My college days are full of memories and overwhelmingly, most of them are good ones. As is the case with most people, I experienced a lot of things for the first time, including growing houseplants. I’m not sure what made me want to undertake this endeavor, but I went to Frank’s Nursery & Crafts on Coliseum Boulevard and purchased some.

The true miracle worker today is the one who can make people care. I found this observation in a publication called Good Reading about 35 years ago and the unidentified writer continued the thought with the following evidence.

Today daughters Lovina, 17, and Loretta, 21, and I canned 42 quarts of red beets from our garden. Yesterday we froze sweet corn and now tomorrow plans are to freeze green beans.

Whenever I give a presentation about monarchs, I enjoy the question and answer period after I’m done. I might enjoy that most of all, because I love the interaction with my audience and because inevitably someone will ask a fun question.

Oh, wait. That’s beans. Well, corn is no less magical and in ways that beans could never be. It’s sweet corn season, and that got me thinking about corn and its quirky but wonderful ways.

Speech, defined by Merrian Webster Dictionary, “the communication or expression of thoughts in spoken words, the exchange of spoken words; something that is spoken, usually a public discourse; language, dialect, an individual manner or style of speaking; the power of expressing or communicating thoughts by speaking.”