As I recall, Camper's given name was Camembert. She came from a family of other cheeses in Fort Ross, California.I think she had a brother named Brie and one named Jack. Jenny brought her home one day as a kitten, one of the cutest, sweetest,silliest, and smartest kittens who ever lived. We quickly realized that it'd be kind of a mouthful to say "Here, Camembert, Camembert, Camembert!", so we decided on a shorter name for our kitten:"Camper". She was a happy camper. I am told by people who know cats that tortoiseshell cats have the most interesting personalities, and are very intelligent. We used to take her on walks up the hill and I felt it my duty to pass on to her my love of tree-climbing , so I frequently took the little kitten up a tree inside my shirt. We used to play a little game after a walk . We'd pause at a little steep part of the hill above some trees and count to eleven, then we'd both... Run Down The Hill Fast! and race to jump up into a particular oak tree and climb up into its branches - the first one to get a ways up into the tree won the game.She mostly won, being a cat and all. I think of myself as being a pretty great tree climber, but she was better (see the pix in this gallery of her in the tree, looking proud of herself and saying "Nyah nyah, I'm the best tree climber here!"). She was amazing. I loved her so. She passed away in 2003. I miss her so- she took such good care of me.

Twice while I was living in that apartment in San Anselmo, she proudly came to the door with a hummingbird in her mouth. Both times I said "Camper, don't kill hummingbirds!" and she dropped the hummingbird into my hand and both times the hummingbird flew away! So she hadn't killed it but had knocked it out of the air and just stunned it. You have to be pretty fast and precise to do that, but Camper was a Zen Master.