Sparkly Clean

Well there it is!  After about a week of working and studying, I finally called my pool people and asked them about the algae.  I learned that you can’t vacuum live algae because it’s too small to be caught in the filter.  It seems I knew that before, but there it is.  Now a couple of weeks later I have gorgeous sparkly water again and a clean pool to boot.  I like sparkly water.  Counting my toes on the bottom of the deep end seems imperative to me.  Not seeing debris or stains is equally important.

I’ve recently housed my mother for a couple of weeks, and the water was clean chemically but it didn’t sparkle.  My mom told me stories about how she learned to swim in a canal –muddy and cold.  And when the kids jumped in on the 4^th of July I was reminded that they swim in the lake and it is no where as clean as that.  By the 4^th, the green was gone, but the murkiness was not.  They laughed and squealed and acted like it was clean but I couldn’t see anything but a shadowy foot at the bottom of the pool.  The diving games wrinkled my nose, but not theirs.   Now a week and a half later, my water sparkles, but the company and laughter have gone.

So, today I bought a new water toy.  It was a volleyball net – sort of – with a ball and some fabric discs that float on the surface. The net sported a nylon section in the middle with a hold to throw things through or for small children to swim through if the whole assembly was put in upside down.  I put it together and took it out to the pool.  After cleaning the last few spots of algae stain off the corners of the bottom and sides, I tried to play with my new toy.  It was quite the effort.  The thing sailed like a catamaran.  Every small gust moved it quickly about the surface of the pool.  Not a good scenario for volleyball.  I laughed a little and chased it around for a time.  That got old quick.

I decided to try bungeeing it to the pool side.  One slip of a bungee told me that was not a good idea.  Especially if I ever do have company again.  It’s not nice to be wounded that badly in water volleyball.  I went to look for more or longer bungees.  Explaining my dilemma to my husband we bounced it around in our conversation and finally after too much fun came up with a solution.  It grew from one thing and the next until it looked like a workable plan.  Using nylon cord and Christmas light clips that attach to a gutter, I rigged a usable, safe tether that left the toy intact and held it in place.  A few dips and throws and I was convinced this was a good thing to have, but not very satisfying from the sport-of-it aspect. 

My husband came to the shed about 15 feet from the pool to find something and I told him he should come try it.  He got what he needed and left me feeling a second childhood neglect.  I tried a couple more variations on the whole game and then to my surprise, he actually joined me.  An hour later, we emerged amid laughter and evaluations.  Cool, tired and feeling verified we jumped back into adulthood and all those jobs we know we can only do on a weekend. 

I mended a large yard umbrella damaged in a storm, carried old vegetation out to the mulch pile at the top of the hill,  helped with some work on the sunroom remodel that should have been finished months ago and isn’t and collected the stuff to make fresh salsa. 

Yet, as I work, there’s a knowledge that out in the yard waits an awesome getaway of dreamy exuberance.  The water’s silky and warm and sparkly clean.