this was a good week

This was a good week!  Heres why:

•  Tons of brainstorming, and getting ready to attend the Be Conference in Austin this weekend.  (The conference starts Sunday afternoon, and tickets are still available, use coupon code Karen99 for a huge discount -- $200 off, bringing the price to only $99!)

• A couple married for 37 years always wears matching outfits.  This is adorable.  (However, do not expect Marcus and me to do this:  I think only one of us should ever wear bad Hawaiian shirts, and that person will never be me.)

•  Barcelona, backwards.  So cool.

•  Horses, underneath.  So weird.

•  This madman -- er, I mean, intrepid traveler -- made it across the Atlantic on a stand-up paddleboard, and raised almost half a million dollars to help impoverished children in the process.  Amazing -- and I gotta admit that these days, when people put their personal safety on the line to help people in need, I can't help but be really impressed.

•  My very sweet friend, photographer Stephanie Calabrese, was featured in the New York Times this week!  You should check out her work:  she shot it all with an iPhone.  I so need to up my iPhonography game.

•  And finally, for today's song of the day, a performance of the earliest piece of music ever written for the keyboard, c. 1360.  Click here or the image below to listen.

Dated ca.1360, the Robertsbridge Codex contains the earliest surviving music written specifically for keyboard. This surprising Estampie has the word "Retrove" written atop the manuscript, but the calligraphy is not clear and others think it says "Petrone" (perhaps the composer's name?).

Have a great weekend, friends.