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I knew I had to (guest) teach a horticulture class this AM at the high school, so decided I would "do the Blog" this afternoon. Well, before class I went through my Email and Facebook and saw a very special note from a now distant (in miles) friend who had had a shop here in Alma. She had just viewed my first attempts at blogging and said "You go girl!" and of course I thought" how dear of her", but truthfully my almost first thought was "I have a daylily named that". So, I proceeded to post a pic on Facebook of my seedling, the aforementioned daylily, so she could see the uncanny coincidence.
As my mind tends to do, I wandered back to thinking about my girlfriend JoAnn and right away thought "I could say that about her too!" So to you dear friend JoAnn, this is my tribute to you and I say "YOU (REALLY) GO GIRL!"
Before I go any further, and because this is supposed to be Blog about Gardens in addition to Castles, and because I love to show and tell about those beautiful results that come from my adventures in hybridizing I will add some pics here.It is absolutely awesome to me to think that such beauty can be pre-ordained by God Himself, out of a seed, that looks more like a shiny black pearl in size and shape. The pic below is of the pod parent(mother) of "You Go Girl"..I dubbed her "Pretty Girl" as she is real "girly girly" with her three definite shades of pink and then set off with a white petticoat edge(actually termed a toothy edge officially).
This next pic is of "You Go Girl". a different pic than the one that was on Facebook.
This next pic is of "You Go Girl". a different pic than the one that was on Facebook. 
And one more view:
The pic below shows "You go Girl" with a mood change...just like many of us! It may have been that it was a cold night or maybe it was during the three weeks of no rain, I didn't take note..all I know is that "she" wasn't as 'happy' as the other days.
Now that I am on a roll about the daylilies, I will show you a full sister that I dubbed "Girlfriend Extraordinaire" (have you noticed that I used 'girl' in each of the names-that's for my own mental records so I can easily keep track of the genetic cross....much easier for me than a numbering system). I do keep maps of where they are planted and use numbers for that and that's enough numbers for me!
You can see that they are similiar, but "Girlfriend Extraordinaire" is definitely different, esprecially with "her" white silk gloves edging.
Now back to my true, live, human, GIRLFRIEND EXTRAORDINAIRE.
I have known JoAnn for 61 years now and I truly can't remember an argument with her..that is extrodinairy!
and it ISN'T because of my age and a poor memory either...it's just that we only have good memories!
MEMORIES sitting upstairs in her bedroom in Richfield, Mn and dreaming of our lives ahead of us. She told me she was going to write a book one day and I believe her...I believe she still will!
MEMORIES of walking home from school together(we just lived a little over a block away).
MEMORIES marching in the Richfield High School Band'
MEMORIES of our high school youth group at Wooddale Baptist Church
MEMORIES of sharing our pregnancies and births of our children
MEMORIES of her going to college and acquiring a whole new group of friends, as I also did while pursuing
Interior Designing dreams.
But the biggest and most meaningful MEMORIES were sharing our happy times and our miserable (YES MISERABLE!) times.We didn't let each other 'wallow' in our misery, instead we would encourage each other to Lift up our eyes and look to the Lord for strength and patience to get through, and prayed for hope and peace as we walked THROUGH the valleys. The sun always was always there, waiting at the end of that personal journey, even when it was very very long. We have had my "divorce days", and her "near-divorce days"(she is now still married and happier than ever)-did I say GIRLFRIEND EXTRAORDINAIRE? Yes, JoAnn, you persevered, you followed God's ways, you didn't become bitter, and you endured until God turned it around and restoration was and is there! I was there to watch and pray (my part was easy!) and wonder at how God is so good and willing to Bless us when we sit at His feet and wait on Him for His miracles.
Both of us, too have had several pretty serious health issues. We could have just given up and blamed God..judged God, or even left God when our bodies didn't respond to surgeries and medications and prayer. BUT GOD in His time (someone has said He is never too early and never too late) makes all things good IN HIS TIME. I wish sometimes He would be early..but it is not mine to judge..it is mine to TRUST! That is SO HARD but it can be done!The results probably weren't the same outcome as we would have wanted, lots of times it was better, and for sure most the times were different than we expected and we saw everything in a different light...and developed character a thousand times greater because of it.
Oh the good times! Good because we could tell each other anything and everything and never feel condemned for feeling a certain way or doing a certain thing. There was a time that Dick and I went into breeding Dairy goats and having come out of the Interior Design world, many were disappointed in me. But JoAnn wasn't! We lived in the most horrible, humble house, putting all our money in to breeding stock and barely getting by, and NEVER refurbishing an unfinished house, and here I was an Interior Designer and how could I live like that??!! I was agast myself, but wanted everyone else to back us up and understand. JoAnn, made one trip out to Rogers, the house sited on the Crow river. There were about about 15-20 Alpine goats grouping around her and her children. That was the season of my life that I was called "the goat lady" in the new area we were in. Because I felt secure in who I was around JoAnn, I didn't have the need to defend myself and my ugly surroundings. We had a very nice, pleasant visit. Even though we were about 6 times further away, we could still phone, and even though our lives went in separate ways, our affection and respect for each other did not. We may not talk or Email for months at a time, but when we do, it's as if we were never apart. Now that's a friendship!
I remember going over to her home on Park Ave in Minneapolis and enjoying her decorating talents(as an art major in college she better have had good decorating...it wasn't just good, it was great! And I felt so comfortable and welcome their. More recently I have been to her Town home in West Bloomington Mn and been treated as both a guest and a friend..I felt like I was in a hotel and treated like I was the most important person around...you couldn't ask for more! We would just sit down and talk intimately about life and concerns and Faith and Family...it never mattered how long it had been since we saw each other.
And oh you should see her gardens! Now she has what I would call a Tea Cup garden because of the home owner's association rules, but it is most beautiful and complete! How can it be complete when it is so small, I don't know! I just know it is!
Her previous Park Avenue garden was always "designer quality" and I tried very hard to find a weed....oh well. She used color and texture and form, all laid out to please the eye...an artist's eye for sure!
There is so much more to share, but in reading about Blogging, they said to keep it short...and I have definitely broken the rules on that end!!! But you were worth it, JoAnn!!! YOU GO GIRL, GIRLFRIEND EXTRODINAIRE!!! I better be careful, there's going to be a lot of people wanting to meet you! They won't believe there is someone like you!
OHhhhh! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear friend!
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