Hey, this works!

In my youth, I was enough of a morning person to be reliably awake at hours like this. I credit college buddy Ken Coviak with introducing me to the comfort of passing the morning hours in zombie mode -- I used to occasionally see him in the dorm cafeteria at breakfast. I'd join his table, then chatter away while he made random assenting noises from behind the newspaper he was reading. "Okay," I thought one morning. "I'm tired of carrying the conversation. I'll just sit here and read the newspaper, too."

It was so calming, so quiet and peaceful. Something went click inside me. All through the decades since, I've only been wakeful on mornings when I was leaving on a trip, and even that's not always reliable.

Which brings us to this morning, and my discovery of another, very-welcome trigger for morning wakefulness. I'd woken up after about 5 hours of sleep, read a little, fallen back asleep, and was vaguely contemplating the value of getting up and getting to work. There's rather a lot of it on my plate right now. Then the phone rang. Caller ID showed a welcome if surprising source of the call: Monson Flower Shop.

Yep, somebody's sent me flowers! I don't know who yet, but one of the habits of small town life that's different than my years in Minneapolis is that the flower shop typically calls to confirm someone is home before delivering flowers, especially in winter.

So I'm up, awake, and working, all in happy anticipation of the flowers that are on their way. Coolness.

There's nothing like...

...an over-the-top, utterly gorgeous bouquet of flowers to totally make my day. Thank you, Mitch and judith_dascoyne! What a lovely welcome home, and much-appreciated expression of your condolences.

Daffodils and tulips and irises and snapdragons and delphiniums and cards and daisies and those flowers I know, whose name I always forget, and those other little flowers whose names I don't think I've ever know, and...and....

They're bright and cheering. The vase is elegant. And the whole arrangement stands 2.5 feet tall!

I've tried several photos, but none do it justice yet. I'll try again later, when I can play more with the lighting.

Pretty. Pretty. Pretty. So good.

Thank you.