Prime Your Mind for Ambiguity and Change

I live on a secondary road, and of necessity my daily walks often take me along the road. Someday I’ll catalogue the items of trash I’ve found on the roadside over the decades, a book-length exercise for sure.

But for now: A battered left-hand rawhide glove protruding from a mound of dirty snow. The lid from a flimsy plastic deli container that once held olives. An antique metal vegetable peeler. A pair of black tights with runs in them.

That glove beats any pot holder for lifting cast-iron skillets off the stove. It beats the woodstove tools for hoisting logs into the stove and rearranging them in the firebox. And in August when I‘m picking wild blackberries, the glove works well to push thorny canes back and out of my way.

That flimsy plastic top? So thin and transparent it’s hardly noticeable, so it works nicely to catch the drips under a houseplant. Even better, I’ve discovered that If I hold the lid in my right hand, lip-edge down, it does a superb job of scraping down the sides of a bread-mixing bowl or crusted-on casserole dish. (Fill the bowl/dish with warm water first.) Better than any scraper or brush intended for the purpose.

I’ve written before about how vegetable peelers will sharpen pencils, remove calluses from feet, slice cheese and butter, or shave down a wooden shim to fit a tight spot. And I’ve also written about the uses of worn-out tights and other footwear, once washed and dried. 

I find that energetically looking for alternative uses for things is fun. It promotes creativity with a sense of playfulness. It’s mentally stimulating. It doesn’t cost anything. It opens me up to new perspectives, to richer and broader points of view.

What item most tested and, in its second life, satisfied your creative juices?