Today was Rudi’s birthday, which he wanted to spend doing karaoke, since one of his bikey friends runs a couple such events around town, including one on the rooftop of a hotel downtown.

Here are three other beautiful things from my past week:

1. At the Funk Parade on Saturday, the parade and other free activities were supposed to wrap up with an hour-long performance by the Chuck Brown Band. (Chuck Brown was the Godfather of Go-Go, a type of funk, and D.C.’s favorite musician before he died a couple years back. His band has continued to perform under his moniker and in his honor.) The skies opened up toward the end of the parade (you felt for dancers doing splits in puddles and the beauty queens in their spangled bikinis mincing through the chilly mist) and by the time their set began, a steady drizzle was coming down. They only made it into their second song before a loud CRACKLE! punctuated the music and the mics went dead. They paused, realized they’d completely lost electricity and then went on to perform every jam and call-and-response song in their repertoire, as the crowd boogied under a rainbow of umbrellas. We cheered through The Woody Woodpecker theme song and riffs from other popular soundtracks and then went wild and sang along for Chuck’s biggest hit, “Bustin’ Loose.” It was understandably a short set, but one everyone in the park will remember.

2. My attention is captured by the colorful disco lights flashing in a living room window. Happy-looking couples are slow dancing on a Thursday.

3. As we’re riding home along the Rock Creek bike path, we notice a great blue heron flying by. Then I spy three more hanging out in the creek itself, along with a night heron. Obviously, it’s a party.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately?