Tasty Trivia

Looking for something fun to do in these dark, long evenings? Try your skill at the La Grange Park Library’s inaugural trivia night, “Tasty Trivia,” to be held this coming Saturday, November 10. The event will raise funds needed to update the Children’s Department Activity Room.




US99 radio’s Drew Walker will test your knowledge of food, books and movies with food and more as the master of ceremonies at the library’s first Trivia Night fundraiser. Just $15 in advance ($20 at the door) gets you in the game. Teams of up to eight people are welcome, but you don’t have to be on a team to play.



Doors open at 6:30 p.m., games begin at 7:00 p.m. Desserts and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase, or BYOB.



“We’re going to provide you with food for thought,” said Susan Fagan, fundraising committee chair. “We are looking forward to bringing the community together for a fun evening and a great cause.”



Come join the smorgasbord of fun!

Wildlife in La Grange Park

When I walked outside the other day with my dog, Mitch for his afternoon walk, I heard rustling in our front tree. It is a large Norway maple, 30 years old with lots of branches and tons of leaves. Squirrels abound in our yard, especially at this time of year, when they are digging up my tulip bulbs for their winter meals. I figured it was a couple of squirrels on a chase down the tree.

Suddenly, I saw something fall from the tree, as if it were pitched at a great speed. It landed with a big thunk on the sidewalk. It sounded like a hammer had hit the deck. It was a baby squirrel, lying there, twitching. I figured he was a goner.

When we returned from our walk, I glanced at the baby and saw that its eyes were open, but the animal still was not moving. I told my husband, brave soul that I am, if I have a choice, I will ask someone else to cart away carnage. He went out with a dustpan and a broom.

When he approached the little guy, he was on all fours, a bit groggy, but definitely alive. He poked the baby animal with a broom and the poor thing started squeaking. Within a couple of moments, the mom squirrel dashed down the tree, grabbed her baby in her mouth and scaled back up to the nest.

As we were discussing this strange occurrence on our front porch, a parental squirrel was in our tree next to the house, chittering away. We figured she was thanking us.

Springtime in Fall

Last week as I was walking down my driveway, I caught a glimpse of purple on my aged lilac bush. In recent years, autumn clematis has crawled up the lilac and graced the top with lovely white flowers and the unique fragrance of fall. But purple? I thought it was one of my unruly morning glories that made its way up the bush.




I looked closer: it was a lilac! This bush is probably 60 or 70 years old and I have lived in my house adoring these lilacs for 34 years – adoring them in the spring. But the fall? Never.

I even cut one and brought it in the house so I could capture the delicious aroma. It was a small flower and there were just a few on the bush; certainly not the prolific flowering that is typical around Mother’s Day.



But this past spring, by Mother’s Day, the lilacs were already spent, having bloomed in mid March when we were “unseasonably warm.” March to September = 6 months.



Wonder what Spring 2013 will bring?

Uh-oh

I own a mailing service, Alpha Omega. I am continually at the La Grange post office where I drop mail, pick up mail trays and conduct any other business to do with mail. The deadline for turning in bulk mail is 3:00 p.m., so I am usually barreling down the street at about 2:49, hoping to catch the light at Kensington and Ogden Avenue.

Since the carriers mill around the dock till about 9:00 a.m., I have made it a habit to stay out of there until at least 9:30. So, it was unusual for me to be running to the post office at 8:00 a.m. to get some mail trays.

I was on Ashland, heading north. I stopped at the stop sign, glanced both ways, thought to myself, "Nah, I don't want to go up to La Grange Road, I have an opening, I am going to jump across Ogden."

Even though I am at that corner thousands of times a month, I have never really read - or at least it didn't register - the sign that indicates there is right turn only allowed at certain times of the day, 8:00 a.m. being within the time restraint.

As I glanced in my rear view, of course I saw a police car behind me, flashing his lights.

Uh-oh.

He calmly walked to my door and said, "I was hoping you were going to turn right. Right turn only is allowed at that intersection at this time of day."

He then asked for my license. In my trips where I just 'buzz' to the post office, I routinely leave the house without my purse.

Oh-oh.

"I don't have my license with me. I just ran out to get some mail trays, blah, blah."

"Hm," he says. "Can I see your insurance card?"

That I did have and proudly handed it over.

He said, "Just a moment." He went back to his car with the flashing lights.

He once again approached the driver's side and asked when my birthday was. I told him. He wrote it on his hand and once again walked back to his car.

When he came up to my car again, he had bad news.

"You have two moving violations: one for not adhering to the right turn restriction and the other for driving without your license. That carries a penalty of your having to come to the station with me and posting a $120 bond."

Oh, great, I think. How can you post a bond when you don't have your purse? Instead of speaking those thoughts out loud, I simply nod.

He then says, "I don't usually do this, but we have the same birthday, so I am going to let you go."

"WOW, thanks, I say - and we celebrate with ....."

"Michael Jordan," he says. So, I know he was telling the truth.

Ain't Grandparenting Grand?

Before my granddaughter was born six months ago, I would listen with some interest to other new grandparents extolling the virtues of grandparenting. I would nod politely, oooh and aah about the photos that were seemingly endless and give my heartfelt congratulations to the new family. Along with the initial conversation would be comments from the new grandparent that went along the line of - "Wait till you have your own grandbaby...you will know what I am talking about."

