barber shop

My husband goes to an old-time barber shop - Countryside Barber Shop on Brainard and 55th - complete with the striped pole and where he doesn't get his hair washed by a shampoo person. He likes it that way. The other day when he went in for a haircut, the phone rang. His barber answered the phone.

"Barber shop."

"Uh, huh - yup, that's okay if he's old. We take oldsters."

"Uh, huh - yeah, sometimes they're cranky. That's okay too."

"A MUZZLE?!!?? - Here, Joe, take this call."

Joe, another barber, took the call and hung up laughing.

The woman had called 411 and asked for the Barker Shop, a dog grooming shop on 55th in La Grange, close to the Countryside BARBER Shop. She was calling about her elderly, not too friendly dog.

Life in La Grange Park remix

When my column 'Life in La Grange Park' was put on hiatus by the Suburban Life last spring, I was at a loss. I really enjoyed writing the column, it was fun and I usually learned something new. So, I decided to start a blog about the village of La Grange Park - following the format of the column.





I will write stories about people, happenings, events, discoveries. I am always on the hunt for good stories, please keep me in mind - I will post your story here and hope to have many followers.





I wrote for the Suburban Life for nine years. During that time, I loved writing the column. I always had fun and mostly always learned something new.





Please email me at laurie@lagrangeparklive.com. Looking forward to hearing from you !

walking in the winter

This morning while I was out walking Mitch, my dog, I noticed that there were some yak trax tracks. Since we had our first snowfall of the year this past week, and it was frigid, there is still a lot of snow and ice on the sidewalks.

Yak Trax are the best! They are unique traction devices that strap onto the bottom of your shoe. When I discovered them a couple of years ago, we had a very icy winter. Mitch weighs 75 pounds and nearly pulls my arm out of the socket each time he sees a squirrel, so I needed to be stable on ice while walking him. After that winter, I have a pair of winter walking sneaks with Trax that are specially for walking on ice and snow.

I bought mine at the Competitive Foot in Western Springs. They are $29.95 for the Yaktrax Pro - a heavy duty version of the original Yaktrax. Yes, they are available on line and for less money, but when we spend our dollars here in the community, they stay in the community. The owners of the Competitive Foot are neighbors of mine in La Grange Park.