origins
I've recently returned from four days of celebrating the 20th anniversary of Genesis with friends and colleagues in Paso Robles, Calif. - about 35 miles away from where it all started for them at Morro Bay on the state's Central Coast. The weather wasn't as brilliant as it might have been, but everything else about the event was top notch and
As this newsletter appears, I'll be heading north to Paso Robles, Calif., to participate in the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Genesis - very much aware of the fact that it's a two-decade landmark for WaterShapes, too: We started pre-launch activities related to the magazine at about the same time the founders of Genesis began organizing their
Did you know that there's a strong trend toward creating ponds that are made for swimming in Germany and Austria? That revelation came by way of a terrific book I just finished - Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration for Harmony with Nature by Michael Littlewood (Schiffer Publishing, 2004). Littlewood is an American landscape designer who moved to Europe several years ago and has since become involved in the design and installation of naturalistic watershapes that are a distinct departure from run-of-the-mill concrete pools we encounter in the United States. Indeed, he and scores of other watershapers throughout Europe are setting up vinyl-lined ponds that lack most of what we'd recognize as pool features or equipment, but are deep enough and big enough for swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise. And the simple fact is that their European clients seem inclined to
