Revving Up
There I was, minding my own business on a beautiful Sunday morning, sitting around reading internet news and opinion. I heard a helicopter overhead, which is a fairly unremarkable event here on the coast. Summer weather combined with weekend visitors means lots of work for those who pluck people off cliffs, save drowning swimmers, and rescue anyone left as an offering on rocky outcroppings.
Anyway, the noise kept getting louder so I glanced out the window and saw said helicopter landing a few hundred feet away from my house. Instantly, I intuited that it was time to take Vince for a walk. Acting on a hunch, I also brought my camera.
Sure enough, there was a sheriff’s helicopter right where all the neighborhood dogs are walked. No one was there but it looked loaded down with rescue equipment, which is a reassuring detail in the jarring assortment of uncomfortable feelings that the sight of a sheriff’s helicopter next door can evoke.
You might notice behind the helicopter the golden rolling hills of California. Mulling over the 
possible reasons that someone might want to park a rescue helicopter in my neighborhood, I recalled that this is the Fourth of July weekend. Moreover, tonight is the annual fireworks display over in Westside Park, which is that cluster of white RVs in this photo. From where the helicopter is parked, all of us in the neighborhood will have a perfect view across the bay of the fireworks, minus all the wretched smoke and jarring noises that being closer involves.
Since I was having such good luck snapping pictures of things without having my camera confiscated, I also took this shot looking south. The beach in the foreground is Doran Park, 
the land mass on the left is Tomales Head, and to the right of that you can barely see the Point Reyes peninsula, just above the water line. In the space of time it has taken for me to write this blog entry, the helicopter has taken off and I have heard three separate sets of sirens speeding up the coast highway. Yep, it will be a busy day today. Take it easy everyone, and when in doubt err on the side of caution with incendiary devices and dry, grassy hills.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:55 am
I’ll trade you your dry, grassy hills for the last month of torrential rain and flooding.
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:41 am
Indeed. I’m sorry to hear the weather has been so miserable out your way. But the cost of living is higher there too, which makes up for it. Right?
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
If only cost = value for money. I can’t complain about it all, though - we’ve got a great park right across the street, complete with duck pond and groovy dead tree carvings, and I can literally watch the seasons change from our living room window. So far, however, the dial has been stuck on ‘October’.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:53 am
My British friends tell me it’s been so rainy that the birds are evolving into fish!
Love the pics! California air is so blue. Astonishing.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Ah Anne………..you live at a wonderful crossroads.
We celebrated MidSummer down at Doran beach campgound……and will give you a wave whenever there.
July 18th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Oh, lovely. How nice to think of people celebrating Midsummer just down the hill from me.