this was a good week

This was such a good week!  Here's why:

•  Alex is learning how to play Santana's Black Magic Woman (which, by the way, I've always maintained was actually about a black "magic woman," and not a "black magic" woman), and I couldn't be happier, because the thought of my black "magic daughter" playing this beautiful song warms the cockles of my heart.

•  Love around the world.  Yeah, baby.  (And did you hear?  We're bringing back #LoveTuesday -- every Tuesday, share your own images of love on Instagram, and tag 'em.  'Cause what the world needs now is love, sweet love.)

•  Xanthe shared her five favourite frames she shot in January -- proving that looking for light is always a good thing.  (Also -- I kind of love the idea of "five favourite frames," don't you? Hmmm....)

•  And speaking of photography, eight still life photographers have committed to a year of making movies.  They're just beautiful. I so want to do this.

•  Next week is Carnival in Trinidad, and one of the fixtures of Carnival is the moko jumbie, or stilts-walker.  This year, Trinidadian artist and costume designer Peter Minshall (whose work you might be familiar with if you watched the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics) designed this amazing moko jumbie as a ballerina -- a "dying swan".   (Fun fact:  Peter Minshall went to high school with my dad; and I went to high school with Maria Nunes, the photographer behind that gallery.)  Gorgeous.

•  Good Lord.  These are a sight better than the latchhook rugs I used to make when I was 12.

•  My sweet friend Melissa was featured in a huge local magazine spread.  Melissa is the founder of an organization called Bayou City Blessings in a Backpack, and it's her personal mission to make sure that 758 kids at two elementary schools here in Houston each have a backpack full of healthy food to take home for their families on weekends, food that they wouldn't otherwise have access to, so that they continue to be nourished and can come to school ready to learn on Mondays.   I love it when good people get recognized for great things.

•  And for today's soundtrack, Beck reimagines David Bowie's "Sound and Vision."  It's very weird, but very awesome, and uses everything from a gospel choir to a symphony to bluegrass instruments to a didgeridoo to... well, you name it.  Grab a cuppa, and then click here or the image below to watch.

On that oddly spellbinding note, have a wonderful weekend, friends.