One of these Sunday's I'm actually going to have the post scheduled ahead of time, to hit the blog Sunday morning, rather than scrambling to edit and finish it up, early Sunday afternoon, like I have been doing.
This past week has been a roller coaster; that's the only way I can think of to describe it. At least it's been a short one. Between coming back from a long weekend in Maine where we worked and then played pretty hard, to Meg's accident and then a weekend spent trying to convince Gaby that letting her clean up her own messes would indeed teach her something valuable (she's still not swayed!), and lastly, realizing that both our FURminators are lost...forever; well, I'm glad it's Sunday!
By the way, how do two FURminators just up and disappear? If I didn't know better, I'd say the cats were complicit in this somehow. Lord knows, they hate being FURMinated. Oh well, they're ALL getting lion cuts soon enough, so I suppose we'll just live with the furry-tumbleweeds until then.
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Back when I wrote this post, I needed an image of a rabbit hole and that's how I stumbled upon East Side Patch.
From his "About the ESP and My Camera" page:
"The East Side Patch documents the development of a garden from a flat plane of Bermuda grass to absolutely no Bermuda grass at all. It tracks the journey of the garden and the gardener as new insights are gleamed, new insects are spotted and new bottles of sea-weed emulsions are administered."
What first caught my eye was his photography. WOW! AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! And then I was further drawn in by his amazing green thumb and his lovely descriptions of this and that around the East Side Patch. Then I noticed a certain cadence to his words that had me wondering if he was indeed from the same part of the world that my very own hubby hails from. Indeed! The man behind ESP is an Englishman who was raised in Scotland, who has lived over here in the states for the last fifteen years.
I think one of the reasons I enjoy his blog so much is because of his way with plants. He has quite the green-thumb and there is a peaceful beauty to the wildness that is the East Side Patch. I'll never possess the skills necessary to maintain anything even remotely resembling his garden, so I'll admire from afar and live vicariously through his efforts.
I'm particularly fond of how he mixes modern pop culture references in with his posts! Some of my favorite posts from ESP include:
Looks Like - this isn't so much a post, as a continual catalog of photos he's taken (I think some might be borrowed) and he compares them with things they look like. For instance comparing how a moth and a jet fighter plane look a like, or even how similar a cactus bloom and Side Show Bob are!
Men in Blackfoot Daisies silliness and awesomeness all in one post! And I think this post has turned me into a fan of Mexican feather grass, too. I wonder if this stuff will grow in Maine? One of these days when we go back, if it will grown, I'm going to cover my yard in the stuff!
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I've been reading Cathy's beautiful labor of love, Noble Pig, for a long time now. At first glance you might think that she's simply a food and wine blog, but after a more than casual perusal of her archives you'll come to realize there is much more to the story of how Noble Pig is more than just a food and wine blog. Along with several weekly recipes and gorgeous food photography, it's the story of how Cathy came to realize her dream of starting a vineyard, from the ground up, in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Thus, Noble Pig Wine was born.
Cathy is "also a contributing writer for the Los Angeles based magazine, "One for the Table as well as a food writer and food-photographer for Davis Life Magazine." Her work "has also appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Huffington Post."
Some of my favorites from Noble Pig:
Gratineed Pineapple - this is every bit as tasty as it is gorgeous!
Cooking With Alcohol - Can I Leave it Out?
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Head on out to East Side Patch and Noble Pig and be sure to tell them I sent you!
Here's to a great week, which hopefully includes no auto accidents or plugged toilets!

