Broome

What fine colours this little crab has evolved for itself.

Broome is certainly a fabulous and hot place.
But here are some images I captured on a recent visit that may not have been seen before.
Oh sure, the long Cable Beach with the camels and the almost-clothed people, but how many folk have paid attention to the fabulous rock formations and the weird little creatures that inhabit the under-rock nooks?
Well I did, but maybe that's because I had time on my hands, the beach was not full of almost-clothed folk, and because that's the kind of beach goer I am, a poky, probing, inquisitive little chap.

This does not look like a crab, more like a sea-going spider.

Don't you just love rocks

There is much to love about a fine rock setting and one aspect for me is always the awareness that they are so much older than me, or you, or anyone we know.
They have seen the rise and fall of Mesopotamia, Rome, Persia, Zimbabwe (the ancient one), Egypt, Genghis Khan, the Ming Dynasty, the Incas, and all the others that don't spring immediately to mind.
So, tip: when in Broome, look at a rock, and under it.
And acknowledge the Yawuru people, on whose country you stand.

Are you getting ready?

I am. But I started from behind.
The patch of grass you see above, that's where I started and before I could begin to begin the grass had to go.
It went, quite quickly and yesterday looked like this:
Today I polished it, tossed it, and now it looks like this:
Why?
For what?
I am digging and tossing and burying kitchen scraps to prepare this newly dug plot for the planing of garlic. And next year, around November, I will harvest a crop that may well look like this:
This is a small bundle of my 2008 knobs that currently hang in my garage. I planted them in Albany in April last year and they came up a treat.
I do it every year.
Why?
Because garlic is the easiest crop to grow and because over 90% of all garlic consumed in Australia is imported from one country - China.
It makes no sense. None.
I have a friend in Shanghai. He has lived there for ten years. He told me what the exporters do to garlic and why they do it.
They eradiate it - "To shoot forth, as rays of light; to beam; to radiate."
This is done to increase shelf life, because, my friend said, food value is not the number one priority.
That is why the white garlic can sit on a shop shelf for months, in broad day and shop light, and retain its form.
Folk who have grown garlic for centuries will tell you, once harvested, the knobs must be kept in a a cool dark place.
This is where I keep mine.
And where you will keep yours.
Go to it.
For you, your family, your neighbours, your country.
(And don't forget: knobs should be kept in cool dark places, away from the madding crowd.)
(If only we could remember that.)