What's in a Name?

The first dozen or so names I wanted for this blog were taken.  "Monkey Head," "Finger Music," "The View from Here."  Even "Message in a Bloggle" wasn't available.  Who knew?  I forgot to check "Who Knew?" but I'm sure it's taken too.

The title I ended up with comes from a famous passage in Walden:

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to route all that was not life.  To cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it and publish it to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

Henry David Thoreau, 1854

 This quote entered my pantheon when I was in my mid-twenties, and it has become something of a prayer for me.  Like most prayers it has been largely aspirational.  Parts of this passage ring deeply in me, and apparently this is true for others.  "I Went to the Woods" was taken.  So was "Suck Out All the Marrow."

I have some stories to tell, observations to make, recipes to share, and a questionable sense of humor. I will "give a true account of it." What I really hope is that you find your time here well spent.  I'll try not to abuse it.

Mark