by Cheryl, Gulf Coast Poet

Ode to a Glass Jar

Mason Jar Wagon Wheel Chandelier, Photo by Bonnie Kittle from Unsplash

Ode to a Glass Jar

Grandma

fills her pantry

with Mason jar delights:

preserves, piccalilli, peaches…

Oh my!

Photo from Pexels-Pixabay

Dad saves

baby food jars

for nails, screws, nuts, and bolts.

He can fix anything that breaks.

Thanks, Dad!

Saltine Crackers, Photo by Annaj from Pixabay

Teacher

brings a jar of

sweet cream for us to shake

until we have butter for our

crackers.

Photo by Michael Longmir from Unsplash

Suzy

saves her loose change

in a pickle jar bank,

hidden with her socks. Shh…It’s a

secret!

Sonny

whistles a tune,

nightcrawlers in a jar,

cane pole on his shoulder…going

fishing.

Photo by Rula Subai from Unsplash

Grandpa

likes leftovers

stored in reused glass jars.

They go straight in the microwave…

Yummy!

Black-Eyed Susans, Photo by Autumn Mott Rodhea from Unsplash

Auntie’s

filling a jar

with bright black-eyed Susans

for a neighbor who’s under the

weather.

Tadpole, Photo from Pixabay

Jamal

brings a jar of

tadpoles for the fish tank.

His class will watch them growing legs…

Yay, frogs!

Photo by Mel Poole from Unsplash

Artist

rinses brushes

in a jar of water.

Clean colors make a beautiful

painting.

Photo by Fran Hogan from Unsplash

Uncle

loves to eat out…

barbecue…iced tea

in Mason jars. Nostalgia’s

not cheap!

Photo by Katarzyna Modrzej from Pexels

Mama

plants moss and ferns

in a big gallon jar,

creating a terrarium…

Lovely!

Fireflies, photo by Tengyart from Unsplash

Jenny

catches fireflies.

They twinkle in a jar.

Bedtime, Jenny! Good night, fireflies!

Fly free.

Copyright© 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

Think of all the marvelous ways to reuse glass jars!

Unlike plastics, they are nontoxic for storing and reheating food.

If you can’t use any more glass jars,

you can recycle them and keep them out of landfills.

114 Comments

  2. Cheryl, such wonderful touching memories and I love your personal poem on glass and wondrous collection of glass images! What great ideas for uses for the humble jar and I will not look at one the same and rather than recycle, reuse it myself! Planting moss sounds interesting! 🤔

    Liked by 6 people

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      1. It’s my pleasure Chery😊 You are absolutely right we must reuse and recycle as much as possible to make our unique planet less cluttered and more beautiful to behold….Lots of good wishes to you 💖

        Liked by 3 people

  7. I not only reuse mine I also buy more from op shops … decorate them with stickers which eventually wash off. Best are the coffee jars with plastic seals, you can place little fake critters in the lids 🙂

    Liked by 5 people

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    1. Looks like I am “preaching to the choir” with you, Kate! It sounds like you have fun with recycling. 🙂 I sometimes buy unique glass items from yard sales and consignment shops. They are easily cleaned and don’t cause allergic reactions. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

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    1. Thank you, Radhika, for sharing your perspective. ❤ So happy you like the poem.

      I don't like the fact that more and more of our food is packaged in plastic. We do recycle what we can. I hope more plant-based plastics soon become more widely available. 🙂

      Hope all is well with you and your family!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. Such a delightful ramble through life via mason jars. I have often wondered why the now ‘old fashioned’ idea of pop/beer glass bottle deposit bit the dust. Once the deposit was paid, you just kept bringing in empties to be replaced with filled bottles…an early 20th century recycling routine that worked and was even before its time.
    Anyway, my fav photo was of the black-eyed susans in their mason jar vase and the memories of lightening bugs caught in a jar when growing up in the midwest!

    Liked by 6 people

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    1. Thank you, Laura, for your kind and insightful comment. ❤ My brother and sister and I made our spending money picking up pop bottles…two cents apiece when a Coke was a nickel! I think bottles are still recycled in some locations.

