Between a Book and a Soft Place

Yesterday, trapped in the alternating confines of my bed and couch, I finished Between a Rock and a Hard Place, the book by hiker/climber Aron Ralston about the harrowing six days he spent wedged by a boulder in a Utah canyon in 2003. To escape, the severely dehydrated and sleep-deprived Ralston broke the bones in his forearm and cut through the flesh. Oh, and then he rappelled down a rocky cliff and hiked about seven miles to safety.

Much like when I read Into the Wild several years ago, I was struck not just by the physical circumstances (my mouth felt dry when Ralston described his parched tongue) but by the isolation, the vast wildness of being outside.

It was all Yellow

Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/vhtrc

In the beginning there were colors. That's what Charlotte Hatherley says, and she must've taken a recent trip to Potomac Overlook Regional Park.

The trees are brilliant--I feel like the reflection from the yellow canopy makes everything glow.

There was a trail race there over the weekend that I was thinking of doing, but I decided to continue to enjoy the solitude of the trails instead. I rarely see people other than an occasional dog walker.

The Great S-Crepe

The bright yellow autumn leaves were no match for the hot pink trailer.

Between the leaves still clinging to the tree and those already dusting the ground near the Ballston Metro, Solar Crepes popped out of the landscape.

I recently visited the solar-powered food cart for the first time--and then the second time, all in the span of a week. I hold food carts to a high standard, and Solar Crepes exceeded it. Their website boasts: "Almost every ingredient is organic or local!" I was in local-ganic heaven.