Of children and eggs

My cousin, Carl, and I grew up together. Some of my most notable childhood adventures were shared with him.

I was around 5 years old then and Carl was 4. My uncle would sometimes open the gate, set-up a table and sell fruits fresh from my grandmother's farm. We sold Santol (Paete and Bangkok variety), Rambutan (with varieties like maharlika, marikit etc), Bananas, Mangoes and Lanzones.

One afternoon, we didn't have any produce. Carl and I had nothing to do. We were bored. So we then thought of people watching. We thought of watching the people down the street. We opened the gate just wide enough for the two of us to get a view of the road. Oh, we were not the only children with nothing to do. Across the street were two children just about our age. Like us, they were bored and they had nothing to do. They also thought of people watching. They saw us, they looked at us and they munched chips.

We didn't have money to buy chips and I don't think we were allowed to eat chips then. Did we envy them? No! And yes, that's a definite no. We went inside to get some snacks. What did we get? Some boiled eggs, haha!:) We love boiled eggs as children. Carl and I even opened the gate again to show the children across the street that we have boiled eggs and they didn't. Yes, we were such show-offs.:)

We never really got to know their views on that incident. We never got to talk to them.

Modified leaves and Cactus

From my high school biology class, I learned that thorns are modified leaves. Cacti are thorny plants Why are the leaves modified into thorns?

(1) For protection from animals that may feed or graze on them

(2) Probably to decrease the surface area of the leaves, to prevent excessive water loss that may lead to dessication.

Now, when you have plants sort of uprooted from their natural habitat, they act up and adapt to their new environment. This cactus still has succulent stem but look at their thorns, they're leafy now.