![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/5bff5bb2-0fdf-41e2-9c16-616dbb4e7c78/15dc75de-60df-4150-917a-9ccb0a1f4cd5_rw_1200.jpg?h=a4221bc112e22460cf52975bf9df3b2a)
I spent my childhood climbing trees and making friends with the birds and forest creatures.
I hid in tree hollows and ate wild raspberries with yellow, misshapen Summer apples. I followed the fallow deer through the meadow and watched the minnows swim in the shallow waters.
In the flowering wild under the weeping Willow tree I would lay in the grass drawing in my sketchbook. The sun would warm my face while Mr. Toad chirped in his burrow and the katydids buzzed on the branches.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/5bff5bb2-0fdf-41e2-9c16-616dbb4e7c78/224ad2e6-46b4-4a91-a4d1-83a95f65a91a_rw_1200.jpg?h=654b2f886974cfa870eec3e4494d3298)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/5bff5bb2-0fdf-41e2-9c16-616dbb4e7c78/bb4fc228-52fc-406c-ad5d-b47ba970e5b7_rw_1200.jpg?h=467013c9fb82715a6fbdda8365a741a9)