Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Luke Flowers, Illustrator of A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood:

Welcome to The Neighborhood, a Mr. Rogers tribute podcast. I'm your host, Rick Lee James, of rickleejames.com, and I run the Mr. Rogers Quotes Twitter account found @MrRogersSay. As we again walk into this podcast neighborhood, we want you to know that no matter where you are from, you are welcome here. I'm glad to be your neighbor. Every daughter, every son, every tribe, and every tongue, in the spirit of Fred Rogers and the life of welcome that he lived, welcome to the neighborhood. This week in the neighborhood, we have a very special bonus episode with a very special guest, Luke Flowers. Luke is an author and illustrator from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has illustrated over 50 children's books, since 2014, including Disney's "The Muppet Christmas Carol" storybook and his own top-selling series, "Moby Shinobi," which has a new chapter book releasing on December 26th, 2019. Luke has created work for a range of clients that include Disney, Scholastic, Random House, Little Golden Books, Nickelodeon, and many more. He recently illustrated the New York Times bestseller, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." Poems by Fred Rogers. He's here for a visit today, and I'm just thrilled about it. Luke Flowers, welcome to the neighborhood.

Well, thank you, neighbor. That's a great introduction.

Well, you know, there's just so much good to tell about you, and I'm really excited to have the chance to talk. I have really loved not only the poems of Fred Rogers and the songs that are in this, this great book, but your art just adds so much to it. So I appreciate you being here to talk today and sharing your talent. And just at the Beginning of the show, I want to remind all of our listeners that if they go to our website, which is— you can either type in fredrogerspodcast.com or welcomeneighbor.podbean.com, and we will have links to your website and the different books, including A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. So just wanted to let everybody know that as we begin today. Well, Luke, I have a question that's more personal in nature about what you do before we get into the actual Fred Rogers book, because I think I think my audience would just love to get to know a little bit more about you. I wonder, what does a day in the life of an author and illustrator like yourself look like?

That's a great question. Usually I spend most of my just working day on children's books. I usually work on about 8 books a year on average. It used to be upwards of like 12, but that was getting to be a little too much. Wow. That's how— I mean, I really started in, you know, 2015 was my first published book with a major publisher, and so in 5 short years it was a lot to get 50 books done. So, I slowed up the pace quite a bit last year, although it was still about 8 is enough for me.

Amazing.

So, really, I mean, it's mostly volleying back and forth between different publishers and processes. A lot of times I'll have one book that I'm working on actual full illustrations, I might be working on one that's in sketching phase. And I'm always kind of working on writing the next Moby Shinobi book series as well.

Well, you know what? I have not had the opportunity to read Moby Shinobi yet, but my son and I last night— my son is 6— and we went on to our library website and we put 3 of the books on hold. So we're looking forward to bringing those home and being able to read them together.

Oh, thank you.

Well, I wonder, you're so good at what you do, and it's obvious that you have found your calling in illustrating and writing, but was it always your dream to write children's books specifically?

