lights out!

Light bulbs are constantly burning out in our home. Without hesitation the burned out bulbs get put in the trash. And they've never passed by the scanner on their way there. It's a task that hardly invites reflection, even if the plethora of light bulb jokes might suggest the opposite. And there are hundreds of similar tasks that get performed every day, or on a regular basis, that don't receive the honor of being scanned and described on a web page.

Sometimes, however, they really do go with a bang, which is what happened to the bulb in our kitchen. It apparently generated enough heat to melt part of the base of the lamp, and getting the remains of the bulb out of the fixture required a screwdriver, and a pair of pliers (and of course disconnecting the electricity). Ultimately the entire fixture had to be replaced.

It was, however, an opportunity for reflection. Replacing a bulb is usually an almost automatic process. We unscrew the old one, and screw in the new one. This time, however, with the entire fixture coming apart in my hands, I was able to see the intricacies that in a strange sort of way were also beautiful.