While clearing out the detritus left by our renters I noticed a really ingenious solution to the problem of handrail illumination for an elderly person who has trouble with stairs. They took this gadget called a Magic Firefly, which is a tiny solar panel that randomly lights up a long attached strand of LEDs, threaded the strand through clear plastic tubing, and hung the tubing from the handrail. Voila, always-on illumination that can survive a power outage (which are frequent in this area).