I went to the Harrison County Farmers’ Market this past Saturday and met a new merchant. I wish I could give you a link to her website, but she doesn’t have one. She has a Facebook page so, if you’re on Facebook, you can look her up there: https://www.facebook.com/im4sf.org.

She was selling “upcycled” stuff to benefit The Foundation for Sustainable Futures, Inc.

Here you see a do-it-yourself cookbook, for passing your own special dishes on to those who want them when you’re gone. Very MomGoth item. I didn’t buy one, though. I pass mine on as I go along. There’s also a cold frame made from discarded materials. She seemed pleased and surprised that I knew what a cold frame is; she said a lot of people don’t. In case you’re one of them, a cold frame is a frame (duh) with a glass top that you can open; it protects plants from the cold (duh) and you can open it on warmer days so the plants don’t cook in the ground. There are pump bottles made from old canning jars and — and this is the thing I bought — solar lights!

I could have bought just the light part and used my own jars, but I use my canning jars for making pickles, so I bought the whole shebang. I picked one with a fancy silver top. You can’t see it well enough to read it in this photograph, but part of what I liked about it is that the letters are so thickly patina’d it isn’t clear if the language is English or Chinese. (It’s English.) It says The presto jar and closure are approved by The Good Housekeeping Institute. There’s also a picture of a little house and a tree stamped on it.

So I bought it and I put it in the window. Not a particularly sunny window, either. I put it in the front window where I had my turtle lamp before Katya jumped up and knocked it down and broke it. I figure a canning jar will be a little tougher. Besides, she got tired of knocking things down and breaking them and has moved on to hacking up hairballs everywhere Charlie is likely to put his foot.

After dark, I took a picture of the light. Is this gorgeous, or what? It actually gives plenty of light. Not enough to read by, but enough to be an excellent night light.

AND, BESIDES, the brown paper bag into which she put my purchase is printed with bears and hearts and skeps and bees and happy sentiments, suitable for use as a gift bag, if I slap a sticker over the Foundation one.

I am one happy camper, believe you me.

To make things even better, I’m posting at Fatal Foodies today on the topic of Death By Chocolate.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What could your main character upcycle?

MA