One of life's stranger pleasures ...

The last two weeks I've been back in Central Java working with regional water authorities - trying to help bring reticulated drinking water to more people. This time I took my wife - and she brought our vehicle. I still went to work all day, but in the evening the hotel room was a little more like home. And my wife is quite capable of entertaining herself in places that are somewhat off the normal tourist track.

One thing that always interests us both is how people farm. Some things you see just as you drive around - the crops, the terraces, the irrigation technologies, the tools, the transport systems. They are easier to see in a place like Wonosobo (where we were last week) because the population density is so high and nothing much is hidden behind walls.

I've always enjoyed going into the stores that farmers shop at. In Australia its Elders or CRT or Landmark. In New Zealand its PGG or CRT. In the States they're harder to find, but are there in many of the little rural towns we have visited.

What I enjoy is finding something that I can't get at home - but that is useful or

clever in some way. I can easily think of things like my Carhartt hat - bought somewhere in Ohio. It's a heavyweight version of a baseball cap - with ear flaps. I guess it's made for farmers who have to work all day in the snow of an Ohio winter. Most times of most days it is not necessary in Australia - but there are times when it gets very cold at Moora - and my Carhartt hat keeps me warm - even if only for the early morning work.

Not intending to offend any Ohioans, but the hat looks silly enough that I'd take it off if anyone came.

It probably cost me $20, but it serves a niche need well - plus it makes me recall my son David's year at High School in Brown County, Ohio and his wonderful, generous host family - the Dotsons.

It's a long way from southern Ohio to Central Java, but a few days ago my wife found the equivalent of a farm supplies section of the Wonosobo pasar (market). First she just bought me a machete that I will use in the garden or to prepare stock feed. I sent her back to buy other stuff. I think she got a number of hand tools of various types (several to give away).

There must have been some risk, as she drove back to Jakarta, that if she got stopped, she could be accused of carrying enough weaponry to start a small (low tech) insurrection.

The cost of this collection of knives, machetes, sickles, adzes and grubbers - Rp350,000 or US$35. And the lady who sold them looked like she thought all her Christmases (Lebarans maybe) had come at once!