Walking around another body of water

 

I finally found the park, which I'd visited maybe 10 years ago, in the summertime, with the Black Mountain Senior Recreation program.

This walk on Saturday, Jan 9  had very cold air, and a steady wind off the water, which I tired to avoid as much as possible!

I chose one of these big square ponds to walk around. I remembered that you could go off on another path along the Swannanoa River toward the Warren Wilson College. I saw that turnoff, but it looked pretty wet and full of brambles.

So I walked all the way around that pond, which is at a higher water level than the river. Since all of these ponds are behind a big manufacturing complex, I imagine the ponds were for settling of some runoff which had toxic chemicals in them...and weren't ok'd to let that water go into the river.

There were a couple of short paths going down to the river itself.

I liked seeing these rocks making a semi-circle across the Swannanoa River. The water was flowing from the left to the right.

Today's quote:

‘Women have another option. 
They can aspire to be wise, not merely nice; 
to be competent, not merely helpful; 
to be strong, not merely graceful; 
to be ambitious for themselves, 
not merely for themselves in relation to men and children. 
They can let themselves age naturally and without embarrassment, 
actively protesting and disobeying the conventions 
that stem from this society’s double standard about aging. 
Instead of being girls, 
girls as long as possible, 
who then age humiliatingly into middle-aged women, 
they can become women much earlier – 
and remain active adults, 
enjoying the long, erotic career of which women are capable, far longer. 
Women should allow their faces to show the lives they have lived. 
Women should tell the truth.’

Susan Sontag, 'The Double Standard of Aging' (1972)
www.susansontag.com