Photographic frustration

I was sitting at my desk, half-dressed, finishing up the weekly column I write for a local paper, when I saw something outside the window that brought me to my feet in excitement.

Not twenty feet away, perched on the raspberry canes post, was a hawk, a big, grey hawk or falcon. Naturally, my camera was in the car. In the ten seconds that it took me to dash out the door half dressed and barefoot, retrieve the camera from the car and get back to the study room where I could take its picture, the majestic bird had already gone.

For ten years, I have been sitting in this chair, looking out at this view and I have never seen such a sight. And today it happened and I wasn't ready for it.