Woman on a mission...

There it was! The familiar sound of the whirring rotor. It was getting closer! As usual, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why did I have to be standing on my deck? I should have be sitting in my parked car in a lot near the water tower. There, my vision would have unfolded just as I've imagined it so often. Perhaps there was still time. I darted out the door, grabbing my keys, coat and camera. Breathlessly, I prepared to hop into the car. Then I saw it. My neighbour was mowing his lawn. No helicopter, just a lawnmower. Drat!

There was a time many years ago when I slept very poorly. I was solely responsible for the care and rearing of a pair of young children and this caused me to be a light sleeper. During my snoozes, my imagination went wild with ideas. I would wake up in the middle of the night and lie in bed with a head full of crazy thoughts. I  I finally kept a notebook and pen on the nightstand to write down my dreams. Once, I woke up with an entire elementary school musical writing itself in my head. It contained rabbits, singing watering cans and dancing carrots. I was thrilled when it came to fruition on the school stage a few months later. Another time, I woke up to discover that my scribblings contained an idea for a dating service for frogs. Ok, so that one wasn't one of my more brilliant visions. I suspect that it either came shortly after I read "The Frog Prince" to a class of kindergarteners, or following a particularly dull date. That's how it goes in dreams though isn't it?  I used to have these nutty ideas in my sleep. Now that I actually sleep much of the night, I seem to have them in broad daylight.

So what is my latest crazy idea?  I am on a mission. I am determined to photograph the hospital helicopter shortly before it lands. The sky must be blue and the helicopter must be of the ORNG variety.

I first saw the most amazing picture on a cool but sunny day about a year ago! Magnificent. The orange helicopter was low against the blue sky with the backdrop of the water tower, it's rotors slowing as it lowered itself toward the hospital. A perfect photo opportunity! Unfortunately, I was shopping at the time and couldn't get my camera out fast enough. I figured what comes down must certainly go back up, right? I immediately abandoned my errands and wheeled the van into a perfect parking location with both the water tower and the helipad in my sites. There, I waited, and waited, and waited but there was no sign of movement. It wasn't going anyplace but after waiting for almost an hour with no activity, I finally needed to leave.

I had several more sightings...once when leaving for work and several times when the sky was too overcast to create the picture which is now etched in my mind.

Today, I heard the famous helicopter. The sky was blue. I drove to the road near the hospital. I parked. I managed to snap two photos as ORNG left the hospital, went up in the air, and was gone in a flash. It's not the photo I imagined but it's the photo I got.

I am persistent and will not rest until I get my award winning shot...orange helicopter coming down for a landing as it passes not behind, but in front of the water tower.