I don't know about you, but I find ironing relaxing, almost meditative (admittedly, I don't have to do it all day for a living, which would most likely change my attitude).

I imagined Guadalupe having to do her own ironing (not like, perhaps, "other" imaginings of the Virgin, as Queen of Heaven - with, one presumes, angelic attendants waiting on her hand and foot). Because this is rural Mexico, she uses a "plancha de deveras" - an iron truly made of iron, the kind one heats on the woodburning stove we have back home.

She irons before a home altar of San Jose and el Santo Nino (St. Joseph and the Holy Child) - essentially her spouse and son; making this a depiction of the Holy Family.

Planchando, Pensando

by J Michael Walker, 1995 Color pencil on paper, 50" high x 32" wide Private collection