Rob Tapper

On friends, lovers and marriage

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +1300

I have resolved to exercise great moderation for the next few weeks, and to earn whatever it is I'd like to drink, except perhaps a bottle off the shelf, and accompanied by some fine morsels of food, and perhaps consumed is relative comfort, though I would enjoy some sun on a beach, or in a park, or in the bush, or on a couch if the sun ain't out, or even in bed with a book to read, and a teddy to cuddle or something else, just as hope springs eternal so does the infernal things in man's life, and is why men ultimately take a wife, and learn that fishing and hunting and driving to golf, or a shed in the garden is better than strife, in the kitchen for forgetting to buy the flowers and the chocolate, for the smiling eyes and the hug and the kiss on the cheek when lips averted, tell a friend in need that his friend indeed would rather be loved, by an hungry lover and have it all over for the chance of a partner, though a lover and friendship may be quite exclusive, is the history of life that he then takes a mistress and releases her cougar, and all appears as normal as ever in an aging of dilemma of love lost and found in the beauty of a friendship laced in honest lust.

Source: On friends, lovers and marriage

Checkpoint Charlie

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1200

It's Wednesday the 1st of July in Berlin.
This web page has been out of action for several months
coincident with this overseas trip, being two months in Ireland
And two months in Berlin travelling as "poppa" to Lulu and Em
My grand-daughters, and courtesy of Harvey and Kirstin (my daughter).

Harvey has reactivated the page, though we await the editing function for new poems.
In the meantime, this articles section will serve well enough for general commentary.

All that has gone before is rather dated now. There is no doubt that this travel
experience and some resolution of my historical circumstances have ushered in this
opportunity to, symbolically, celebrate the tear down of my personal "Berlin Wall".
The analogy and timings are quite appropriate. When the wall went up in 1963 I was 18.
When it came down in 1989, I was 44 and an "anti-establishment" self made man. Now with this world changing recession upon us 20 years later, I can look back over these last 20 years and see myself as a "prototype" for a new era. Much of what has been written in my poetry to date conveys this experience.

Source: Checkpoint Charlie

Waste Not Want Not

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1200

A job begun is half done, a stitch in time saves nine,
Charity begins at home and this light-of-foot is on the run.
There's no skin thicker than on the fool the wise man knows himself,
And thicker underfoot, he takes on burning coals.
Not always as you like it nor as the prose would say it
As the fool and his money are soon parted, recession strikes in 2008.

Source: Waste Not Want Not

To go with the wedding gift

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1200

How do we tell you what you know we feel?
Us all together, whereever, always full of zeal
In just being there for all and each other
Going every which way and coming back together

Ravioli, minestrone, pizza and cannelloni
In Breccia, Verona, Padova and Venezia
We eat around and get around arm in arm
Here's to your wedded bliss this day and on.

Source: To go with the wedding gift

Birthday - Merlot and Cigarettes

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +1300

My daughter Shelly is the organiser - drinks from 7 pm and the theme - Merlot and Cigarettes - (most encompassing).

All friends and acquaintances most welcome, particularly those who share these pages.

Source: Birthday - Merlot and Cigarettes

Black and White

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +1300

Funny? How much is lost in putting techni-colour in black and white?
The greener grass is now a darker shade of grey
As the gold and silver lose their lustre
All the eyes can say is yes or no.

Blue skies and white frilly clouds
Just mist and rain clouds forming
And sun dawning a dark orb forming
The wise old shepherd's warning lost

The gun shot to the foot and
Socks knocked off in retrospect
Reveal an oily mess - the colour of crude
And red blooded man is doomed.

Alas we paint in black and white
Words on an electronic screen
The truth more in the white than in the black
Your chosen conclusion cuts me no slack.

Like with the printed photo negative
Two pictures at hand are in the mind
The choice you make is yours to find
What best suits your ultimate cause.

And all this just poor poetry at its very best
That thing I do which has all clues
For want of thoughtful appreciation
Would be a medium for detestation.

Source: Black and White

Love - what we know

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +1300

Love life - we have it, no? Your choice.
Love nature - live with her, no?
What is it you have which is better?
Love yourself? What is in you would deserve this?
Who knows? You do.

Love is not:
"What can it do for me?"
A deal disguised as a gift.

Love is, perhaps, unselfish giving.

If you are very lucky,
You may see the love in others.
Cherish this. Understand their giving.
Who knows? It may resonate!

