Tag: art

Lena In Chicago

Lena arrived an hour after my friends from Helsinki left for the airport (and I am happy to report that despite the World-Wide-IT Crisis, they safely made it home). I barely finished washing the sheets and towels.

Lena brought lots of cherry-flavored goodies, some fresh pickles from her garden, and lots of enthusiasm for doing touristy things in Chicago. And if you ask me – I am always in!

Georgis O’keefee for the third time 🙂

What Are Saturdays For?

Yesterday was very hot, but today’s weather was going to be wild, so I tried to squeeze in as many out-of-the-house activities as possible. Some of my house guests objected, saying that they wouldn’t survive and that it would be even worse, so whatever I wanted to do with my guests this weekend had to be done on Saturday. It was great to spend Saturday doing fun stuff in the city instead of catching up with life as I do too often these days.

Here is how it went. As always, I started the day with a bike ride (a relatively short one, just an hour). Then I made breakfast: a baked apple pancake, scrambled eggs, and breakfast patties.
Then we went on the Architectural cruise. It was already burning hot by 10 AM, and Sonia could not possibly sit on the top deck for the whole duration of the tour, so I spent most of it sitting with her downstairs:). The rest of the party was entirely exhausted by the heat, but they still loved the views.

After the cruise, we cooled down in the Architectural Center

And then walked to the Art Institute because the Rayan Center was closed last week, and Sonia didn’t get a chance to do art.

As it often happens, parents do not mind doing the art either 🙂
Sonia drew Rogest Park Beach
Adults took turn to see the actual art exhibits.
Taking the bridge to Maggie Daley Park


And after that came Maggie Daley Park, and no matter how hot it was, those who wanted to do the climbing wall climbed, and those who wanted to explore Ship did so, and those who wanted to splash in the fountain, did so as well.

We finished the day at Acanto, and my highlight was a new dessert called lemoni. From the first glance, it looked like a lemon:

But then you crack it open, and…

In the end, everyone agreed it was a great day!

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Back To Tallinn

We returned to Tallinn at 8 PM and had a very late dinner at Pepper Sack:

I took the outside photo the next day, at daylight
Moose meatballs
Apple and raisin cinnamon crepes
Sorbet boat
The Holland-style Townhall photo
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Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit

I just mentioned it briefly, but I wanted to write about it “properly.” Not even to write – there is not much to say about it except that it is marvelous, but just to show the pieces I admired the most. And I am sure I will visit this exhibit many-many times…

:)

I got out of my office building and hopped on the J14 bus to get to the Art Institute. I was smiling, because I saw the Big News just twenty minutes before. And everybody was smiling. And those who didn’t smile when they got on the bus started smiling when they got themselves situated and took out their phones. The seats on the right and on the left of me started to fill as the bus was making stops. A lady on my right looked up at me and asked: Did you hear? Yes, I did! They were fast to decide! Well, not that fast … but I am glad it didn’t take days! Yes! And now the question is, what’s next!

I got off the bus and went straight to the Art Institute. Today was the first day of the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit preview. I almost never can make it to the first preview day, and that’s the best time to see a new exhibit with very few people attending. Miraculously, there was almost no line at the bag check, and the virtual line for the exhibit was also almost non-existent.

While I was there, I received several texts from my friends – Did you hear? – Yes, I did! I do not know how many people around me were answering similar texts, but there were a lot of smiles around. OK, this could be all for Georgia O’Keeffe 🙂

I knew were I wanted to go when I got out of the Art Institute – just across the road to Amorino!

Several new flavors, including biscotti and cinnamon:)

And when I got off the Red Line, I saw that sign by the Jarvis Square Tavern:

… I love living in Rogers Park!

Mini-Vacation In Boston. Day 2: More Art

Each art museum is different, and there is no such thing as “too much art.” It does not matter that we have the Art Institute in Chicago, it does not matter how many art museums I visited in my life. It does not matter how many Florentine icons I’ve seen in my life, or how many Monet’s or Van Gogh’s. Each one is a new one.

Can you guess who the artist is? I could not believe it when I read the name!
Maybe there are more chances to figure out who’s work is this one, but it was not obvious for me either.
And you can see the artist’s name here 🙂
Toulouse-Lautrec, of course!
Continue reading “Mini-Vacation In Boston. Day 2: More Art” →

Mini-Vacation in Boston Day 1 – Afternoon

After the Isabella Gardner museum, we went to the Massachuset Fine Arts Museum:

I am trying not to post too many artworks because my amateur photos do not do them any justice, but since I can’t talk about these artworks without showing them, I tend to post too many:). The picture below struck me, and when I read the story, it struck me even more.

And then to a Korean place for more desserts:

Mini-Vacation In Boston, Day 1 Morning

The first day went just perfect! The building where my friend live has a great gym

We went for breakfast to Tatte:

And then to the Isabella Gardner Museum:

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Guggenheim Museum

A surprising advantage of a large portion of the museum being closed for renovation was that I could focus on some interesting paintings and actually consider them.

I love Kandinsky, and I am usually very good at decoding his symbolism, but I had moderate success with his “Pleasures.” The only object I was able to undoubtfully identify was a fork on the right!
Surprising Picasso
Henry Russeau
Paul Gauguin – I never saw horses on his paintings
Gorgeous Van Gogh
Toulous-Lautrec!
And guess who’s painting is that one!

I also saw several interesting installations by women artists and a large exhibit of art made by children participating in the museum workshops. But as I said, I focused on a small number of paintings (and I am still intrigued by Kandinsky’s work – still wondering what to make out of it).

Saturday In Chicago

Anna and her Family visited me this weekend. They arrived on Friday night. On Saturday morning, we had a little kids’ concert, then we went to the Art Institute and Millennium Park and had dinner at my house.

I think it was one of the best Chicago weekends we had so far. This time, Kira actually sat and listened to the concert and was engaged all the time. Also, it was almost the first time when she wanted to see the exhibits before rushing to Ryan’s center. The projects that they had at Ryan’s center this time were probably the best we ever made: creating your own miniature rooms.

Anna said right away that she wanted to make her own project, too, not just helping the girls, so I ended up helping everyone:). It was a very fun project, indeed. Anna told Nadia that adults rarely do crafts, and Nadia asked why. We had to admit that there are no good reasons not to do them (and, in fact, some adults do quite a bit!).

Here is the music room Anna crafted (with a little bit of my help :))

Some other people’s crafts: