Harmattan.  It's that time of year again.  Began officially back in November.  Won't be over until the big rains come back.  Takes three torrential rains before we declare it officially over for the year.  We call it "Dirty Season" around here.  It's when the winds blow off the Sahara.  The good news is that it lowers the humidity and prevents rain.  Sometimes the Harmattan haze is so bad it looks like LA during a bad smog day back in the '60s.  Harmattan tends to creep up on you.  We know it's there but don't really focus on it until Christmas is all packed up and put away.  Then we just tough it out until the rains come back by the end of February.  Hopefully.  You can dust at 8 a.m. and it looks like you haven't dusted for a month by 10 a.m.  Everything, absolutely everything is grimy.  The walls, the curtains, the walkways outside, plants, everything.  We dream of rain and better days.  It's really the only bad time of the year, weather wise.  Back in the States some people are shoveling snow (though not so much this year) while we are shoveling dirt!  It's just the way it is.  We'll live though it.  We've done so for 25 years.  We can do it again.  But we are dreaming of rain.  Wonderful, marvelous torrential rain that comes down in sheets.  There's nothing like it.