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

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is Forest Stories. I am the Poet in the Forest,

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a 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 Arlotte, 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. Our second snowfall of the season. Beautiful,

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always so peaceful. Here in the South, the snow falls

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at a different pace than it did in a state

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of Montana. Up there, it felt like it was ice

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crystals more than just flakes, just freely falling. It's almost

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like a collection of butterflies, white butterflies, all gathering in

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one place. Just so smooth, so beautiful, so peaceful. And

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what's interesting about it being in this forest when it

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snows is that it becomes so silent. You can hear

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the warmth in the air as it turns many of

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these snowflakes back into water, and you can hear that

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trickle on the ground. I don't see any deer I

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don't see any squirrels running around. I don't see any

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birds in the sky. I just see white snowflakes, our

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second this season, after we went three seasons without any

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white snowflakes. Beautiful. It smells so fresh, It's so elegant.

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In a world that is so dirty, This white represents

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so much purity, innocence, and even an opportunity to step

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into a brand new beginning, our second snowfall of the season.

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The forest is embracing it. The little tree leaves that

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are still left around are just sitting there, hugging onto

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it in a way that says, wow, I got too

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old a flying snowflake. Now I'm gonna set it free

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in the form of water to reach my roots. He

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thanks for being a part of the conversation.