Once the farms have been drained and the dead plants have been cut down and cleared, farmers then have to be alert for signs of black sigatoka, a devastating fungus which flourishes in damp conditions and can destroy banana farms.

Often, in our conversations we encourage people to talk, or we manage to stop them. This can happen without our even thinking about it. Following is a list of conversation starters and stoppers.

When the moth came out of the cocoon, the children began to talk of things that changed into something else. “Caterpillars change into moths,” was followed by “puppies change into dogs, and kittens change into cats, and baby hippopotamusses change into big hippopotamusses.”

I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.