This is a photo of a simitçi, or simit seller, taken on board a ferry heading for Büyükada (Big Island), a two-hour ride from Istanbul proper. You see simit (which are kind of like large pretzels) all over Turkey -- in fact, they are probably the nation's number-one snack -- normally carried on the young boy's head http://www.pbase.com/helenpb/image/27269994 but this was the first time I had seen one from above, and the beauty and color of the simit caught my eye. My thanks to my friend and coworker, Rob Marshall, for coming up with the title. (I don't have the Tolkien books handy so hope the reference to the title will suffice.)