Last weekend the family took the Metra to downtown Chicago so I could have lunch with an ex-colleague of mine who just became a US citizen. Afterwards, we took the opportunity to take the girls to the Art Institute of Chicago. They did pretty good for 4 and 3, considering. Of course the museum is very stoic with nobody making a sound except Sierra (our 4 year old) talking in her normal voice saying things like “Look at that lion! He’s big.” or “You can see her bottom!” or “That’s a picture of Jesus on the cross” and the like. Pretty much every room we walked into she gasped and said something funny. Nobody looked upset and several commented that it was great to see a kid enthusiastic about art.
While we were there we checked out the Thorne Miniature Rooms exhibit. Basically an artist has taken rooms from various period homes and created exacting..and I mean exacting…detail models in miniature.
Here are two pictures of my favorite. If I ever get the chance to build my own cottage/farm house I think I would choose a mixture of the two kitchens below. The large fireplace and rustic look is just wonderful.
“Pennsylvania Kitchen 1752″
“English Cottage Kitchen of the Queen Anne Period, 1702-14″











