Remember when I was a kid, remember the first time my mother taught me and my sisters how to make a fire to cook rice. In the countryside that day, starting a fire was very simple, just a little dry straw, a piece of rubber band or a little bagasse is enough. Firewood is collected around the house, stacked and interwoven, leaving a space for the fire to enter; There are times when lighting the fire first and then arranging the firewood around. The fire burned, my sisters and I happily clapped their hands in excitement. Small round eyes looked curiously at the burning sticks. The gray-white smoke followed the slits of the tree trunks flying in all directions, piercing the eyes and noses of the children who were staring at them, stinging. Yet we were still laughing and joking, using our hands to “slash” the smoke like real warriors. I remember the most days when it was raining, when the firewood was wet, my sisters and I blew the stove and coughed because of the smoke. Or on summer days, when the southwest wind blows strongly, the fire is blown to one side by the wind, the rice cooker on the stove has a ripe day. For a long time we were attached to the wood stove, with the smell of kitchen smoke. When I remember those days when I was a child, my heart feels happy again… The strong aroma of the kitchen smoke lingers here and there. From the small kitchen, that smoke followed the wind up to the dark thatched roof, crept through each wall of earth, ran to the back of the house, and flew straight to the sky with many unique shapes. In our imagination, it is sometimes a flying dragon, sometimes a leaf in the wind, or a rope stretching up to the blue clouds… There are afternoons we are busy chasing in the fields, the smell of smoke The kitchen mixed with the aroma of food made us children stop, inhale, and then hug our hungry stomachs and run straight home. In the minds of the children, the smoke from the kitchen was rising and it was time for lunch. Grilled dishes in charcoal are always attractive to any child, are the favorite dishes of children in the countryside, and arouse curiosity for children in the city today. Sometimes it’s just a hastily dug sweet potato in the garden or a cashew nut that has just been picked from the tree, immediately put in the embers on the stove, buried in the gray ash and wait. The faint aroma follows the smoke into each cell, evoking each sense, making people irresistible. Hold the potato and just poke it out from the coal stove, blow it and eat it, hot and fragrant. Memories of a small day suddenly came back so clearly and warmly. For those who grew up in the countryside, the fire is also a place of peace and a place to return to. My mother often said: “On the first day of the year, what can be forgotten, but must not forget to light a fire to warm the house, it will bring good things to us”. And that was also the first thing my father did on New Year’s Day, no matter how many years passed. My sister and I sat around the fire with our hands warmed. The strong scent of kitchen smoke wrapped us again, interspersed with children’s stories. That lovely image keeps reminding me… In modern life, the wood stove, coal stove has gradually been replaced by gas stove, electric stove. The corner of the kitchen is also clean now, no longer black on the walls, and no soot flying around. I was also reeling in society, seeming to have forgotten the smell of smoke rising from the branches of the trees. Suddenly I realized how long I had rushed through the best memories. I am grateful and grateful for the habit of cooking water every morning with my parents’ dear wood stove so that today, I can smell the smoke from the kitchen. Even though my eyes sting because of the smoke, I still feel as happy as celebrating. Apparently, it’s been a long time since I’ve had time for myself, with my mother, back to the peaceful countryside that raised me up. And to return to my childhood days with the light, fragrant smoke in the morning… MAKEUP

One sunny afternoon, surfing through Facebook, I accidentally saw an article selling digging seeds. Childhood memories with peach picking summer noonas appeared right in front of my eyes. That day, in Pho Cuong (Duc Pho), my hometown, each house had at least a few trees. Peaches are easy to grow, with little maintenance, so it is especially suitable for the arid land of my hometown. The Lunar New Year has passed. In the February of lunar year every year, when the weather is warm, it is also the time for the trees to bear fruit. Although not sweet and easy to eat like other fruits, peaches are very attractive. Then when summer comes, our children are again eagerly facing the plump peach bunches, dangling from the branches. When ripe, peaches emit a very attractive aroma. So instead of getting tired of looking for peaches, we often walk around the garden, stand under the peaches to inhale to, where there is a fragrant peach smell, we know there are delicious fruits waiting for us to enjoy. The nut is divided into two parts: the seed and the fruit. Fruit eaten will have a sour taste, sweet sweet, slightly acrid. If you eat a lot, you still feel your tongue hurt. Especially eating peaches is easy to choke. Every time I saw me picking peach trees, my grandmother always told me to cut peaches into small pieces and squeeze out the water to remove choking and not to eat too much, lest my tongue get sick. However, my joy is to hold a large peach, dab in a bowl of salt and chilli and bite a piece of the teeth, then choke many times because of the peach juice. Although not sweet and easy to eat like other fruits, peaches are very attractive. Nuts are initially green, but when ripe, they can be yellow, pink, or red, depending on the variety. Whatever the color, the peach flavor is the same. The tree is planted with nuts mainly. Many ripe fruit trees fall in the orchard and whoever wants to eat the fruit, they just need to leave the seeds. So our children back then often gathered around the neighborhood to look for a basket of peaches of all kinds of beautiful colors to bring back. After eating, many new children discovered that they did not carefully fill the clothes with water, and then they were full because the clothes with peach pus did not come out much wash. Besides the fruit, peach seeds are also a very high-class dish. Every time she goes around the garden, she picks up peach seeds and waits for the day to sell, I often spend a small handful of fresh peach seeds. Put the peach seeds in the stove to burn back ashes. After little by little of the peach oil was burned and sizzled, the aroma gradually emitted that the seeds were ripe. Use a pearberry tree to hold peach seeds from the fire and then smash the outer shell to have a crisp, fragrant, delicious cashew nut that people often process canned and sold at a high price. A special feature of the peach tree that I like very much is the melted sap tree. In the summer noon, besides picking fruit and picking peaches, I often go to the big old peach stumps, a hug can’t help. Then notice if any ticks are disguising themselves on the peach stump or if there is a tree stump that is melting sap. The beautiful, frozen, orange-yellow peach resin droplets as well as the cicadas are a precious gift that any child would love at that time. Now, the children who used to walk around looking for peaches in the past have all grown up. The child is still in the countryside, who has moved to other cities for a living. The old peach gardens have also gradually thinned, giving way to other fruit trees or trees. But those years of peaches will forever be engraved in our memories with each sweet, sour, acrid and faint aroma of acerola.

Legendary feet crossed mountains, ice forests. Postman of Labor Hero Cil Mup Ha Krieng, once flying in the middle of the Central Highlands, his legendary bare feet that once crossed the distance by five rounds of the earth, has no longer “followed his father’s footsteps every day. “To read the letters by the fire together to call the afternoon of the distant village … He returned to Mother LangBiang Mountain on April 6, after a long illness. The unseasonal rain seemed to pour water, blinding the village of B’Nơh C, district Lạc Dương, Lâm Đồng. From now on, Ha Krieng can no longer listen to her stories, the story of the postman’s job in the streams, the forest, the people of Co Ho village at the foot of the legendary LangBiang mountain range. Ha Krieng was born in 1957. In 1982, he was accepted to work in the news delivery team of the Post Office of Lac Duong district, responsible for three mail routes from the district center to Da Chais, Bang Tieng, and Dam Ron. Without the miracle of a boy carrying seven miles to cross mountains and forests, he only has the strong bare feet of a mountain boy and a passion for his career. During 13 years of restlessness, Postman of Labor Hero Cil Mup Ha Krieng has crossed tens of thousands of kilometers of forest roads, facing difficulties and dangers, in hunger and forest malaria to “link” the merchants. Remote village to the outside world. In 2010, as healthy as the wild deer Ha Krieng suddenly collapsed, his clear eyes cannot see the LangBiang range in front of him. Ms. K’Hai, wife of Ha Krieng was sadly sad: He was working normally and felt headache and blurred vision. That is to notify the unit to be treated. The Post Hospital in Saigon said Ha Krieng had a tumor in the brain. From that day on, Ha Krieng suffered from memory loss, blurred vision, and went astray many times. Once lost to the East Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City, fortunately remembered the home phone number to call … From the day she got sick, Ha Krieng had to sit in a wheelchair and K’Hai continued to tell the story of “legendary legs “. “Fortunately, thanks to the post office, the love of the villagers, Ha Krieng is strong enough to fight the disease, stay with her mother and child as much …”, Ms. K’Hai said. Back to the story of the letter, the distance that Ha Krieng overcame adds up to five circles of the earth’s circumference. This feat surprised all the delegates attending the National Emulation Congress held in Hanoi in 2000, when listening to the summary report, telling the story of cutting forests, ice mountains to deliver official documents, documents, letter … presented by postman Ha Krieng before being awarded the title “Labor Hero in the doi moi era” in 2001. Ha Krieng once told me, the shortest and easiest route to go is Lac Duong – Pang Tieng, which also takes 12 hours on foot, both back and forth. And the most arduous and dangerous route is the Lac Duong – Dam Ron route, with a length of 70 km walking through the forest and 24 hours of walking … Because he is an indigenous ethnic person, fluent in forest roads, at that time Young, in good health, and with flexible legs, Ha Krieng is regularly assigned to take charge of this mailing route. In order to deliver newsletters from Lac Duong to Dam Ron, Ha Krieng and her colleagues had to leave from 5am and walk until after 17pm to arrive. In addition to cutting forests, they also have to pass many passes and slopes. Doc Troi, is a slope that leaves many impressions, when going up it takes about 90 minutes, sometimes down about 50 minutes, this slope is upright, many sections must cling to branches or roots of forest trees to climb, people behind only see human feet. Going ahead because thick fog all year round … over Rock slope, then over Lam Brun mountain, below is a deep stream, fast flowing water in rainy season, to cross stream, you have to cut down trees to make a temporary bridge. Just like that, day by day, month and month, they crossed the mountains together, crossed the forest to deliver official letters, letters, documents … Along the way, they had to deal with wild animals, wild animals and forest malaria. I used to work in the post office, then switched to journalism and traveled a lot with the postal workers, so it was quite clear. That day, each postman was given a pair of tank shoes, but it only took a few times to fail. You make your own sandals with car cover, rubber strap or wood rattan. But Ha Krieng said, walking barefoot is still “durable” and most convenient, because it can cling to slippery rocks, though many times of bleeding … Besides the danger of the terrain, in this area from 1975 to 1985 is at the center of Fulro’s activities. Before leaving, Ha Krieng had to “play a loincloth, bare shoulder” like a young Co Ho going to the forest. Documents and documents are hidden on the bottom of the binder (double layer binder), above the “camouflage” of some essential things to “cover the eyes” Fulro, if you miss them. Postman Ha Krieng delivered the letter to the remote areas. That day, the postman brothers in charge of this mail route all shared the same fear of being ambushed, the tension always waiting on each trip. Ha Krieng’s group has two colleagues who have stayed forever in the middle of the world … Many times it is so hard and stressful, he also wants to leave the unit to work on a field, a place to live with his wife and children. But then think of teammates, fellow citizens, they are always hungry for food, lack of shirts, letters, letters and the times when you give letters, news to them, they are very happy, they are so precious … so you continue with work. Now, on the road of B’Nơh C village, the sun has not stopped every afternoon, there is no longer the elite son of the village in a wheelchair. The legendary legs for a while rested. The village business no longer hears Ha Krieng calling: We have a letter!