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Id been up since 3:30 a.m. (5-year-old P woke us up after a bad dream, but then she went right back to sleep. Meanwhile, I was up for the day.) February in New England is not for the faint-hearted; unfortunately, Im faint-hearted. The dark darkness does something to a person after a while.

Hours later (once the sun had finally joined the party), I was slumped in the living room chair, cereal in hand, when I looked up and saw:







I cried out, Oh God, not the flowers too!

But wait, look what happened next (scroll down to see - BD: "Oh, you're getting creative?"):













Could it be a midwinter miracle in Boston? Should I take it as a sign of better times to come? Nah, the tulips just needed water.

If only that worked for the rest of us.