Source: Love - what we know

To Margaret - bless her heart

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +1300

Capture it- occasion - funeral

For my immediate family, who could not be there - just a taste -

Back now from wnderful occasion - for all the pre-amble - got there by bus and just a little walk to all our kind among the trees for lovely family tributes - all brothers and littlelys - honest as, as Maggie would, then to inside conflagration. All done, "living us" meet each other again. Neat. Dalrae and two Peter's , Simon Chris, then Judy's Jim, Spencer and Aunty Ethel - goes on and on - this after function at Chris and Gayle's - Richard, Judy, Tim, Annette and Mark I - Judy, Jereomy and Mark II - and so on and so on. Bill, Michael, Lesly and so on.Anje, Jane and then some old Margret friends whom I knew years ago - Jan Wien, and Marg's ex husband in top form 76 looks 56 - Cyril.
Peter (my contemporary and Trish his wfe (or estranged but not tonight)) brought me home.
So in all - flew the flag and not at all at half mast.
We are very lucky - we Tappers - we step in to fill the void.
So, can fill in more detail. Apologies all delivered - my muse is strong - may make some poetry. but not now - just dwelling on it all

Source: To Margaret - bless her heart

Moving On

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +1300

When self knowledge has beaten home the home truths
And thorough examination has revealed the delicate balance in all,
Then faith alone may tip the scales of fate.
Faith alone absolves the soul of hopelessness,
Courage comes calling in clean air,
Love returnes to light the unseen path
And passion fuels the action.
Steps taken in unison and life moves on.

Source: Moving On

Long weekend reading

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +1300

Of all the choices in impecunity open to me; my daughter's car, house, fridge and grog cabinet, plus the lawn to sow out back when weather and inspiration co-operate, my default option had me hooked on my latest Leys Institute library acquisitions and reclining in both of my two home locations and reading. Not to say there were not interludes - a brief Friday night Gypsy Tearooms reunion and again on Sunday night then alone except for a new delightful brief encounter (Sally, Birmingham) and, of course mitigating appetite as hunger struck amidst all this on Saturday night and again this morning. Daughter Michelle called in on Skype from Valencia with worthy recommendations for strolling and chancing, say, to join a crew at Westhaven and go sailing yet the other one won through(yes, you!.
Here's the list:
Europe Central by William T. Vollmann (2005)
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (Tim's daughter)(2006)
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (2006)
and to revisit To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1960 (repub 2000)
Note the preponerance of female authors and their works all great reads yet the latter as recognised in a "class of it's own".

Source: Long weekend reading

Pure Water from the Bore and Well

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +1300

There is nothing underhand or "pie-in-the-sky" about new technology improving the water purification business.

It is now a timely innovation for a particular segment of a critical market - dairy production and export for New Zealand world wide.
We are acutely aware of the difficulties in marketing to the New Zealand dairy farmer segment, where we pride ourselves on being the "most up-to-date" world wide.
We've been doing that for more than 100 years, and old ideas become entrenched - we lose our edge.

On balance, all things considered, I believe in what we have researched and I believe in being an advocate for the new "pure water" filter technology developed in the Ukraine being promoted for use for bore water sources in New Zealand.

Here is a simple analogy (- or more than an analogy, this is the reality in nature that the new technology models): a water "spring" is an underground water source coming to the surface. Given a future life in a "bubbling brook" before consumption, the water becomes a natural quality water source. However, when we put a bore down and then use the supply (possibly greedily) before it has had time to fully mature, we create our own problems - taste / odour / and a residue of often harmful dissolved minerals.
It is now well established (through animal husbandry research) that we can contaminate the food chain through this expedient yet careless use of bore water. The evidence is there to see - rust discolouration, excessive slime in pipes and troughs, corrosion of metal fittings, unpalatable taste, and even, maybe, an objectionable odour What we have not been so conscious of is the "internal damage" done to the ruminants we employ for food production, and this in ignoring our own natural tendencies - we prefer the roof runoff water.

The "sand filter" is the traditional partial remedy with which we have contained our consciences and obliterated the obvious visual and mechancial/chemical evidence. It has done half the job required, but it lacks the "bubbling" exposure to the oxygen necessary to do the whole job. Also, as the filter gets loaded with gunk, the efficiency for removing the precipitates is reduced. In a bubbling brook, the flushing of nature's filter is a natural process. So that is a lay man's explanation of the problem (or opportunity) - it is a thought out common sense.

I have all the "tables" for comparisons for water supplies from all over the world. In New Zealand, every dairy farmer has a water source profile lodged with their dairy co-operative processor. They get paid better for good quality milk (which is,say, 87% water). Of this 87% say 50% comes from the cow drinking (40 gallons per day - or 100 or so litres), the rest is in what they eat. "Pure water" is sought after by cows given the choice. A test done in Morrinsville using town water supply failed to show this up - but that water had "treatment chemical" residues in it (chlorine) which the cows had never smelt before. This is just part of the whole story. The dairy industry is on to this fine tuning. Smart farmers are taking the "holistic" approach of "plenty of pure water where and when the cows are into it free of stress and competition". Here are some direct links to the technologies at the fore front. A poetic quote is very appropriate here:
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
For shallow draughts intoxicate the brain
And drinking largely sobers us again.
..... Alexander Pope
So "dig deep" via these links PRODUCTION INCREASE as a result. The solution may include more distributed troughs and mega-flow valves from Jobe's in Matamata. There's good references here for the benefits of our new "Pure Water Corporation (NZ) approach.
My point is, I believe in what we are doing, and what I would love to be doing for dairy farm production in New Zealand given the appropriate "business" conditions.

See my poem "Heart of the Nation" - it's a "passion".

Source: Pure Water from the Bore and Well

In Memory of Lexie

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +1300

Lexie

My grand niece Lexie died last Sunday
In her mother's arms and aged just under three
Was born with an untreatable, incurable malady.
Under the sentence of death from the day
Of her first breath she survived an unnatural lifetime
Loved beyond compare at home, and many times hauled back From the clutches of death at our Starship Hospital.
Lexie had an unfathomable wisdom; in the way her eyes
Read our souls, demanding her deserving attention
Mimicking our every nuance, reflecting to us ourselves, And in her complimentary manner finding in us a depth
And breadth of love and humility we never knew we had.
As her one hundred year old great grandmother could say
"She was my best mate" an ultimate tribute from Olive.
Now we all go again our own ways touched by Lexie,
And relieved that the time never came when any pity
She may have learned could have become a part of her.

Source: In Memory of Lexie

Firewood for Agenzia

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +1300

Hi Agi

Try google "firewood cut store" interesting pages on firewood.

My experience:
Allow for a double row, stack from each side and then the rows tend to lean in to each other.(Same technique for building stone walls) Use a tree or two stakes at one end as anchor/buffer. Can go up to about shoulder height.
Drying firewood requires the wind blowing thru it, so a shed is best for dried firewood.
Your choice is - cut and split it where the tree is, stack it there for drying , just cover with black polythene (tied or weighted down), Splitting in-situ means it is difficult to use a powered log splitter (see web-sites).

or carry (heavy rounds and wet, back breaking stuff) out and put in purpose built drying rows with prebuilt roof - (above head height else always hitting head) - roof overhang to keep out rain, so proper frame and well nailed corrugated iron roof is best. (Doubles as a "party shed" when empty. Once reasonably dry, can drop down batterned canvas sidings - thus becomes a wood shed. In this case, hire a powered log splitter when you have a heap of rounds to do. Note that un split rounds don't dry well. Site as close to house as practical. (Remember the Church shed?)

Best time to do the firewood gathering is in late summer or early Autumn - firewood shed has been emptied (and partied in) - wood in bush has had plenty of summer drying where it is - and a few chilly evenings reminds you to get the job done before it starts raining.

To cut smaller trees and branches with a chain saw, lay same size transverse branches as bearers at a spacing the length you plan your firewood to be, put stakes in at back and then stack longer (same) length limbs up at right angles - long blade chainsaw makes mince meat of the cutting (in bulk).

So endeth the lesson - site inspection next.

For the great heaps you have now, best to cut it up and split it where is and build that shed for storage ASAP. Use salvaged timber for frame - eg - from deck demolition.
I have a small chainsaw, so could do this soon.

This is just first thoughts.

Source: Firewood for Agenzia

Content Management System up-date

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +1300

While I wait for "the muse" to wake in me again, this here is to acknowledge my son-in-law, Harvey Kane, as the genius behind this user friendly content management system which has me publishing on-line (dangerous territory).

Source: Content Management System up-date

Passion Out poem

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +1200

A poem of inner conflict. "Passion" is a word which has been commandeered by the business world to describe that rare attribute which "puts fire into the guts".
In this poem we look at passion (Latin "passio" is "to suffer") in the context of "heart", "soul", "will" and "hope".

Here it is ....

Source: Passion Out poem