      Black-eyed Susans are my lifelong favorite wildflower! I like lightning bugs too! We don't have them here in
      Florida. I look forward to hearing your music when you post it! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  13. Very nice poem about jars , Cheryl!
    What is better than a jar of jelly and also to be able to reuse it for various purposes !
    This poem inspired by the daily life gives matter to think. Everyone see the jars with its own mind . It is the creative thought!
    Love ❤
    Michel

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. Michel, Thank you for your lovely response. ❤ All of us need to care about the environment. We can find innovative ways to reuse items and recycle what we don't reuse. As you say, finding new uses for old items can be creative and fun! All the best!
      Love ❤
      Cheryl

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. What a beautiful post, brought me a smile :)) All the uses of jars so wonderful and I loved how each way is a memory of a person. Made me think of long gone and current people in my life, and how they stored those things.

    Liked by 7 people

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    1. Thank you, Eugenia, for reading and sharing your thoughts. ❤ I just watched a video from two scientists at Consumer Reports this morning about the dangers of plastics. Though it is impossible to avoid exposure to plastics entirely, using glass containers to store food and water is a significant step we can take. "Greenware" is a plant-based plastic substitute that is non-toxic and biodegradable. I hope it will become more widely available.

      Have a great day! 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

    1. Veena, It makes me happy that the poem made you smile and remember homemade pickles. My favorite was always my grandma’s piccalilli, a relish made from the green tomatoes picked from her garden before the first frost. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. ❤ Have a great day!

      Liked by 1 person

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  19. One simple item serves many purposes. Loved the message behind this post! Also, I like the use of pictures for each stanza, it adds the effect to the poem itself ❤

    Liked by 7 people

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    1. JoAnna, I was unpacking my watercolor painting supplies a couple of days ago and put out a mason jar for water. After looking at the jar in my work area, I wrote this poem. I still need to find the right jar for my brushes! Yes, I hope anyone reading this will remember to release the fireflies! Thank you, JoAnna, for reading and sharing your perspective. ❤ Take care!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  26. You always have such beautiful memories to share on everything, shared through your lovely poems 💖.
    When I look back at my childhood days, the kitchen wardrobes were full of rows of glass and perception jars of all sizes. From pickles to wheat and rice everything had a place. We didn’t have all the fancy plastic packaging on items. Some years further plastic bags appeared and those lovely reusable storage slowly went off many shelves.
    I can relate to many of the uses of jars, and yet there are so many new ones. We recently bought three jars to pickle vegetables in. Hopefully the tide is turning towards a total comeback of these enviornment friendly and beautiful jars.

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. Thank you so much, Deb, for sharing your thoughts. Even the salad dressing and the mineral water I occasionally buy have switched to plastic containers. Plastic is getting harder to avoid. There is a nontoxic, biodegradable, plant-based plastic that is not yet widely available. Switching to that would solve a lot of the problems.

      Pickling vegetables sounds like a lot of work, but very healthy! I loved my grandma’s piccalilli relish which she made from green tomatoes picked from her garden before the first frost. She also made pickled peaches, which I loved. My mother used to make cucumber pickles and watermelon rind pickles. What vegetables are in your pickled vegetables?

      Have a wonderful week! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. I will get blood test results tomorrow. I still have at least one more test at the cardiologist next month, but preliminary results look like no new damage to my heart. I think the chest pain and palpitations are related to other issues, which I will have to check out. Thank you for asking. ❤

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  37. Cheryl, Cheryl, Cheryl! I cannot tell you how fun this post is, because it is true! I am the uncle who drinks his ice tea from a mason jar, although my tea is hot. I am also the grandpa who keeps his left overs in the mason jar, and the auntie who uses it as a vase. This was post completely cheered me, haha.

    Liked by 4 people

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  39. This reminds me of when my grandma would make homemade apricot jam from her apricot trees. It was just the best.

    My dad used to save all kind of old jars… pickle jars, mayonaise jars… and lots of old nails and bolts. He saved old keys too and at one point had a huge jar of them. We used to make fun of him until one day my sister-in-law locked her keys in her car… He went and fetched that old jar of keys and after tying several actually found one that fit! No one made fun of him after that!

    Liked by 3 people

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  40. Love this collection of limericks, Cheryl! Very intricately observed! Glass jars for me, have always been for stealing cookies when Mum isn’t looking! Stories all way! ❤️❤️

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Thank you for your kind comment, Dishita! ❤ Your Mother baking you cookies is a wonderful memory. I am sure your mom was happy to know you liked her cookies enought to steal them! 🙂 My mother baked a lot while I was growing up. A cookie jar is a very special jar! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

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  41. I love the way each of the pieces of the poem are interconnected but describe very different things. Once again the layout of the poem is very clever and helps drive the reading tempo too. Thank you for sharing. ♥

    Liked by 4 people

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