Editing

 By Maryanna Gabriel

The book edits for Walking The Camino: On Earth As It Is have rolled in as I struggle with where to put furniture amid piles of boxes. 

I suppose choice involved with the placement of words is much the same as setting up house; one is establishing a mood, or articulating subtleties of description and feeling. It is creative, artistic, and functional process, but frequently I find myself feeling stymied. 

With time though, thoughts sort themselves from their disorderly jumble, and line up in straightforward fashion. One box at a time. One word at a time. 

New Home

 By Maryanna Gabriel

Wow. There is much to love in my new home. First off there is a forest with walking trails beside me. Eagles screech from the treetops as I putz about. This morning I walked one of the trails and to my surprise, I found that some of the trees had been stripped. I am assuming it is for cedar basketry.

This is the ancestral home of the Pentl'ach. The First Nations in British Columbia have the rights to the cedar bark and were at first directed to strip the trees away from the trails, but this was refuted. Now they have the right to proudly indicate their tradition and strip facing the trails. Someone entirly depleted one tree except for one patch. I wonder if it will survive. 

I alter between excitement and exhaustion as I unpack. Boxes are everywhere. And of course the edits for the book came the day I moved in.