Fluorescent Orange Tangerine

You may have occasionally heard me say that there is a pronounced lack of color and beauty here. Well I have been seriously put in my place about the allegation of no color, we have been having unrelenting sandstorms since the beginning of the week which is something akin to a snowstorm in terms of visibility.  However, typically I think disgusting would be adjective I'd pick to describe a sandstorm as opposed to breathtaking to describe snow. 

The sand hangs heavy in the air which blocks all the sunlight and the earthen particles fly up into your nostrils, into your eyes, when you swallow your throat has a gritty, charred taste and when you run your hands through your hair a lovely flaking of not dandruff, but dust drifts off your head.

This time, however, I awoke in the afternoon at 3:00pm and opened my door to head to the women's latrine. Before me looked like something out of a Stephen King movie or a scene from Nightmare on Elm Street. Everything around me, the sky, the air and all the objects in view were tinted a fluorescent orange tangerine color. Nothing retained it's original color, it was like walking through an eerie nightmare. You couldn't see someone approaching until the emerged out of the stagnant orange mist and they were gone just as soon as they appeared. It was an incredible phenomenon.

Today I awoke to sunny skies and heavy heat and we are officially back to Baghdad weather. Which I confess is quite fortunate because the sandstorms really shut things down. There is no mail, no shipment of food or items for the PX, but I stand corrected on desert colors. Orange was a site to see.