i've been mia for awhile. i realize that. with a not so gentle nudge from my mom and loving sister, i am back. it has been a rough couple of weeks. things have slowed down to some extent and with that has brought some rough moments. i have been incredibly homesick. not homesick in the sense of missing the states, but homesick in the sense of missing friends and family. i do miss the new england fall, don't get me wrong, but my lack of friend and family connections here have really gotten to me lately. back to the new england fall thing for a minute. i receive emails about the foliage and subscribe to a blog feed about new england travel. talk about kicking someone in the stomach when they are already down! how i'd love to go on our traditional apple picking or pumpkin picking adventures or on our leaf peeping expeditions. ahhhhh. i miss it all. new england falls were my favorite! they do have apple orchards here, but most of them were destroyed when the typhoon struck earli...