20 hrs. of fabulousness

g's coming over in a few minutes, but i must at least start telling you about leah's trip here! it was even better than i had imagined. really wonderful, and much to short. no wonder i was so excited!
leah arrived about an hour late, and she successfully found her way to the sears tower. she met ch and jack and jim (!) and then we went to the art institute. it was so fun to go through my fave galleries with someone who knows alot about art history. what famous paintings are here? she aked when we were getting our tickets. i said, the saurat, waterlilies, etc. i was rather terrible about it- we kept walking in on paintings i'd forgotten. picasso's blue guitarist is one of her favorite paintings, and she was so surprised and charmed to see it here. also, the rene magrette with the train and the fireplace. van gogh's bedroom. i kept going, oh yeah, that one too! she laughed at me. if we lived in the same city... well, if we lived in the same city, we'd be dangerous. she's gonna teach me to apriciate modern scupture. just wait. i asked her what she thinks of pollock, and she shocked me by telling me, almost word for word, what I think of pollock. it was a pretty awesome moment. we do like different things, but it's fun to meet old friends together- and also to explain to each other what is so marvelous about something particular. i'm embarrased to say we almost skipped the surrealist wing- there are only a few things i like there, not alot of bright colors. but she loves joseph cornell, and the art inst. has a million of his boxes. i've never really noticed them before, and it was so cool to see her enthusiasm and have her explain to me why they are so marvelous. and she really loved my fave magrette, too, i was glad. it's the one with the red sun in the middle of the black forest silloette. we did a quick run through my fave asian art, too- but they were all gone! there must be some sort of special exhibition. it was really delightful- that alone would have been enough to whet my appetite for lovely leah time, but there is so much more to come!