Yesterday was Don’s one day off, so we went to Lou Mitchell’s again for breakfast (I had French Toast this time) and then walked to the Art Institute.

The day started out sunny but quickly turned gray. (Today is sunny…fingers crossed!)

I hadn’t been to the Art Institute for many years. The very first time I went there was for the King Tut exhibition and that’s a long, long time ago. Don had never been there. Not surprisingly, he fell in love with it. There’s so much to see and far too much to cover in one visit, so we’ll be going back again. Yesterday, we concentrated on the Impressionists and some of the sculpture and the Thorne Rooms, but I had to go through those rather quickly, so more on another day.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat.

This is one of my favorite paintings. It is painted in the pointillist style – all of the paint strokes are dots. It’s truly incredible. That’s Don, contemplating this magnificent creation. He kept going back to it.

So many artists represented: Monet, Manet, Gaugin, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Cézanne, Morisot. This time I was struck by the works of Renoir. Perhaps because I love color so much, his paintings really moved me. Instead of the more muted tones of many impressionist paintings, his works used vivid colors. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

We also visited the famous Thorne Rooms, composed of miniature scenes of different periods of design. They are incredible. I’d seen them in the past, but that was before I grew to love miniatures later in life. This time, I was stunned by their detail. But Don was getting tired (we’d done a lot of walking and he is constantly on the move in rehearsals and performances) so we decided that we’d return another day. We need to see the Chagall windows and American Gothic and Edward Hopper and Picasso and a whole lot more.

One of the Thorne Miniature Rooms. If you’re curious, Google “Thorne Miniatures” and you’ll find out the history of these incredible creations.

One of my favorites: a miniature Pullman car.

We stopped by the gift shop, where we bought some T-shirts (because you know we love our T-shirts) and a few other things, among them, a book on the Thorne Miniatures.

Then we came back to the apartment, ordered Thai food, and took it easy for the rest of the night.

Taken on our walk to the museum.

And I thought you’d like to see a picture of the proud uncle and his adorable nephew, taken by another adorable nephew.

If that doesn’t warm the cockles of your heart, nothing will!

Today: a more low-key day. Don has rehearsal this afternoon. I’m feeling stuffed up. I’ll probably walk to Whole Foods to buy a few more essentials. By the way, there is  an opening night, it’s tomorrow. So, since Don gets a free ticket, I’m going. This will be my third opening for this musical, Don’s fourth. Will Jimmy be there? Who knows?

Happy Tuesday.