I have known Judy for oh about 100 years, she is my heart sister, a woman who I can be separate from for a long, long time, and we are together again, it is as though only 5 minutes have passed.
Judy lives in nature along the Mississippi River, Judy lives for nature, her soul saddens when she is too long in the city, too long from the woods and plains of her beloved countryside. She is funny, cracks me up with just a gesture, and although so very different from me, is nearly the same as me. We are like bookends on different shelves. She gets me, and I get her. It is good.
Judy is strong, independent, feisty, faithful, irreverent, gentle, peaceful, and sometimes a glorious crank. She is a role model to me.
And Judy is a poet, a wonderful crafter of words. She has an amazing ability to evoke images with her poems.
Here is one she just sent to me.
When Biking 
lose yourself
in the breeze
in the sky
in the green
name the wildflowers
along the trail…
marsh marigold
butterfly weed
Indian paintbrush
wild blue phlox
see the turtle cross
the Paul Bunyan trail,
see the spotted fawn
walk thru the sun-dappled woods
be startled by the screech
of the red-tailed hawk,
watch the young eagle
take flight
ride along with the dragonflies,
take in the vast open field,
the sea of wavering grasses,
the song of the red-winged blackbird
break at the edge
of Molly Lake,
stand cattail-still,
hear the loon call
immerse all of you
in the surrounding calm
J
Tilly Evan Jones 