, and…

I sometimes envy people who have a family home to return to, a place where they grew up, where their parents or even their grandparents lived. The closest thing I have is the farmhouse where my mother grew up. My grandparents lived there until they died, and my mother’s older brother, Andy, and his wife,…

I was walking down an old street in an old part of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Brightly colored wooden doors lined the streets. There was no indication from the outside what might be within. It could be a courtyard filled with flowers and a fountain, or a small business, or somebody’s kitchen. It is…

They call the impossibly complicated screen I am looking at a “dashboard,” which I do not find reassuring at all. It would be nice not to associate my ignorance of technology with crashing some out-of-control machine into a ravine, although, as I think about it, that is very much how it feels. Learning new technology…

My husband, Peter, and I are back in our little place in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Of course, it is not really “our” place. We don’t own it and have no desire to own anything here larger than a pressure cooker (yes, Peter bought one). When we arrived, Pepe at the front desk said,…

I’ve decided that I’m good enough. I had a big birthday, and it got me to thinking, as big birthdays will, about what would change and what would stay the same in the decade to come. I found my list of self-improvement chores much shorter than in previous years. I used to exhaust myself with…

My mother has found the perfect pet. She just doesn’t realize it yet. A clever little red squirrel has been trying to get my mother’s attention for months. “He’s such a pest!” my mother complains. But the squirrel does not give up. He has become quite tame, hanging out below the bird feeder, waiting for…

I was “up north,” walking through the woods with an escort of dragonflies on either side, as if I were a visiting dignitary in need of protection. I love dragonflies. I love their variety and their shiny wings and the way they turn on a dime in midair. I love how they clear the path…

I was packing for our recent trip to Mexico when I found the old tube of V05. “Do I still have this?” Apparently, I did. Even though my husband, Peter, and I had moved a year ago, a lot of forgotten salves and soaps and lotions of various types had made the move with us.…

My husband, Peter, and I went to our first concert in the park last night. We brought our folding chairs and ate food from the food trucks. The weather was perfect, and the music was good. But upstaging the band were a pair of juvenile squirrels in the trees overhead, challenging one another to feats…