Of Ghosts and Coincidences

Willow had a turbulent camp week, starting with one of her friends mentioning seeing a ghost in their cabin at night (Willow is not a fan of ghosts), followed by her teddy bear somehow ending up on top of the ceiling fan (the teachers from the other school sharing the week are known pranksters), and culminating with her getting a fever on Wednesday evening. She skipped Thursday, staying home and recuperating, and was back again for the last morning of camp on Friday. The thermometers were full and red most of the week, with the temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees in the afternoons. When this is coupled with the fact that there are a lot of sunny, uphill hikes, the week wasn't for the faint of heart.

My week went well though. I had a few of Willow's friends in my field class, including Ghost-girl. The night hike was particularly good. I once again did a long one, walking my group uphill for around half a mile so we could take in the view. As if the twilight view of slowly appearing stars and the wavery sparkle of distant city lights wasn't profound enough, we were treated to the spectacular sight of full moon cresting the East Bay hills, turned dirty orange by the intervening layers of particulate matter in the atmosphere. The only snake we saw was a very irritable Rattlesnake that went into full defensive mode when we encountered in alongside the trail. The kids were impressed. I pioneered a new loop for the so-called epic journey too, taking a new stretch of trail down from the dry pond to the almost dry (97% empty, the last I checked) Steven's Creek Reservoir and following the little trickle of Steven's Creek back uphill toward camp.

Coming back from this particular hike, Ghost-girl mentioned that she'd lost her digital camera but was pretty sure she'd left it at the creek near camp. She looked for it, but to no avail.

The missing camera was pushed to the back of my mind until, last night, I got a Facebook message from one of my old friends (one who I hadn't seen in person for around 6 years), saying that her niece had found a camera in the hills. They'd looked at the pictures on the camera and found photos of fifth graders, cabins, and a scorpion. My friend, of course, knows what I do for a living and knows my affinity for arachnids, so I had popped into her mind when she saw the photos. She said they had found it near her favorite tree (you've got to love people who have favorite trees), a huge sycamore that leans over Steven's Creek near the camp. I remembered Ghost-girl entering the water there on Wednesday while trying to catch a crayfish. I also knew that Ghost-girl had taken a picture of a scorpion I'd found. The final confirmation was my friend posting an image from the camera into the Facebook message. It's a good thing that Ghost-girl takes selfies.

To my mind, it is a stunning coincidence that an old friend would stumble across the camera in the hills the same day a kid in my field class lost it, and then have the presence of mind to check in with me to see if I knew anything about it. Add that to the fact that I don't often work at our Cupertino site where the camera was lost. My friend does claim to be psychic though, so I guess anything is possible...

My friend and her niece found it just in time too, because a nearby family had also seen it and wanted to keep it. The camera is currently sitting next to me as I type. I'll send Willow to school with it on Monday. It was nice to catch up with my friend too. We sent her home with some fresh eggs.