To be honest, I mean, it was like in second grade I can really remember just wanting to be an artist of some kind, and that was— a lot of it was just inspired by really starting to get familiar with like the work of Jim Henson and, you know, just growing up with like Sesame Street. And I love the fact that they had, you know, not only the puppetry, which I was just instantly in love with, but, you know, just the animation. You know, they had stop-motion, they had actual, you know, 2D animation, they They had live action, they had just so many elements of art that I just really appreciated. So it made me kind of think like, I'd love to be an artist. I didn't know what actually avenue that would look like. And so it wasn't until a little bit later, as I got into more like high school and college, I really started to think storytelling paired with illustration. Really, I think a lot of that started to go hand in hand with just growing up loving Shel Silverstein's books as well and just seeing how fun it is to have the play of you know, whimsical illustration and these like really, you know, clever poems. And so I think that's when I really started to think, well, you know, that would be a fun avenue to kind of help tell stories through. And that's why a lot of the books I write are written in rhyme. It's just, you know, because I grew up just loving a lot of poetry-type books, you know, rhyming books. Of course, we all grew up, at least in my era, you know, learning to read from Dr. Seuss. So I think for me it was A lot of those were the foundations of that journey. So, sure. But like I said, I worked for 10 years for Young Life as their creative director out after I graduated college. So I spent about 10 years really trying to figure out how to pursue that dream full-time while just trying to keep the lights on. I was just a newly married husband out of college. And so just trying to start a family up. And so it was really a a job that helped, you know, helped me kind of get some chops in the art world. And I had grown up at the Young Life camps in Colorado. My parents both worked for them. So for me, it was a journey that was kind of, you know, I always say it looked kind of like a subway map because it was kind of all these different avenues until I can, you know, finally figured out the route that put me on the path I really felt I was really called to it. And it was really about 10 years into working at Young Life in a creative design studio as a designer mainly, I just knew I really wanted to be doing illustration full-time. And I had a friend just come to me and said, "You know, I don't know if you're being true to yourself. You've struggled for a long time to want to make this leap. Why don't you just go for it?" And so, that was really about in 2010 that I decided just to really do my best to figure out how to get into the children's book illustration industry. And I got really fortunate with some connections like the Moby Shinobi one right out of kind of, I guess that was around 2015. And then that just kind of started to open more and more doors. And yeah, so it's been a very interesting journey. I always feel like, you know, I felt like I was late to the game in getting into the children's book industry. And so maybe that's why I was doing so many to get caught up so quickly in such a short time. I really think it was all in the right time. I think the opportunities that have come have been at the right time, and it's definitely been just a maturing process. And I don't know if I would have been able to handle some of that pressure and some of the just demands of it at a younger age. So I'm thankful for it.

Well, it must be very rewarding to share these inspiring books that you've helped to create and that you've created. And I think Fred Rogers would probably be very proud of the way that your work is helping to inspire children to learn and to read and to pursue their dreams as well. So, so let's talk a bit about Fred Rogers, which is really why you're here. Yeah, you know, everyone I talk to on this show especially, they seem to have a Fred Rogers story of a way that he influenced them in some way in their life. I wonder, what is your Fred Rogers story?

You know, for me it was just growing up with the show. You know, again, I didn't grow up with the really early episodes. You know, it was still on when I was a kid back in the '80s, but that was sort of the tail end of it. But, you know, of course I got to enjoy it in reruns. And so a lot of it was just, again, I loved puppets growing up. You know, Muppets were just a huge influence on me, just as far as like, you know, just the creativity of it and the imagination of it. So I just love that Mr. Rogers was a little bit different and, you know, his show is a little bit slower. And growing up, I grew up in a really small town and on a farm, and we didn't actually have neighbors. So that was— it was almost a new, you know, kind of concept for me, just, you know, to see a neighborhood and a city that was— you know, I loved not only the puppets and the land of make-believe, but the, you know, that he would go around and visit these places. I'd never seen a recycling center. I'd never seen how crayons had been made. So yeah, for me, I was really drawn to just those little outings into the neighborhood. And so For me growing up as a kid, that was sort of an interesting look into a bigger world. And then again, I didn't reconnect with Mr. Rogers' The Neighborhood really until I'd had our own kids. And then really even most recently, it was with the Won't You Be My Neighbor documentary. I'd actually just gone to see it. Left the theater just, you know, like anybody that's seen it, just absolutely in love with, you know, just Mr. Rogers again in a different way, being a parent and kind of seeing it from the adult's perspective. It was interesting because I left the theater and I just told my wife, you know, I was just really moved by it. I said, that's the kind of message, that's kind of like work. How do I either do something in that same vein or even celebrate the work of Mr. Rogers? How do I, you know, I started thinking like, I'd love to do a children's book of that. And it was interesting because it wasn't, you know, but maybe, gosh, a month or two later that Quirk came and asked me, would you be interested in doing this? They had no— I'd never mentioned Mr. Rogers to them or anything. So it was Doogie Horner who was the art director. He's also an author and comedian, illustrator, a man of many talents. But he came to me and just said, hey, you know, I saw some of your stuff at a gallery. I do a lot of illustration or gallery shows out at a gallery called Gallery 1988 in LA, and he'd have to either see it out there or online or something. He said, "You know, I saw that it looks like you do some great pop culture type stuff. Would you be interested even in Mr. Rogers?" So I mean, right there I just told him, "I just saw this film. I'm absolutely like, you know, all in on this." So it was, again, I felt like it was a godsend really.

Yeah. Well, that's amazing. And to think that really it was just last year when that documentary came out. So you had a lot of work to do, didn't you, in really seemingly a short amount of time? Because it's a thick book and there's a lot of illustrating in there for sure. So, well, I wonder, because I am just clueless about this, I always loved drawing and as a kid I always thought it would be the coolest thing. And I still love comic books and I still love all kinds of creative things. And it's really fun for me with my son right now, who, by the way, neither of us at this point are very good artists, but we enjoy it. We like doing it. But I just have in my imagination, you know, what it must be like to illustrate a book. So I just want to pick your brain a bit about the whole process. What was your approach in illustrating this book in particular? Did you make art that was based on the poems themselves, or did you find that you were diving into maybe old episodes of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and trying to maybe recreate some of the scenes there? What really was sort of your process in an endeavor like this?

Yeah, that's a great question too. For me, and you had mentioned, you know, it was a pretty quick turnaround, so this was a sort of pressure cooker situation, you know, and that was one of the things they said, you know, are you interested in this? It's going to be a really quick turnaround and a lot of, you know, illustrations. I think we ended up doing about 80-some illustrations. But, you know, of course I was just like, "Whatever, I'm gonna make this happen," you know, just that I was all in on it. So again, I just felt like it was a divine inspiration that like the energy, the focus, you know, just everything seemed to click really quickly on this project. Again, growing up and knowing a lot of the songs and the poems and the characters really helped. So I just kind of already, you know, knew how I wanted to kind of render the characters and the colors and just the spirit of the show really is what I really wanted to capture. And even just going back to kind of wanting to capture that essence of the simplicity of the show and just making the illustrations very simple and easy to— just a quick read for kids. And again, they kind of set it up. They said it's going to be kind of a Shel Silverstein-esque approach to the book style as far as very simple illustration paired with a poem. And so of course I'm like, this just couldn't get better. Two of my creative heroes and people that shaped my childhood. So it was with that. In that same spirit of just thinking like, how did, you know, what was it I loved about the Shel Silverstein poems and the way he just had the perfect image to go with the poem that, you know, didn't overtell the story but let the kid kind of imagine it. And so, you know, we were really turning these quickly. I was super thankful. Andy Reid, she was the art director on it after, you know, Dougie kind of handed it over to her. So working with her and, you know, just the Quirk team was amazing. And the fact that, you know, they were just you know, made it so easy to get, you know, they really gave me a ton of creative freedom. I was thankful that, you know, the Fred Rogers, um, company as well, you know, were really gracious. And, you know, even on the COVID you know, we, you know, kind of stylized Daniel Tiger and Xeow and King Friday the 13th a little bit. So I was really thankful that they let me have a little bit of my style in approaching it. Yeah, I think the biggest challenge for us was just trying to find that, the look for Mr. Rogers, and, you know, making it somewhat recognizable, but still, you know, my style is pretty whimsical.

Yeah.

And so, just find— and again, I just feel like it came together the right way that it needed to, and I didn't, you know, it wasn't over-laborious. Yeah.

Well, you know—

Oh.

I'm sorry for interrupting.

Oh, no, no, no.

Well, I love that you used the word whimsical to describe your art, because I know that I, a number of times, just listening to old interviews and things that Fred Rogers had written, he would say things like, "I just love whimsy." He would say. And I feel like your art is really the perfect marriage between his words and the way that you are able to express yourself as well. It just makes me wonder— this is going to totally be like asking a person, "Which child is your favorite that you have?" But I wonder, was there an illustration or a song or a poem in the book that you really found to be your favorite or that just really has a lot of meaning or spoke to you more than any other throughout the book?

Yeah, I think one of my favorites was just that intro one of the land of make-believe. It was just, again, it was so fun to just— that was one of my favorite places to visit in the show. And so to be able to just go in and really try to capture that and just— again, that's one of the ones that when I do book events and show to kids, it kind of helps them understand a little bit more about— it wasn't just Mr. Rogers, but it was these puppets in this world that he kind of helped bring to life. So I really love that one, but probably one of my favorite illustrations was the one of Jeff that, you know, for the song "It's You I Like." Oh yeah. Just because that was one of my favorite moments in the documentary and just remembering how special that episode was.

Mm-hmm. Jeff Erlanger, I believe his name was, yes.

But then as I've gotten to go out and do book tours with kids, one of my favorite ones to do with them is the doing song, just because it's so silly and so it's a great way to get kids into, you know, just we get up and we do all the actions together and it's really fun. It kind of gives an energy to a poetry book that sometimes, you know, I think sometimes kids might, you know, it's, some of them are fairly slow and so that's always a fun one to kind of break up the, you know, reading poetry and getting kids up and going.

Now, is that the one that you've got to do it, that song? Is that what you're talking about, the doing song? Or I might be mistaken on—

I know, I know you're talking about, yeah, that one. It's a different one. I don't know the page number, but it's got like a bunch of little insets, and it's kind of like, you know, stand up straight and brush your teeth and all these just kind of silly actions that you can do.

Well, I'm going to definitely look that one up again once we're off the show. I just opened the page. If people have the book, it's on page 70, but the one that you drew of Jeff Erlanger. That's a great illustration, and you're right, that's one of the really strong memories when I think about Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. That's one of the shows that I think of. So, well, that's great. And again, the book is just so packed full. I can't believe you did it in the amount of time that you had, but there's such care that's taken with it. I even love how the book opens up even before you get to the Land of Make-Believe scene. I just love the stoplight and Picture Picture, how it says "Good day," you know, when you open the book, and it just just has a real sense of warmth and of welcome there. So we really want to congratulate you on such a job well done. I know it's— I'm sure it's not always easy, but boy, you sure make it look like it is, you know. And so I, I really appreciate your work in this book.

Thanks.

Well, you know, it's so appropriate, I think, that you were the one to illustrate A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, this book. Not just because your pictures are great, but also like Fred Rogers, I feel like you probably through your work have a great connection with children. But I also understand that you're a musician as well, just in reading about you. And I wonder, would you mind— because I'm a musician too— I'd love to just hear about some of the music that you play and write. What— how would you categorize yourself, or, or how would you describe yourself? Not categorize, I don't like that term necessarily, but just kind of describe yourself as a musician for Nice.

Yeah, I think that was, again, I felt like that's a lifetime ago. It was really before I started getting into writing children's books. So I was in a lot of folk, it was kind of like folk band, so just a lot of singer-songwriter kind of style.

Sure.

And again, that was, I think, my way of just writing. A lot of it is just kind of storytelling, inspired by stories in either a magazine or a newspaper or just my own personal stories. So yeah, I have a couple albums out there, which is kind of funny. But I really don't play as much as I used to, for sure. Now that I'm writing children's books and just the busy pace of that and having kids, I don't get out and play quite as much as I used to. But it is still fun. I probably play the banjo a lot more, just get out the banjo and play songs that I like, just cover songs and stuff like that.

So when you say banjo, do you play more in the folk style of banjo, or are you more of a bluegrass player, or what's your— what kind of style would you categorize your banjo playing as?

Yeah, I would say it's probably more folk kind of, and I really enjoy like really old-timey, like clawhammer kind of style banjo music. So if anything, it'd probably be— if I was going to start playing again, I'd probably lean more into that sort of old-timey sound.

Well, you know, I really wish that we were doing like a televised episode right now because I feel like we would be in your studio looking at your artwork and then I'd have you grab a banjo and, you know, we'd play a couple tunes together or something. That sounds like a whole lot of fun. But I love all of the different ways that you create, that you write songs. And you're right, you do at some point have to decide, you know, which thing I'm going to narrow down and do the most of. But I really just appreciate the— I think your overall approach to art, because I feel like you're able to maybe express your heart through what you're doing, and it's very obvious to see the joy that's coming off of the page whenever you're writing. And the way that you just bring— not just these illustrations, but I've been enjoying looking at some of your other work online and I'm looking forward to finding out more and more about you as time goes on. But I wonder, as we're talking about all of the different creative endeavors that you're a part of, what's next for you? Is there anything you haven't done yet in your career that you would really love to do?

Yeah, it's funny you should ask that. I was, you know, as the year closes up and another one begins, of course we all start thinking about new goals. And really this last year with a lot of really fun milestones to be able to be part of, you know, from New York Times bestseller to working with the Muppets and, you know, just the Moby Shinobi series getting to be a chapter book now. So there was a lot of really exciting things, but there's also just— I feel like I really started to just feel some creative fatigue and, you know, just the pacing of it. So, you know, my wife is really challenging me as well, just like, what are some other avenues that you want to, you know, explore and make sure you don't just kind of get burned out in this one direction? So I've been thinking about, you know, again, I want to do a lot more with puppetry. I've always loved it. I just haven't had time to, you know, other than at book events is when I kind of perform the different characters. Mm-hmm. So, you know, getting to learn a little bit more about puppet making is something I'm kind of wanting to do. And then some voice acting is also— I've always loved just doing different voices. So those are two avenues I think would be fun to explore. And But again, I have still quite a few books in the works coming up for next year, which is still exciting. A couple new Mr. Rogers ones in the pipeline, which is fun to be part of continuing that story.

Are you able to give us any sort of description of those books yet, or is it too soon to kind of let the cat out of the bag?

Yeah, I can't quite yet, but it's just kind of a fun addition off the poetry book. They'll be through Quirk again. And then again, the Moby Shinobi books are now becoming chapter books, so I'll be releasing those three in the new year. And so there's a lot of just work still that has kind of been in the process and will continue into the new year. But again, just still exploring. I think I was going to share too real quick, the neat thing about working on the Mr. Rogers poetry book was, speaking about kind of creative burnout, I was really in a place of just I was just feeling really uninspired and struggling with just the creative process at that time. It was really neat to just see how— again, I said it was kind of a godsend, but it was one of those things that just going back into the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and watching the episodes over and over as I was working and listening to his music and have so many of his records that I would just put on repeat all day. Even just listening to— he has that series of those three little books, that he has, you know, just "You Are Special," and then also just some of the audio, or the biographies that came out, you know, the Maxwell King one, and Amy Hollingsworth has one.

The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers, yeah, wonderful book.

Yeah, so it was really neat just to be going back in and just listening to these. It was just like constantly, the creative cave was just filled with the messages of Mr. Rogers, and it felt like it was just at the right time. I just felt so— it was like a transformative process, not only just working on the book, but just, you know, I felt like the book was working on my heart. And that was, for me, again, it just felt like it was a neat way that Mr. Rogers kind of came into my life in a different way. So I think that was kind of what influenced a lot of the book and why it comes through that joy and that that spirit of Mr. Rogers. I think it was just, it was filling the space that it was being created in. So that was amazing.

