![\"Didn't](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/untitled-2015-10-27-6-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>Didn’t look this good a few months ago.<\/p><\/div>\n
Once we arrived the pool was low on the list of priorities, and after receiving zero\u00a0attention for a couple of months it slowly turned a very un-enticing shade of slime green. Whoops! We were now harbouring a health hazard.\u00a0Frantic\u00a0Google searching and calls to the local pool supply shop ensued. It took a good few weeks on a steep chemical learning curve to restore order and an\u00a0azure blue outlook. My patience was sorely tried.<\/p>\n
In mid-September, with daytime highs of around 15 degrees, my lovely Auntie Jean and Uncle Eddie visited. Auntie Jean swims in the sea at\u00a0her home near\u00a0Tauranga almost all\u00a0year round. She’s\u00a0no candy-ass\u00a0when it comes to cold water, and thus was the first to swim in the newly hygienic pool. Jean proclaimed\u00a0it ‘refreshing’*, and in honour of her inaugural dip we christened our Mediterranean blue liability ‘The Anti Gene Pool’. I remained\u00a0un-convinced.<\/p>\n
![\"Did](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/untitled-2015-10-27-7-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>Ella dropped her rubber ball into the pool soon after we arrived. We fished it out, but\u00a0every time someone swims she hangs over them anticipating a retrieve.<\/p><\/div>\n
Recently though something has shifted. I wouldn’t say my initial assessment has entirely changed, but I’m softening. The air temperature is rising, and some\u00a0days the opportunity to immerse myself in cold water has been\u00a0very welcome. After\u00a0Deborah and I\u00a0planted\u00a0the banana palm for instance, or once\u00a0Giselle had finally been rescued from The Perils Of The Stream<\/a>. Also a\u00a0very astute friend (yes Vicki dear, that would be\u00a0you), observed that when we put out a\u00a0call for WWOOFers<\/a>\u00a0the pool might just be the asset that attracts our potential\u00a0Jerusalem Cherry<\/a> weeding crew.<\/p>\n So, who knows, the pool may\u00a0yet earn its keep — for now let’s just say it’s working out a\u00a090 day trial period.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *this term from\u00a0the Auntie Jean swimming lexicon is interpreted\u00a0by her daughters and nieces to mean\u00a0‘quite freezing actually’. It is sometimes followed up by the bold\u00a0but equally unconvincing ‘once you’ve been in for a\u00a0while you go a bit numb and it\u00a0doesn’t feel cold after all’. I want to be like Auntie Jean when I grow up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We didn’t\u00a0want a pool. In fact when first viewing this property I believe I said something to the land agent along the lines of ‘Damn, how much do you reckon it will cost us to fill that in?’. I did… Continue Reading