Dear Sun Spots: Thank you so much for this great service you are rendering to the community at large.

A yard sale to benefit Loaves and Fishes will be held on the Dominican Sisters’ grounds, 61 Lisbon Road, Sabattus, on Aug. 12 and 13. Good, clean usable items are accepted to support the needy of the area. Also, in order to spread help to other benefit sales, arrangements to pick up leftover items may be made by calling 375-8399. Thank you again. – Lucille Fournier, OP, Sabattus.

Dear Sun Spots: Is there a cleaner or product on the market that would easily clean a Rubbermaid, resin, round table with umbrella and four chairs? You have helped me in the past. I hope you can help me again. – No Name, No Town.

Answer: In addition to responses and tips from readers, according to www.dummies.com with just a little care, that plastic can outlive pricier wood furniture. Unlike wood, plastic doesn’t rot or warp. Unlike metal, it doesn’t rust.

Resin does, however, fade, and excessive heat can make some plastics become brittle. This brittleness can be accelerated by abrasive cleaners because tiny, gritty bits in the cleaner work against the plastic to turn it from a smooth to a slightly rough surface. To prevent this, wash down plastic tables and chairs with a mild all-purpose cleaner – the same one you use for vinyl floors indoors or for washing down walls.

The white can also yellow. If your furniture gets to this stage, you override the abrasives ban and use a mildly abrasive cleaner. An abrasive cleaner also helps to keep at bay the black grime that gets embedded in the rough edges of the plastic. Soaking such a stain in a strong bleach solution -2½ tablespoons to 1 gallon of water – also helps whiten it but gives no guarantee of uniform results. If you can, position the chair so that the bleach solution covers an even area. Rinse the solution off after 30 minutes.

A last resort to restoring whiteness to discolored garden furniture is spray paint. Look for a specialist paint to match the color of your furniture. Test a small area first, then spray the entire front of the affected chair.

Dear Sun Spots: On “207,” Channel 6, they had a recipe for camp cake and also magnolia cupcakes. Please print these recipes for me. I do not have a computer so cannot get them from there. Thank you. – No Name, No Town.

Answer: Sun Spots will include the cupcake recipe in a future column as it is too lengthy to include here. In the meantime hopefully you and your family will enjoy the following:

Amy Bouchard’s camp cake Ingredients: 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, 1½ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup butter (1 stick), 2 eggs, 1 cup milk (whole milk), 3 (1.55oz – 2 oz) milk chocolate bars (Hershey), 3 full size graham crackers, 2 cups mini marshmallows. Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt chocolate over hot water or in microwave. Stir until smooth and set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar & butter and beat until creamy. Add eggs and melted chocolate until well blended. Gradually beat in flour mixture and milk. Break graham crackers into bite-size pieces and stir into cake batter. Grease or spray the cake pans. This will make two smaller cakes (10 inch) or one large cake (approx 9 by 13 inches). Baking time will vary between 22-28 minutes depending on the pan size. Pull the cake out of the oven a few minutes before it’s done. Break up your chocolate bars into pieces and place on top of cake. Spread the marshmallows all over the top. Bake for a few more minutes until the marshmallows are a little toasted.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].