Going through the pregnancy with my daughter was fun; we had a shower at home with many relatives and close friends. I called her every day to see how she was feeling - an unusual occurrence as sometimes days would go by without our speaking, but not while she was pregnant. After the diagnostic ultrasound, we knew that the baby was going to be a girl. I wasn't sure if my daughter was going to tell the masses, but she did leave a flowering pink plant on our porch with a balloon stating that she was in fact expecting a girl.

Wow, a girl. We secretly referred to her as 'Baby Lulu.' Names were tossed around, but I kept telling the mommy-to-be that even though she may have picked her all-time favorite name for her new baby daughter, she may well change her mind once she gazed upon that little face.

Charlotte Mae was born on September 13, 2011. Beautiful, of course.

Everything I heard about how wonderful being a grandmom is is true...tenfold, one hundred fold. I am very lucky in that I get to see Charlotte (and my daughter!) a few times a week and I never, no matter how busy I am, pass up a chance to be with that little baby. She is the light of my life, the heart of my heart. I have hundreds of pictures of her on my phone and I am of course perfectly willing to show anyone who will look at them.

I heard something that most closely describes how I feel about being a grandparent. I was talking to a woman who was awaiting the birth of her first grandchild and she was asking me how I felt. I tried to get my feelings into words and she nodded and said, "That's what everyone says." But what she told me was the best definition I have heard thus far:

"..having a grandchild is like falling in love the first time. It is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night."

I hope I see you today, Baby!

The Cat Groomer

Before grooming

My cat, Virginia McCatskey (namesake of the grand dame of football, Virginia McCaskey, owner of the Chicago Bears) is formidable. Not only formidable in attitude, and personality, but size as well. She is a beautiful, long-haired calico with a haughtiness that is unmatched in the feline world. She is also - how do I put it delicately – tubby. Because of her rotund shape and long hair, she has difficulty cleaning herself.




Recently upon a visit to the La Grange Park Cat Clinic, I noticed they have a service called ‘sanitary clipping.’ Just what the old girl needs. I take her there every eight weeks or so to have this service performed. Keeping ‘the area’ clean helps prevent infection and bad odor. While I was there, I picked up a brochure from The Cat Groomer and this week, I called on her to restore my kitty’s dignity and beauty.



Cheryl Maibusch refers to herself as a trifecta. She has some unique offerings to cat owners: 1) she is a cat groomer; 2) she is a certified cat groomer and 3) she comes to your house.



Cheryl has a very cool, fully equipped tall van that proudly announces that she is The Cat Groomer. She arrived about noon the other day with her able assistant, Kristin Davis. I was curious as to how the whole operation works, so Cheryl gave me a quick tour of the inside.



The van is very clean, warm and has a washing station, a drying station and also a special clear plastic box where kitty is placed with not-so-intense drying and relaxation after the trauma of the bath. It is in this box that Cheryl places her hands through holes on the side of the box and grooms, cuts, brushes your cat.



Cheryl has photos that she will show you to determine the length that you would like your cat, whether you want a mane or whether you want the lion cut, where the body is shaved, the tail is shaved but for a poof on the end and the head is left mane-like. Virginia has magnificent spots on her body, so I like them to show. I left it up to Cheryl’s discretion as to how the cat’s head and mane would be trimmed.

Though I did not venture into the van during the actual coiffing, I did not hear any screeches coming from the driveway. From all reports, Virginia did quite well and was very pleased with her new look. She gazed at us all day with confidence in knowing that she looks beautiful. Still tubby, but beautiful…and clean!

Contact the Cat Groomer at 630-432-1799 or view her website at TheCatGroomer.com.



Kristin Davis



The Cat Groomer



Cheryl, the trifecta of cat grooming





The lovely Virginia









Book Club

As book clubs go, everyone who participates in one thinks hers (or his) is the best. Evidence in the Saturday Chicago Tribune who publishes a Chicagoland Book Club every week. There is surely a wait list for that space.

Our book club, Ladies of the Evening, or LOTE was formed almost 20 years ago as an offshoot of parenting classes that were held at Ogden Avenue School. We all had kids at school at the time and the start time of our monthly meeting was 8:30 to ensure bedtime was met for the kids. 8:30 sometimes stretched into 9:00 actual start time, but we were younger then...like 20 years younger!

When I got married in 1977, my mother-in-law played bridge with a group of ladies in her neighborhood. She told me that they have 'granny showers' in honor of each grandchild that is born to one of the ladies in the bridge group. I tucked that idea away, hoping that someday I would have a group like hers and that we too could celebrate the births of our grandchildren.

Happily, our group has a few grandchildren and we have thus had a few granny showers. Gifts can be either for the grandbaby or the grandmom - books, picture frames, hooded towels, photo albums, anything fun to celebrate the grand event.

But we had a special occasion to celebrate this year:  a wedding! Lori Sands married Cris Martinez in October and at the next monthly meeting, we decided to have a wedding shower. The hostess of the evening, Maureen Hernandez, went digging around the basement and found an old Skipper doll of her daughter's already dressed for the day. Maureen fashioned a bundt cake with an extra layer on a beautiful footed cake stand, frosted in white buttercream and adorned with fresh raspberries.



And the gift for the new bride? Flannel pj's with matching slippers...we are, after all 20 years older!

Proud members of the Ladies of the Evening are: Shelley Cameron, Maureen Hernandez, Judi Kaminski, Marian Lynch, Lori Sands Martinez, Marcia June Scharnweber, Nancy Schwerin, Pat Sirchio, Betty Waterman, Pam Zadak and me.