When I began blogging back in 2008 I had to pick a name for the blog. So what’s with toadsdrinkcoffee? To be sure, the name of this blog might perplex or even repulse some. However, it makes more sense if you know how it came about.
From 1981 to 2014, we lived in a house named Toad Hall. Thirty-three long years. Toad Hall was an imaginative designation from our children who thought the old house looked like the mansion where Toad lived in the book Wind in the Willows. This, in part, because they were little people at the time and were used to the low-slung adobes of New Mexico. It might have been more sophisticated had we named our home something more chic or artful like Cascade Creek Cottage and then we’d sound, if not look, a bit more charming. But we’re stuck. The “drinkcoffee” half of the blog name is no surprise. We love coffee. I don’t like to think of it, umm, as if I’m addicted, but I suppose if you have a nervous breakdown from accidentally drinking decaf, you do need it. So I confess: regular, steaming, cold-pressed, iced in summer, laced with cream or milk – just the sound of the grinder or the teakettle heating water for the French press – makes me happy. Coffee is a way of comforting friends and strangers. So, if you come by, I might offer you a cup of my favorite bean, Ethiopian Yergacheffe.
And finally, there is this about the name: I fancy a toad would like the word BLOG. It speaks her language: blog-blog – it would remind her of her damp, marshy home and she’d check it out? Right. It’s ludicrous to pretend toadsdrinkcoffee could replace a latte in real space and time, but I’d still like to think if you stepped into our living room or blog you’d feel safe, a little bit at home, and that we could talk about anything. And a final warning: if you are looking for perfect grammar and punctuation, go somewhere else. I’ve never been good with commas and I know how bitter that makes some people feel. I suggest a 20 ounce coffee with a triple depth charge, and you’ll be more apt to overlook a lot of things that upset you.
Update: This post is based on my very first entry into blogging back in 2008. In May of 2014, after thirty-three years in Rochester, we moved from Toad Hall to a new home we call the House Between where I continue to intermittently blog, plundering the ordinary days of our life together, but still keep this name.
