Bollywood Hollywood Redux

Dearest Phoebe,
we visited Bollywood Vegetable Farm on the first weekend of April 2009. The day trippers comprise us, 阿妈, 二姨 and family. We piled into our rented maxicab and headed out for our rustic excursion.

The vegetable farm held some special memories for Daddy as it was the venue of our first excursion together when you were in childcare at Character Montessori. That first outing took place sometime in late July 2008. Our father-daughter bonding wasn't textbook perfect, there were the imperfections that made us perfectly human and fallible.

During the visit, you trundled through the farm and had a bad fall. Your palms were grazed raw but you were up and running in no time. You expected the presence of little animals as you were asking about the goats and ponies. Whilst the flora failed to keep you enthralled, an unexpected find of sea snails in the irrigation drains caught your full attention. You even wanted to take some home as pets!

We adjourned for lunch at the Poison Ivy Bistro and had a sumptuous lunch. You ate a fair bit of rice, a piece of chicken drumette and some fries. The rest of us had curry meats and some wok-fried potato leaves dishes. We capped it off with some sinfully delicious banana cake topped with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream and slathered with a rich drizzle of chocolate sauce!

After lunch, we headed back home on the maxicab. With one wrong turn, we chanced upon a car that had skidded into a drain by the road. Our driver was kind enough to give the hapless car owner a lift to get help.

One wrong turn; one good deed done, that probably sums up life in a nutshell, expected the unexpected and not forgetting to help the needy and those in distress!

Be good and smile pretty,
Daddy Dearest

The Pony Ride

Dearest Phoebe,

Six dollars, circa 2009, would have bought you a value meal at McDonalds with an upsized drink and fries. It also bought you a ticket for a Pony ride at the Singapore Zoo two weekends ago.

We brought you to the zoo and at the children's section, we asked if you wanted to take the pony ride. You agreed and we complied. On hindsight, the ride brought a question to mind, "Are we making you grow up too fast?".

As you rode away with the minder in tow, Mummy and Daddy were worried that you would burst into tears. At the end of the ride, your emotionless expression belied the fear and confusion you felt during the ride.

Hence, for Mummy and Daddy, that six dollars bought us a nugget of enlightenment that we should be mindful of pushing you too hard or unnecessarily projecting our childhood dreams, especially those unfulfilled ones, onto you.

Be good and smile pretty,
Daddy Dearest

PS: This is our first family portrait taken at a instant passport photo booth and it coincidentally cost us six dollars too!