This week's nugget ratio: 71% favorable, 29% unfavorable.

1.  The annual Blueberry Run with friend Ann to Stateline Blueberries in Michigan City, IN (5 stars on Yelp).  Closer than Michigan, and better.  We each picked 5 pounds in 45 minutes flat.  They even have bathrooms and soap-on-a-rope to wash your purple hands. 

Molto reubene.

U-Pick, U-Eat.

2.  Our pickfest was followed by a delectable banh mi-style sandwich and an equally nice reuben at her cousin Joe’s deli, David’s Delicatessen, in neighboring New Buffalo, Michigan (4.5 Yelp stars).

3.  Miniature golfing at Novelty Golf & Games in Lincolnwood this past Tuesday.  In operation for over 60 years.   You know, that place you always whiz by on the way home from the equally legendary Dairy Star (4 stars), with huge pine trees and a big Frankenstein head, and you think, “yeah, someday I need to go there?”  Well, you do need to go - in fact, Groupon ran a 2-for-1 deal just today for the place.  Authentically old school, with not one but two fiberglass chickens and hand-painted signs featuring the Fonz, reminding you to dress properly. The glow of the yellow bug lights against the evening sky still thrills me as it did when I was a teen mini-golfing at the place next to Kiddieland on North Avenue.  Even our 21^st-century crew enjoyed it.

Del Stater's Rabbit Hut it ain't.

4.  Putt-putt golf in Lincolnwood must, of course, give way to subpar soft-serve swirl cones at the Bunny Hutch immediately to the north.  Who cares if Oberweis is packing them in across the street?  It’s critical to go to these old places because…. 

Off-the-hook waffle from Pat's Place.

5.  …well, because they might go away.  I was chopfallen to discover that Pat Bellos of the incredible Pat’s Place in Skokie lost a fight with her landlord and had to close her restaurant recently after many decades of service.  She says she’ll reopen but she doesn’t know where.  I have often envisioned growing old and taking all my meals there (breakfast and lunch) – read my rapturous Yelp reviews of the place here.

6.  Coming in from a lie-down on our new patio sofa just now to discover that I do, in fact, have ants in my pants.  

7.  If you squint right, my Blogger graph looks just the tiniest bit like the top of Batman's head.

james brown: exciting but not sexy.

The day we acquired an excellent 4-cd set of James Brown's hits called "Star Time" back in 1991, I became a huge JB fan.  And I still am.  But here's the thing.  He sings about sex all the time but actually he's not very sexy.  Was not sexy, at least not to me.  He was shaped kind of weird - like James T. Kirk if he'd gone to seven seasons - and the older, messed-up JB is just too sad to mention.

Certainly James Brown was unbelievably dynamic, what with the fast footwork, the hollering, and the crazy split-second timing, but, well, I don't know.  When I recently contemplated him yelling about wanting to be a sex machine, it grossed me out a little.  Maybe JB had incredible personal charisma and the ladies who met him could not resist his charms.  As for me, I find JB incredibly invigorating - for cleaning up the living room.

PS - thanks, American Husbandry, for backing me up on this one - at least by pointing out that James Brown's music is not appropriate for getting your significant lady or man friend in the mood.

PPS - I love "Get on the Good Foot" so much, it was my ringtone for years, and would still be if I could find it for my Credo Mobile phone.

PPPS - Experimenting with pushing my blog posts to FB via Twitterfeed.  I can't comment or post or I'll get sucked back into the vortex, but I do lurk occasionally and like to send/receive messages in FB.  Thanks for reading!