Conference sketch: Peter Robinson appears these days minus the glasses that bridged his nose for the decades he has held East Belfast and long before.
Thanks to laser surgery he can now see without corrective lenses - a minor miracle of sorts, he told The Irish Times privately.
It wasn't the only miracle witnessed by the DUP in recent times.
As an answer to prayer, the Rev Ian Paisley told hundreds of delegates, God delivered the miracle of Dunkirk at the nation's darkest hour.
"In the Battle of Britain, our nation prayed and we were miraculously delivered from the threatened invasion," he said.
"In the Battle of Europe, our nation prayed and the miracle of the Normandy landings took place," he added.
There was the unsaid suggestion that the eclipse of the Ulster Unionists, the surge in the DUP vote, the nine MPs and 180 councillors were additional minor miracles of sorts.
Then there was the puzzling attack on President McAleese who, he claimed, was a critic of the police who played fast and loose with protocol when she visited.
"I don't like the President of the Irish Republic . . . because she's dishonest. She pretends to love this province," he accused.
If the Lord works in mysterious ways, it was no more apparent than during a conference panel discussion on education. With the future of second-level schooling in some doubt and the 11-plus transfer test due for abolition in 2008, the party looked to the future with some trepidation.
Helped by the likes of an eminent grammar school headmaster, the former head of the Civil Service and a representative of a parents'
lobby group, the conference whipped up more than a little anxiety about the future for the next generation. Quite why there is such dedication to a schools system under which so many young Protestants have underperformed is difficult for the outsider to understand.
Equally curious was the choice of Robbie Williams's anthem, Angels, which played immediately after the Doc's speech and throughout the recess.
Williams, I'd wager, is no Bible fundamentalist - maybe his position on the Union makes up for the bad-boy image.