A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Every so often, I find myself wondering exactly why on earth anyone would choose to willingly live in a state like Michigan, which bows beneath the burden of gray, listless winter for most of the year. Then a day like today comes along and reminds me why I'm still here: there is simply nothing in the world so gorgeous as the first hints of a coming spring making their first tentative appearance from beneath mounds of melting snow. Today I took a drive with the car windows rolled down for the first time in forever. It's not spring quite yet, but I can't imagine there's much kick left in Old Man Winter after a nice warm day like today.