4 June: reflection upturned

Since I posted my photo so late in the day today, I'm trying to redeem myself by posting an extra photo to make up for the tardiness... This is a pic I took while gliding down the canal towards the Perfume Pagoda (Chua Huong) in Hanoi, Vietnam. While this is neither a summer photo nor a local photo, the stillness of the image evokes a sense of serenity that overcomes me during the summer months. In the church calendar, post Pentecost is the beginning of Ordinary Time, a time for growth and transitions. The images of the upturned boats (dingies? canoes?) remind me of all the work that has been done and all the work that remains undone. We are beginning a new time -- a time of ordinariness. I take satisfaction in this ordinariness because it is a time brimming with stilled potential. The woman behind the oars sits way outside of the lens and though I have several photos of her, she remains hidden out of sight. Without her, I would never have reached the mountain of Chua Huong. Without her hard labor of rowing one full hour to reach the caves and one full hour back to our starting point, we would not have seen the wonders of this region. She told me that each family in the town takes turns rowing tourists back and forth to Chua Huong -- and it is this business that keeps them alive. She tells me this is the work of substenance, not of the romantic, idealized tales that have been written about this perfumed pagoda. Her daily routines, though much more difficult and strenuous than mine, reminds me of the work that is yet to be done during these summer months, especially on these slow afternoons filled with sun and bees and breezes and flowers in bloom.