Pine Cones in the Holyoke First Level Canal
In February, I took pictures like this one of the Holyoke First Level Canal. The water was so flat that it mirrored the buildings on the other side of the canal. I was so amazed that day that I picked up three pinecones that were alongside the canal. One I threw into the canal that day. The other two I brought home for good luck promising myself that I would return them to the canal someday. I kept them on a shelf near my bed each side by side of one another. Tuesday of this week I felt despondent so I decided to return the cones six months after I had taken them.
I went to the same spot along the canal that I had found them. Plan was to throw the second pinecone into the canal and then after work five hours later to throw the third into the water. I threw the first in and got ready to ride my bike away. I noticed that the cone did not move at all even though there was a slight current to the south. I was a bit irked so I pulled my backpack off again and got the third cone out. I threw it a bit downstream and a bit closer in then that non-mobile second one. They were about 7 feet away from each other at the time that the third one hit the water. The third cone immediately and in a straight line moved toward the second cone while the second cone stayed still. It was moving upstream and outward. From seven feet away it directly hit the second cone without wavering a bit. Both cones stuck together for 5 seconds. Then they gradually (and finally) moved downstream as one would expect. They did however stay about 10 inches apart that whole time.
My whole life I have been ever the scientist. This was the first symbolic act I have ever done in my life. Using physics, which is the one and only topic that I am good at, I might find that there actually is a one in a million probability of this happening. Seeing however that it was a symbolic act by me, it amazed me and still does. I rode away along that beautiful canal walk. They have been side by side on my shelf for six months and they seemed to want to continue being with each other even after I threw them into the water.