That's right - it's gonna be a rockin' October, as per the Modern Gal.

Badge design by Amanda Dawn.

One of my first essays for college was titled "Five Weeks in a Foreign Land." This was for an English class and I think it was supposed to be an assignment where we introduced ourselves to the teacher.

I wrote about my experiences of living in the United States for five weeks and the strangeness of it all.

This past August, I marked 10 years of having been in this country. I can't believe I've lived here for a decade. It's all gone by in a blur. And there are many days where I still feel like I live in a foreign land.

Being a Zambian-Indian-American I don't feel at home anywhere. Zambia is done. India was never really there. And America still feels new. So where is home for me? Currently the closest feeling of home is where my folks live. But when will the idea of my own home settle in so that I don't need to travel to Rolla to feel that?

As you can probably gather, there is a lot of ambivalence about the anniversary, and I'm not sure how I feel. Looking back, I remember those teenage dreams that were idealistic, and that never took into account the real world.

The anniversary has forced me to be more introspective and try to examine what it is I'm looking for and where it is I'm heading. Because I don't want the next 10 years to be a blur. It's quite sad when life is moving too fast so that when you look back, you have to ask yourself, "What the heck did I do these past 10 years?" Sure there were many great things I did and experienced. But why are those memories hard to recall?

I miss the simpler times where time was slow and you could savor each moment so it became ingrained in you mind. I miss those chai at six moments.

Apologies for this all-over-the-place post. I figured a more introspective post would be a good one for your blog reader.

I toured three regional farms on Sunday as part of the Market Square Farmer's Market "To the Source" farm tours. And aside from getting muddy, it was a great experience. It was interesting to hear how the farmers are trying to stay as natural as possible in growing their produce. You won't here of too much chemicals being used by them.

If you are interested in future farm tours, visit the their web site. And who knows, you could see me on a future tour too!

Below are some photos of the tour.


Fields of strawberries from Tidwell's Berry Farm.


Strawberries for purchase from Tidwell's Berry Farm. You can't beat the price at $2.45 a quart.


Chickens running amok at River Ridge Farms.


The cute but smelly pigs at River Ridge Farms. They had installed an electric fence around the enclosure, and it sucked to watch the pigs not remember the fence being there and therefore be slightly jolted and squeal from the small shock.


Freshly picked eggs from the hens at River Ridge Farms.

During my whirlwind 32 hour trip to Las Vegas, I spent Thursday night galivanting about The Strip trying to take it all in. Toward the end of the night, I took this photo. Can you guess what it is?

Answer is below the photo.



It's looking up at Harrah's Casino and Hotel. Pretty neat, huh?!

This photo was taken as part of a Fundamentals of Photography II class field. We went to Volunteer Landing to take photos in low light.

It was a neat experience, though a tripod would have been really valuable to have with the long shutter-speeds. If I do decide to invest in this expensive hobby that is photography, I will prolly purchase a flash first.

I used the hand-railing to steady the camera and used a several second shutter speed.

This is the plate of little cookies I was given at Bouchon as part of my dessert. How lovely! They were quite delicious!