OVER THE TRANSOM
--- Let It Snow (Not!) --
By Sandy Raschke
neighbors’ tumbleweeds in our backyard.
Then came the freezing rain, the ice pellets and at last
snow, mostly flurries that soon melted, or lasted a day; this
went on for about two weeks. What gloom! And today, as I write
this column, there was a 50% chance of snow showers; outside,
it’s bright and sunny, with the temperature above 40 degrees.
Go figure. I’ve given up trying to plan my days
according to the latest weather report; there are too many
microclimates in Central Oregon to make it worthwhile. If it’s
sunny, we get in the old Suburban and go, with Arnie sitting in
the front seat taking it all in. We’ve been up and down many
back roads—most of them dirt for some reason—and have seen the
most beautiful vistas, herds of deer, raptors of all kinds, and
even a pheasant or two. It’s refreshing to get out and see the
bigger picture from time to time.
The holidays grow near and my hands
are itching to form dough into bread and cookies. The tree is
up—one of those pre-lit wonders that you just unwrap, release a
few hinges, and plug in. Voila! Let there be lights (hundreds
of them). And to think we could have paid $5 for a forest
permit to go out and chop down our own…
Good thing we had a gentle transition
into winter last year as we are now in the midst of a real
winter, the apparent effect of La Niña. We’ve had two huge
windstorms, one of which made the national newspapers. Although
we are almost two hundred miles away from the Oregon coast, we
got the remnants of its ugliness, but fortunately, no damage
other than getting all the
So, with a nice little glass of eggnog
in hand, I wish you all a Merry Holiday Season and a Happy New
Year. To those who have written notes about Arnie, thank you
for your comments. To my co-editors, Calliope is the
sum of its parts and I appreciate all of your work in making
Calliope the best little newsmagazine for writers in the world.
And for those of you wondering what
happened to the Fiction Contest—it’s back! See the guidelines
in this issue. Make it your First New Year’s Resolution to
enter the contest. The first entry is free to
member/subscribers.
Until the next issue—