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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This

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is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a

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children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,

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none of it would be possible if it wasn't for

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this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I

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talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's

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time that you get to know what has inspired me

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for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

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Welcome back to the forest.

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Speaker 2: The winter time sense of the tiny little forest somewhere

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in Carolina, the winter time since thirty five degrees. That

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means that people are bringing wood inside their fireplaces. But

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what's really got my attention is the fact that the

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smell that's in the air on this path moving through

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this forest. It's not like when we go camping a

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campfire smoke. I don't know if people use incense inside

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their fireplaces to add to that comfort as well as security.

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But the scent of this forest during the winter months,

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it's almost like walking by someone's house and you know

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they've got the dryer on it, because the smell of

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clean clothes or drying clothes gets inside your imagination. And

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brings together so many different positive thoughts. But I would

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love to find out why a campfire and a fireplace

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smells so differently, especially in this forest, which is usually

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just blasting with all types of floral smells during the

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spring and summer months, but not in the wintertime. It's quiet.

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Even the bee man, all of his bees are sleeping

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because it's wintertime. But I bet you they're enjoying this

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book from the fireplaces. Another thought that keeps crossing my

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mind those that do burn the wood inside their homes

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to help keep costing down when it comes to heating.

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I often wonder if they really care about the trees.

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Speaker 1: That they love.

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Speaker 2: I wonder if the trees that are in this forest,

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if they go out and they embrace them, they will

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put something in the ground that allows that forest floor

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to know they love me as much as I love them.

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Because I've always been a firm believer, a seed becomes

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a tree. A tree borrows the light from the sun

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and the water from the nearby creek and lake. That

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tree grows extremely tall. Eventually it will sacrifice its life

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to give me a page to write upon. From those

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words on that page come thoughts that I can plant

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inside your journey, moving and growing forward. But today, the

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scent of a wintertime force, so precious, so comforting. Release

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your anxiety and find your calm inside this forest him Eryl,

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thanks for being a part out of the conversation.