Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a
children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest.
Speaker 2: The winter time sense of the tiny little forest somewhere
in Carolina, the winter time since thirty five degrees. That
means that people are bringing wood inside their fireplaces. But
what's really got my attention is the fact that the
smell that's in the air on this path moving through
this forest. It's not like when we go camping a
campfire smoke. I don't know if people use incense inside
their fireplaces to add to that comfort as well as security.
But the scent of this forest during the winter months,
it's almost like walking by someone's house and you know
they've got the dryer on it, because the smell of
clean clothes or drying clothes gets inside your imagination. And
brings together so many different positive thoughts. But I would
love to find out why a campfire and a fireplace
smells so differently, especially in this forest, which is usually
just blasting with all types of floral smells during the
spring and summer months, but not in the wintertime. It's quiet.
Even the bee man, all of his bees are sleeping
because it's wintertime. But I bet you they're enjoying this
book from the fireplaces. Another thought that keeps crossing my
mind those that do burn the wood inside their homes
to help keep costing down when it comes to heating.
I often wonder if they really care about the trees.
Speaker 1: That they love.
Speaker 2: I wonder if the trees that are in this forest,
if they go out and they embrace them, they will
put something in the ground that allows that forest floor
to know they love me as much as I love them.
Because I've always been a firm believer, a seed becomes
a tree. A tree borrows the light from the sun
and the water from the nearby creek and lake. That
tree grows extremely tall. Eventually it will sacrifice its life
to give me a page to write upon. From those
words on that page come thoughts that I can plant
inside your journey, moving and growing forward. But today, the
scent of a wintertime force, so precious, so comforting. Release
your anxiety and find your calm inside this forest him Eryl,
thanks for being a part out of the conversation.