Yeah, well, you know, and he did have a way, and he was very intentional about on the show talking as though he was addressing one person. And I think because of that, you really do feel like he's talking to you, and there's such a connection that I think so many of us feel. I'm really glad you mentioned the book You Are Special, because not only is that one of my favorite books books that he wrote, but I bought the, um, the Audible audiobook of him reading that book. And it really, it's probably what inspired the most me to start that Twitter account, was just him with these little phrases throughout the book just talking to you. And, and I, I needed it, you know, at the time. I thought, I really need these, um, these graces in my life that he's, you know, kind of bestowing upon me. And, and I, I did. It felt very personal. Like, well, I'd have my earbuds on at the gym or somewhere, and I think It just feels like Mr. Rogers is just talking to me and lifting me up right now. And so I love hearing that, that you were— that, that book specifically was a part. And also Amy Hollingsworth's book was— is incredibly good, The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers. To be honest, there's not too many out there that I haven't read, and I think all of them are unique, and all of them kind of approach Fred Rogers' life from a little bit different angle. And it feels like even with all of the books and the illustrations and the stories and now the movies and documentaries, I still feel like we're just barely scratching the surface of getting to know the man, you know, in a lot of ways. So that's really great, and all of us are very complex as people.

Yeah, it really is. And that's the other exciting thing is that, like you mentioned, there's so many books that have just come out even this year. Gavin Edwards, his Kindness and Wonder was another one that just— again, every time I've listened to these books, it's like you've like you said, you find a new aspect of, you know, his life that really connects with, you know, your own story or just a new way to appreciate him. And again, yeah, like the movie, that was amazing. I hadn't known that story either. And even through that, it's been fun just, you know, getting to know, you know, now Joanne's, you know, kind of sharing more of her story. And so it's really neat to just start to experience not only, you know, Mr. Rogers' story, but the life of the people that were in his neighborhood, as you would say. And it's just neat to see. I often, I'm always saying, well, Mr. Wright, you know, I just learned this from Mr. Wright. I often tell my wife, it's not my religion, of course, but you know, it really is just amazing to see, you know, just how it parallels, you know, a lot of just his faith came through in the messages and it's messages that we all need to hear today. You know, I think a lot of people say now more than ever, but I don't think it was just as much then as it is now. But it is neat to see that people, you know, just as I even, you know, World Kindness Day just this year, going out and being on, you know, doing a book or a school visit, you know, it's just neat to see how these teachers and, you know, librarians and students are all just really embracing this message of kindness and how it really is influencing the way they're treating each other in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, you know, and in their own homes. I mean, it's just It's really neat to see how it does make an impact.

Yeah, it's been wonderful for me as well, just running the Mr. Rogers Say Twitter account with now over— I think we're close to 52,000 followers at the time of this. And I get to see a lot of that every day, and I'll get messages from people, and I get a lot from schools. And people will send me maybe little video clips sometimes of of a choir at an elementary school that's singing a Mr. Rogers song, or different events that they'll do and kindnesses. And it's been wonderful for me also to just get to meet, you know, special guests on my show like you. They get to come on and we get to know each other a little more. And I really feel like there's a universal— what's the word? Universality? Universality? I'm not sure what the correct word is, but it feels universal. We'll just put it at that. In the way that people respond to something about his life and who he was. And I feel like he is a great source of help and inspiration and grace to so many people. So yeah, well, Luke, this has really been a wonderful visit, and I wanted to ask you just one more thing before we end our conversation together today. But I— a few moments ago when we started our conversation, I had a look book inside your studio there, and you've talked about puppets a few times, and I was able to see a couple of Kermit the Frog puppets, it looked like, across the room from you there. And I'm just curious about your take on the way that Fred Rogers did puppets, because he really left a lot to the imagination, you know, not having puppets that the mouths moved or anything. I'm curious because you do love puppets so much. What was your thoughts about— because I find that some people, um, really feel like when they go to the land of make-believe, that's when they would disconnect from the show a little bit, whereas other people find that really that that puppet time was very inspiring for them. So I just kind of love to get what your reaction was when the show would go to that part of the, the neighborhood.

