The OTHER Fountain

A couple of years ago, when the lake behind the Farm Bureau building was being constructed, the Mister and I would go out there almost every morning to see what new things were happening (the Water Expert, of course, just threw a sleeping bag in the bottom and lived there continuously, since this was his baby). As it neared completion, our visits increased to mornings and evenings. The excitement was so hard to contain that we started taking friends and visitors over to see it; it was almost as though we had moved every shovel full of dirt ourselves, we were so proud. It's sort of like that cheesy TV series from back in the day, when the cigar-chomping fellow would say, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

I've been visiting another water feature lately, not as faithfully as the lake, but pretty often.

All projects have some disappointments; many times things don't turn out quite the way we envision, though we work very hard to make them reality. This fountain, located in the Oasis at Lakeview Village at the south end of the center, has been one of those struggles for me; scaled down and a different design from our first dreams, due mostly to cost constraints, it hasn't lived up to my lofty desires (all the First Cousin and I were asking for were a few spouting frogs with lots of opportunity for interaction with kids). But there have been problem after problem, delays and more delays, tearing out tile and replacing tile, and it was definitely not "coming together." There is no use in laying blame; at the moment we are just trying to press through and get it as right as possible.

So now it is up and running. It is now cycling through 3 or maybe 4 different cycles: one is a frothy bubbling stream about 12 inches high coming up the center; another is the spouts from around the edges arcing into the center bowl; a third is the negative edge effect, a smooth pool of water flowing over the edge of the upper bowl to the lower bowl; and then, possibly, the frothy spurt in tandem with the side spouts.

Now the tables and chairs are installed, and it really is a pleasant spot for a cup of coffee and a muffin, or a lunch. Even if the fountain is different from our original dreams. And I do love the blue tile.