I grew up in New Hampshire, a small town in South Canada, where in my father’s words the seasons were “Spring, Summer, Fairtime and Winter!”At that time, a week-long fair was held in the town every autumn. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the busiest time of the year.

When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the most “useful” and busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well-educated old lady. She was good at cooking. All her relatives liked the food she cooked. During “fairtime”, they would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no longer “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was gradually going blind. My parents and I moved to live with Grandma in her house. We did our best to make her day-to-day life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle. However, she didn’t look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

To attract people to move back, the Town Hall decided to reopen the Fair. One day, when I came back from school, I saw Grandma wearing her glasses, washing the dishes in the kitchen. With a big smile on her face, she looked a lot much younger. She told me that her two nieces would come. “They said the food I cooked was very delicious and they want to stay in my house again.” Grandma said happily. “They will stay here for one week and we can have a big party. That must be the busiest week I’ve had in years!”

I suddenly realized that Grandma didn’t want to be looked after. She wanted to be “useful”, appreciated and helpful.

When I was young, my grandparents bought a second home in Arkansas and would bring me there every single summer. Their home was located on a 3 acre patch (小片) of land at the end of a stony road through a small forest. There were yards around the house and I would spend a lot of time outside there following my grandfather while he did yard work. Down the road in the valley was Bull Shoals Lake, the “swimming hole” where we would swim almost every afternoon.

I always remember my grandparents calling me over to the window when a deer family was in the yard or a few hummingbirds (蜂鸟) were at the feeders (取食槽) so that I could watch them. My grandfather took the time to teach me the names of all the different trees in the yard. I would search around in the yard by myself sometimes to look for interesting rocks to add to my collection, and if I was lucky I would find a turtle (乌龟). If I did find a turtle I would go get my grandfather so that he could pick it up and put it in the kiddy pool for me to observe for a few minutes. I was always amazed by these creatures. After I finished observing the turtle, my grandfather would pick it back up and return it to the bush I found it in. I would watch in amazement as it slowly stuck its legs out and crawled back under.

I always felt very much at peace at my grandparents’ home. It was quiet and full of interesting natural things I had never seen before. Whenever I get lost in the lights and noises in this forest of cement (水泥) high — rises, the memories will calm me down and make me smile.