this was a good week

Oh, sweet friends:  this was a good week.  Here's why:

•  lt's the first week of Alex's summer vacation, I ran into an old friend, and the three of us are doing a little music-themed staycation tonight (keep an eye on Instagram to see more). Booyah.

•  Images from the final photoshoot of the late, great Muhammad Ali.  He was still such a powerful man.

•  And speaking of photos, lately I've been enthralled by the Instagram feed of Alisha Sommer -- it's so moody and delicious -- but you know who else has a gorgeous Instagram feed that's equally moody and delicious?  Halle Berry.  (Yes, that Halle Berry.)  I don't know how much of it is actually her work (apparently, at least one of the images was taken by her 8-year-old daughter!), but whoever the photographers are, they're doing a lovely job.

•  A 105-year-old artist continues to make beautiful art celebrating her Australian aboriginal roots.  That's thriving for ya, right there.

•  Speaking of art, artist David McGee is a friend of mine, and I stumbled across this old interview where he describes a particularly moving encounter with a European work of art.  I love it so.

•  And yet more art:  ceçi n'est pas un animal.  Amazing.

•  I'm going to try really hard to remember this advice.  It's not going to be easy.

•  And finally, for today's soundtrack:  this 5-minute video featuring an interview of the musical duo Chargaux.  They are both classically-trained string instrumentalists, who use their talents to create hip-hop -- and it's so beautiful, as soon as I watched this video, I downloaded their latest album.

Grab a cuppa and click here or the image below to listen to their words and music.

With that, have a great weekend, friends.