Blueberries

 

Succulent blueberries!

 

Isn't the colour of blueberries lovely?

I had to go to Hongkong Street to get some green tea pumpkin seeds. It would be cheaper to get them at the wholesaler. The nearest MRT stop is at Clarke Quay. Having seen some advertisements on the television, I wanted to take a look at the shops in Central Mall.

I suddenly caught sight of some packets of blueberries. Immediately they reminded me of my university days in Canada. My classmate, Jim Wright, had invited me to spend the holiday in his family home at a farm in Grande Prairie, a small town north of Edmonton. Knowing that I was from the tropics, my thoughtful and hospitable classmate thought I would enjoy the experience of staying at a farm.

What a large expanse of land! I enjoyed trying out the tractors and machines which harvested the wheat. It was fun to be wading in the river and running around with Jim's two pet dogs.

I was surprised when Jim suggested that we went blueberry picking. Armed with a basket each, we went to to woods. The blueberries were grown wild on bushes, and Jim told me that bears love blueberries. I almost expected to find one but sadly, no grizzly bears were in sight! Jim and I decided to have a competition - to see who would pick the most number of blueberries. I asked my students to guess who was the winner and most of them guessed it must be me but could not give the answer I was looking for.

I picked more blueberries than Jim, simply because I was closer to the ground than he was. Jim is 1.92 metres tall! I was like a midget beside him. Jim's mum baked delicious blueberry pies with the blueberries we had picked. It was such a nice feeling - to truly enjoy the fruit of our labour!

Well, for those of my readers who complain that they are somewhat short - remember that good things come in short packages too!