Saturday, October 8, 2011

Solar Cigarette Lighter

I spent a few hours looking at the website for Simply Living on Friday.  There is a lot to be learned there, and far too much for one session.  I went to the grocery store afterwards and selected some food for the weekend as the weather is going to be nice and I am in the mood to grill out.  As I was leaving the store I noticed a man on the sidewalk straddling a bicycle and his hands seemed to be reflecting the sun.  As I walked by him I realized he had a magnifying glass, and was carefully funneling a beam from the sun to the tip of a cigarette butt.
Now I had just read lists of all the things you can do to conserve energy on the Simply Living website.  Everything from using a clothesline to using the local bus line.  I had not seen anything about solar lighters as an alternative to flicking the bic!  It could be that they don't want to promote cigarette smoking since cigarette smoking is simply dying LOL.  Now I didn't have my camera with me, which is rare, so I couldn't snap a photo of this man on his bike, lighting a cigarette with a thick piece of glass.  I googled this image and can tell you dear reader that this picture does not do justice to the imagery I saw.  Because the sun was setting, he was in silhouette except for his hands that appeared to be on fire.  I can imagine a whole painting of this snapshot memory.  I seemed to be the only one who noticed him, even though I was surrounded by at least 10 other people coming in and out of the store.  It was a magical moment for me.  My Creator (Higher Power) seemed to be communicating to me that the Simply Living lists can always be added to.  I shook my head and smiled at the man and said "there is nothing new under the sun".

No comments: