Original photograph of the garden's planting

Hello, this is a slightly odd request but Im looking for this garden, was my opening line. When the housekeepers eyes flickered in recognition at the photos I suspected I had struck gold. When she said, Ah yes, the garden here! I was thrilled. Not only did the garden still exist but Mr Morris, the original owner, was at home. He invited me in to see the garden.

I discovered, with amazement, the intact bones of a late Seventies masterpiece. Certainly many borders have become overgrown, but there is no doubt that the underlying structure that Jakobsen laid down survives.

A lucky win

Having bought the house in 1967 at the tender age of 22, Michael Morris concentrated on getting the interior right before doing anything about the garden. He says: When I bought this house the builders had left it in a terrible state. It was horrible, really horrible we had to throw the kitchen out.

Fortunately a winning bet on the 1979 Greyhound Derby brought the garden into being: effectively, it was built by a fast greyhound called Sarahs Bunny.

It is a well-used and much-loved plot. Mr Morris has raised two families here and he clearly still loves the place.

Loved by many the garden is still going strong (Rii Schroer)

Its like being on holiday in a hotel and at home all at once, he says. Ive got the best of both worlds. There is always laughter and happiness in this garden at night it is wonderful.

He agrees that Jakobsen was famously uncompromising in his design approach. I found him difficult at times. He [Jakobsen] knew what he wanted.

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A private garden worth searching for

(Bloomberg) -- Kevin Cronin, global head of trading at Invesco Ltd., wasnt going to wait for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to protect his customers.

In a world of robotic trading and dark pools, where stock buyers can have no idea where their orders go or how much in fees their broker might be paying or receiving, Cronin has assembled a team of equities detectives over the last few years to make sure his clients get fair deals. The number of times trading platforms have subsequently been temporarily blocked from handling Invesco orders gets into the double-digits, Cronin said.

We can argue that its a shame that it has to come to this, he said. But on the other hand, where theres complication theres opportunity.

Its vindication for Cronin that in January the SEC named him to its Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee, a panel that will help the regulator determine rule changes for how shares trade. The same month, he helped create the industrys only dark pool owned by and run exclusively for fund managers.

The panel was formed after a challenging year for electronic stock trading, with investigations by the SEC, New York state attorney general and U.S. Department of Justice, the publication of Michael Lewiss Flash Boys -- a book that portrayed a rigged market -- and multiple fines and settlements against Wall Street players, including two in January that together totaled almost $30 million.

Cronin, whose firm manages $800 billion, has been questioning the fairness of high-frequency strategies, the conflicts inherent in stock exchange fees and the lack of transparency in dark pools, the private trading platforms run by broker-dealers, since at least the late 2000s. His goal is to make trading fair and to ensure the best outcomes for Invescos fund managers and, by extension, its clients.

Kevin has been a thoughtful and constructive participant in the market structure debate for many years, Larry Leibowitz, chief operating officer of New York Stock Exchange parent NYSE Euronext until November 2013, said by e-mail. Unlike many other voices, he recognizes the nuance and complexity of the issues.

Last month, nine fund companies including Invesco unveiled the Luminex dark pool, aimed at letting asset managers trade large stock orders with each other at low cost. While Fidelity Investments began the discussions, Cronin, who will sit on the venues board, said all the firms involved pushed very hard to make sure Luminex came to fruition.

The reason, he said, is that many dark pools, with their secret methods, order types and participants, arent doing the job. Luminex will provide complete transparency, Cronin said.

Even as he and his mutual-fund peers take their own steps, the stock markets regulator has been staking out how it wants trading to improve. Many of the priorities SEC Chair Mary Jo White presented in a June speech at an industry conference address complaints that Atlanta-based Cronin, 49, has been making for years.

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Bloomberg the Company & Products

Spring is just around the corner.

And if you're looking for ideas on how to spruce up your home, check out the 13th Annual Eastern Pennsylvania Spring Home Show, Friday to Sunday, at the Agri-Plex at the Allentown Fairgrounds, 302 N. 17th St.

No matter what you're looking to redo, makeover or rehab, the show will have nearly 200 companies on hand with a diverse array of home products and services. It's a show that blends the latest trends with a hometown flair.

Whether you're looking to redo your bathroom, gut your kitchen or add a sunroom, pool or spa to your home, you can talk with experts and find the right designs or products to fit your budget. Banks and mortgage companies will have representatives on hand, as well as financial planners, to help your wallet and maximize savings.

Get some ideas for outside your home and check out a display by Center Valley's RidgeCrest Landscaping. RidgeCrest's Chris Baumer will be available to answer all your design questions while providing new and innovative landscape tips.

And bring the kids because they'll have the chance to do their own project for free at the Home Depot Kids Workshop.

Hours are 5-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $8; $7, seniors; free, under 12. The show's producer, Jenks Productions, is also offering $1 off admission with a non-perishable food item. Donations will benefit the Allentown Ecumenical Food Bank.

Info: http://www.jenksproductions.com/paspringpress2014.html

Jennifer Sheehan

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Get inspired at the Eastern PA Spring Home Show

Jane Ussher Jane Ussher Jane Ussher Jane Ussher

POOLSIDE LIVING: Linda Hodgson and Ginger in the redesigned pool deck area.

POM POM TREE: Cloud pruned Juniperus 'Kaizuka' provides a sense of fun in the garden

FRAMED OUTLOOK: The arch of the front entrance is reflected in the curved gate and the cloud pruned Juniperus 'Kaizuka'.

SWEETLY SCENTED: Hedges of gardenia, star jasmine and mandarins offer a beautiful fragrance in the front garden.

Just as houses grow and change to suit their owners, so Linda Hodgson's Remuera garden has evolved over the past 11 years.

When Netherlands-born Linda, husband Steve and their family moved into their first New Zealand home, she worried about keeping her preschoolers safe from the pool and where to site the sandpit.

Fast-forward a decade and daughters Lara, 15, and Jemima, 13, and their friends are sunning themselves on the new pool deck and trying not to get their hair wet.

Belinda Merrie

For more great gardens, see the latest issue of NZ House & Garden.

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Formal and fun Remuera garden evolves to meet family needs

Financing at heart of matter

Moorparks first public swimming pool might become a reality if the City Council and the Moorpark Unified School District can agree on how to share the $4 million cost.

Currently the school district pays about $100,000 a year for Moorpark Highs use of the pool at Body Xchange Sports Club on Los Angeles Avenue.

The council voted 4-0 on Wednesday to appoint Mayor Janice Parvin and Councilmember Keith Millhouse to an ad hoc committee to review the pool project with the school district.

Steve Kueny, Moorpark city manager, said 13 years ago the school district and the city could not agree on ways to pay for the project, much less the cost of maintenance.

A 2002 feasibility study estimated it would cost about $250,000 to maintain a pool at Arroyo Vista Park.

The plan was scrapped when the school district and the city decided the maintenance costs were too high, Kueny said.

Kueny said the two entities will discuss sharing those expenses with the money available now.

Funds needed to finish the project would have to come from a tax assessment fee or something similar to a parks assessment fee requiring a two-thirds vote by residents, Kueny said.

He said the city wants a recreational pool that can accommodate high school aquatic sports.

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City, school district renew pool talks

Published: February 10, 2015 - Updated: February 11, 2015 10:32 pm

by Suzanne Elliott

Almanac Staff Writer

Suzanne Elliott / The Almanac

Bob Good of Pashek Associates talks to Peters Township residents about how to transform their parks and recreational space.

McMURRAY If the more than 40 Peters Township residents who attended the latest round of public meetings on the townships new 10-year plan for its parks, recreation and green space had their way, there would be an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a disc golf course and ample room for young entrepreneurs to open lemonade stands.

Or as Chris Posti, a Venetia resident, suggested at the meeting, just keep the townships green spaces as they are unspoiled.

Welcome to Comprehensive Planning 101, Peters Township style.

Peters is in the midst of gathering a wish list from its citizens on a new plan for its six parks and recreation space. The township is spending $60,000 in this endeavor and has hired Pashek Associates, a landscape architectural firm based on Pittsburghs North Side, to bring the myriad ideas to life.

As we put together the comprehensive plan, we need to determine where we are now, where we want to be and how we get there, Pasheks Bob Good told the residents at a community meeting last week at Peters Township Public Library.

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Swimming pool at top of Peters Township wish list

10 hours ago A traveler arriving from overseas is fingerprinted while his paperwork is checked by a border patrol official at the passport control line in Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey

The United States wants the European Union to pool data on airline passengers to bolster security and prevent Islamist extremists from staging attacks on the West, US officials told lawmakers Wednesday.

The mounting numbers of foreign fighters flocking to Syria to join forces with militants has raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic that jihadists with Western passports could slip through borders without being detected.

US counter-terrorism officials said a key tool to track militants and disrupt plots was sharing information on airline passengers, known as passenger name records (PNR).

Francis Taylor, undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, said Washington was "encouraged" by discussions in the European Parliament to permit the pooling of passenger data throughout the European Union.

There was a "hope that the European Parliament will move forward to pass a European-wide PNR requirement that allows for that data to be collected across Europe and shared across the EU," Taylor told the House Committee on Homeland Security.

"We think that will be a big step."

He added that "if that doesn't work, then we can work bilaterally with individual countries to share data."

In the wake of extremist attacks in Paris that left 17 dead, European, US and Canadian interior ministers said there was a "crucial and urgent need" to establish an EU-wide database of passenger information for travel inside Europeand for flights leaving or entering the 28-nation bloc.

At the House hearing, the head of the National Counter-terrorism Center, Nicholas Rasmussen, said there has been "a fairly dramatic improvement" in sharing intelligence on potential suspects among US and European spy services.

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US hopes EU will pool airline passenger data

NPT Water Color
When deciding on your swimming pool water color, you must understand what variables effect the final color such as landscape, pool finish, water depth, and b...

By: The Pool Source

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NPT Water Color - Video

Story highlights New Zealand's South Island has fewer people and more scenic views than North Island NZ travel photographer Mike Hollman lists his favorite places to photograph List includes best road trip, glaciers, icebergs and alien boulders

Why should so few people get to hog such spectacular landscape? (Compared to, say, similarly sized England's population of 52 million.)

The larger of the country's two main islands is more visually stunning than the North Island.

With its smaller population, it's also more lonely and wild.

To get a handle of the island's most sublime landscapes, we asked Auckland-based award-winning photographer Mike Hollman to share his favorite spots to photograph.

Named New Zealand Travel Photographer of the Year in 2013 by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography, Hollman grew up on the South Island and says the landscape has had a tremendous impact on his work.

"The light is always changing and offering different views," says Hollman.

"My favorite time to shoot is in autumn, especially April (New Zealand's fall is from March to May) when the trees turn golden and the light on the landscape is magical."

1. Milford Sound

With an annual rainfall of 6.8 meters, Milford Sound is one of the wettest places in New Zealand.

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For beauty like this, head to South Island

Numbers are up for pool users in fall 2014

More people swam at the Kinsmen Sportsplex from October to December 2014 than they did in that period in 2013.

Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy

Jody Hauta, director of parks and recreation, is seen at the Feb. 9, 2015 council meeting.

The parks and recreation department's fourth quarter report, presented to council at Mondays meeting, stated there were 28,273 people who used the pool from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 compared to 26,365 users in the same period in 2013. In 2012, a total of 28,131 people used the facility in that quarter.

Obviously the fourth quarter is a busy month for our programming for dry programs and also for aquatic programs, said Jody Hauta, director of parks and recreation. Our community association programs were started up in the fall in the schools. We also initiated a few new programs at the Kinsmen Sportsplex.

One of those new programs was a Kettlebells fitness class scheduled during one noon hour per week in the Kinsmen Sportsplex lobby. Summer pickleball was also extended into the fall at a school gym in the evenings three times a week.

The free Friday family, public and teen swims are ongoing and they still continue to be popular and those were extended during the school Christmas break.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, a total of 14,059 people used the free Friday public swim for a total attendance of 58,116 people to date.

Thats incredible for a city where sometimes we hear, Well, theres nothing for us to do on a weekend or whatever. I would say that thats filling a huge need, said Coun. Candis Kirkpatrick. Its awesome the city has continued to do this.

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Just keep swimming