Adventures, we've had a few.

On Sunday, we headed to the Art Institute with three stops on our minds: the temporary exhibit "Henri Bresson-Cartier: The Modern Century"; Japanese screens; and the Thorne Miniature Rooms.

The visit was, as Miss M-mv(i) declared, "a comedy of disappointments." Spoiled by members-only hours for special exhibits, we were not prepared -- at. all. -- for how crowded "The Modern Century" was. It was difficult to move around, let alone to see, really see, the photographs.

Coming up for air, we headed into the Asian art galleries so that the girls could look at the Institute's collection of Japanese screens, a recent interest of theirs that began with Tosa Mitsuoki's Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maple with Poem Slips. Once there, we discovered that the pieces are off-exhibit! Argh! Well, thank goodness for the wonderful catalogue of last year's temporary exhibit "Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum!" (And, yes, three exclamation points.) We're hoping the reinstallation of the screens will be complete by late October, when we will head back to the museum for a member event celebrating the return of Chagall's American Windows.

Marianne Malone's novel The Sixty-Eight Rooms (related entry here), which is set in the Thorne Miniature Rooms of the Art Institute, led to our renewed interest in that permanent exhibit (emphasis on the word permanent -- heh, heh, heh). Our visit ended on a high note, then, as we had the place to ourselves and were able to linger over the rooms featured in story.

Our trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo is what really turned the day around, though: We spent about two hours wandering through the three bird houses, the small mammal and reptile house, and the Swan Pond, which is where the image above was taken.

Let's see. What else has kept the family-centered learning project busy lately? Ah, more art.

Sort of.

Our latest course at the local college will not yield much in the way of "artwork," I'm afraid -- nothing to frame or hang on the fridge or post here.

Still, we're learning a lot about color theory -- tones, tints, hues, color-mixing, etc. -- all of which are invaluable to the Misses' art education. As it turns out, Miss M-mv(i)'s interest in scientific illustration and raptor rehabilitation means degrees in science, not art, though -- according to most of the practitioners in those fields that we've met or read. I know. An interesting turn in events, eh?

And to round out this post, an announcement:

We rode nine miles this morning, bringing our total since Memorial Day to 476, which is just under three rides from our goal of 500 miles before we put the bikes in storage for the winter.

Yeah, we rock.

By the way, I had my first cycling spill this weekend. Heading into an incredibly steep hill (Yes, there are hills on the prairie!), I made a split-second decision to spare my right knee the stress and firmly gripped both hand brakes to ensure I wouldn't roll back while turning around. Like a skittish horse, my bike reared up, pitching me to the side of the road as the front tire reached a sixty degree angle from the path. My right leg is pretty torn up, and I find that at forty-six it's a little harder to just "shake off" that banged up, bruise-ish feeling. Still, I made it home from the ride. (We were at the halfway point when I fell.) And I rode again today. So it's all good... or at least doable.

And we're going to hit that 500-mile milestone. I can feel it.