1997: The Black Pool
I love to swim. Always have. But somehow, I always thought a swimming pool would have to be a big ugly rectangle in the middle of our pretty yard, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Then one day I was looking through Sally Wasowski’s Native Texas Gardens and saw a pool that blew me away. It looked like a natural pond, surrounded by native grasses, a few native trees, and large rocks.
Simultaneously, I had a brain storm. The pool didn’t have to be in the center of the yard! It would fit in the flat area along the west fence line, leave the whole open center of the yard intact. I called a pool guy.
I got another book of swimming pool designs and found two or three more that I liked. All were irregular in shape and planted to look like a natural pool of rainwater that formed a swimming hole.
Pool Guy Keith said, looking at our pictures, "What you want is a black pool." I had never heard of such a thing. It has black plaster, he explained. "Every pool you like is a black pool."
I was doubtful. The pools I liked looked blue - - dark blue. Keith gave us the name and address of another client who had gotten a black pool, and we went over to see it. Sure enough, it was a deep sapphire blue.
I won't bore you with the actual ordeal of getting a pool installed. Suffice it to say we dug 18 inches and struck solid bedrock, and an angry, oil-spitting, ear-splitting yellow machine hacked away for five weeks before we had a big enough hole.
Then it rained for three more weeks before we got gunnite and coping and plaster. We were all sick of each other (the workers, the pool company, Keith, Craig, and I) before it was done. But then one quiet lovely morning in February we stood enchanted by our clean, clear, beautiful black pool. We lived happily ever after.
Well, almost... continue