Yeah, um, like I said, for me, I didn't even, you know, I don't think you even noticed that their mouths weren't moving at the time, you know, because I think that was the gift that Mr. Reiter had to his puppetry, is that his voice and the way he just— the emotion that his voice carried, you know, when Daniel Tiger would, you know, say he was sad and just kind of duck his head a little and hold his arms in, you definitely knew what he was saying, you knew what he was feeling, you know. And even just Lady Elaine Fairchild, who frightened me to death as a child, I've come to I've come to have peace with her now, but even just the way that, you know, just the look of her, you know, she had this kind of, you know, cranky but also a little bit, you know, she was always kind of a little bit mischievous, but I think that was just their personalities. It was amazing how without any words or mouth movement, you knew exactly what they were saying, you knew exactly what kind of emotions they were sharing. So really, I think that was the magic that he had. And I mean, as a kid, I didn't really realize that Fred was doing all those voices. As a kid, you're just watching the show thinking, "Wow, there's a lot of puppeteers back there." And then to find out that he was doing all that work is just even more a testament to the fact that he really wanted his messages to come through. And that's what I loved about the Won't You Be My Neighbor documentary, where they kind of mentioned how he was maybe, you know, a little bit King Friday in himself, a lot of, you know, like he might have had a little bit of those personalities from each puppet, or they were somebody in his life and that's where he was pulling those from. So yeah, um, yeah, pretty special puppeteering style.

Yeah, and it's neat for me to see too the way that especially children will react when a puppet's in the room, and just the way that it, you know, that puppet just comes to life, and it doesn't matter if the mouths are moving, or even if you're not a very good puppeteer sometimes, it's amazing, even with our son, how at times— all matter of fact, we have one of those little— it's not a puppet, but it's a pop vinyl figure, you know, Mr. Rogers, and he's like holding the trolley. And at times I'll, I'll talk to him through that, and it's just amazing the way that he'll open up at times and be able to tell us things about his day that I don't know if he's too bashful or shy other times. But I've seen that with so many kids, and I think that's a very special connection that we have with things like puppets. And that was a real gift Well, for all of our listeners, I want to just one more time remind you that if you go to our website at welcomeneighbour.podbean.com, we will have links to Luke's work and a way for you to be able to buy some of his work and support him and what he does. And you can also just go to his website if you type in lukeflowers.com, that'll take you to his work, or lukeflowerscreative.com. But again, we'll make sure and have all those links for you as well, and I'll definitely make sure and and post a couple of posts on our Twitter account, because we want to make sure that people are well aware of what you're doing, and we want to thank you for the good work and the way that you're helping to really preserve the work and the memory of Fred Rogers. And I'm just very proud of what you're doing, so thank you for that.

Well, thanks, Rick. Yeah, and again, I just want to say thanks for all that you do to help carry that torch that Mr. Rogers shared with all of us. I think between you and, you know, Tim that runs the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood Archive, I think It's just been really neat to see how you guys have been doing this for much longer than I have, so I'm just happy to kind of join in with you guys and some of the other people that are really celebrating it.

It's always great to meet new neighbors, that's for sure. Well, Luke Flowers, thank you for stopping by for a visit today and just for all that you do. We really appreciate you, and I hope we can do this again sometime.

Thank you, this was special. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us here This Week in the Neighborhood. Music featured on today's podcast was Nouvelle Noel by Kevin MacLeod. And I also want to thank the @MrRogersSay community on Twitter. Thank you for being there every single day. I'm your host, Rick Lee James. My Twitter account is @RickLeeJames. My website is rickleejames.com. My other podcast is Voices in My Head: The Rick Lee James Podcast. And I look forward to being with you again next time. Until then, remember, you make each day a special day. You know how? By just being you. There is only one person in this whole world like you, and people can like you exactly as you are.