Well, I'm back where I started ... New Paltz, New York ... hanging with my friend Lorna, with whom I started this journey nine months ago. It's lovely countryside here, the weather is cool and the leaves are starting to turn, great for some necessary down time ... unfortunately I came back with a foot infection and, thanks to some snotty children on the plane, a cold. So I'm hobbling about the house sniffling and recovering from jet lag.

But I can't afford to do this for long. I have so much to do! Resize and organize all my photos, assemble my thoughts and create some kind of coherent presentation about what the this trip meant, and try to make some connections with people here who might want to help the environmental education project in Iraq.

Baghdad was a difficult place to work for the last few weeks ... trying to stay off the streets, always wearing hijab (only a useful disquise if I ran into very short-sighted Iraqis), being forced to use private cars instead of taxis ... all of this made my work harder and more frustrating. Now I can hardly believe that I'm free of that ... and in a place that is pretty much the polar opposite of Baghdad ... clean, quiet ... peaceful.

Things we take for granted.