So sorry foa da delay. We just got a new client with extremely demanding and complicated ways we have to do our appraisal inspections and uploads. I have been building new brain cells for the past two weeks. At least I’m told that learning new stuffs does that. Hope springs eternal.

On my last post, we’d just arrived at our friends’ farm just outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. Being back there again brought tears to my eyes; the four of us have stayed friends from the time our kids were babies! They have renovated and updated the old farmhouse and have done a fabulous job of it, and it was so much fun to get the grand tour.

By the time G came in from the fields it was time for dinner, and our laughter and stories echoed through the walls just like they did years and years ago. After cleaning up the kitchen, we ended up talking for hours, catching up on old times and new ones. Then we were all ready for bed; G gets up ʻway early for farm stuffs. In the summertime, G has to set water on the fields (Nolemana used to help him with that when we’d visit in the summertime).

This year something new had been added to the farm. A huge greenhouse! There is a small farmhouse next to B and G’s one; B and G lived in that house for years when they were first married. G’s parents lived in the main farmhouse. Now B and G live in the main house, and the small house is rented out to a nice young man who is raising watermelons. In a greenhouse. In October, you ask? Yep.

This is no ordinary greenhouse, and he is no ordinary man. He is raising the watermelons for a seed company, doing testing on individual varieties, and pollinating the seedlings by hand. The idea is to see which varieties will grow the best for the seed company’s customers.

So here we were, in October, on a morning that had gotten down to freezing. In a huge greenhouse. In a huge greenhouse filled with watermelon seedlings.

Meticulous care had to be taken to label each seedling correctly and to keep very careful records as to pollination and growth. It was fascinating!

Inside the greenhouse, as opposed to outside, it was warm and humid. Actually, it felt a lot like back home in Hawai‘i! I tried to get close-ups of the little watermelon blossoms.

I can’t remember how many plants there were in the greenhouse. G told me that at the peak of their growth, the greenhouse would have watermelon plants covering the benches, much taller than they were now.

Nolemana and I wanted to go driving back through town to see the old familiar places from when we lived here, so we waved aloha to G and his friend, and headed out.

Just outside the greenhouse, I took a photo of B and G’s magnificent old barn. No more cows here now, but I remember when corrals surrounded the front of the barn.

It really is a gorgeous old barn.

And on a farm, of course there is farm equipment. With the Idaho hills in the background. Except for some road traffic and birds singing, it was absolutely quiet out here. I just loved it!

Can you see Musubi waiting patiently for us in the car? How many dozens of times had we driven up this driveway during the years!

Before we left, I took a photo out of B and G’s kitchen window. I’d stood here many, many, times washing dishes after our big farm dinners that G’s mom had fixed. Sometimes there were as many as ten of us!

As we left, we saw the trucks making their way up and down the rows.

And this is where we’re headed!

I love how the sign marker is in the shape of the State of Idaho! It’s funny the things you forget when you leave a place. This was one of them. I remember how much I loved the markers when we first moved here.

Now, when we lived in Twin Falls, I don’t remember any houses like this! Holy smoke! Of course, when we lived here, Twin was more of a small farm town, and as you know, farmers do not get rich farming.

We head down the road into the Snake River Canyon.

Sorry this one’s small kine blurry. The road is narrow, yet wide enough for two cars to pass each other. It descends from the town of Twin Falls down to the bottom of the canyon.

Can you folks see the Snake River down there? I know it sounds kinda lolo, but while we were driving down I had plenny wai maka. Even though it had been years since we’d been here, and even though I love living in Oregon, it just felt so darn good to be back here again, travelling down a road we’d driven down countless times in the past.

Even at the end of summer, there were small waterfalls like this along the way. You can see how the fall colors are showing, too.

Down and down we go. In the summer there are lots of cars going up and down this road, but now, in the fall, we hardly saw any.

Kikue, I know you’ll love seeing these rock formations! We took this photo just for you!

And yes, there in the middle of all the sagebrush and dryness, is a lovely green park! Can you believe it?

Still descending down into the canyon we go; and another photo for Kikue.

And here’s the entrance to the park! Next time, I’ll have more photos of it for you, this amazing island of green surrounded by craggy rocks and dry grass.