A (semi)-eventful autumn day in North Carolina

This was one of those delightful autumn family Saturdays that I will always remember and treasure. It was not exceptionally eventful; it was just the right degree of eventful.

Uncle Greg sets the "autumn day" tone strolling with Ianite past a rustic split-log fence among colorful deciduous trees.




The "North Carolina" portion of this day is that, in spite of the New England-style feel of the previous picture, the balmy 80-degree temperatures robbed us of the sort of crispness one would typically associate with pictures like the one above.

The reason for our outing was a rendezvous with some of my family members. As it turns out, Ian's first cousin once removed Lauren and Ian's second cousin Ryan were in town. I should probably stop there and explain for those not as well-versed in genealogical terminology. I am well-versed in genealogical terminology to the extent that Elaine pulled up the Wikipedia article on her iPhone in order to correctly characterize Ian's relationship to Lauren and Ryan and satisfy my burning genealogical curiosity. It turns out that second cousins share great-grandparents, and Ian's great-grandparents George H. and Katherine McVey are the same as Ryan's - ergo, second cousins. Lauren is Ryan's mother (my first cousin, because she and I share grandparents - the very same aforementioned McVeys), so she is Ian's second cousin once removed.

Now that we have straightened out the genealogies, I should tell you that Ryan is an accomplished athlete. If I were a more gauche fellow, I would say that he plays on a 15-and-under travel soccer team. But, as I said, that would be gauche. Ryan plays on the Charlotte United (or Charlotte U., to aficionados) Fútbol Club (again, Club de Fútbol, to aficionados). They play the sport known to Americans as "soccer." So, when his team came to Raleigh to play in a tournament, Lauren invited us to come out and watch the game. O.K., that's not entirely accurate. She invited us to a game a couple of years ago, and we went and enjoyed it. However, in that instance, she emailed to say she'd be in town. And we went. This time, she emailed, and we called and confirmed. Then she made sure we got detailed directions, and even offered to meet us with parking passes. Why the enthusiasm? No big surprise there. She was excited to meet her first cousin once removed! (Elaine and I have become used to being necessary appendages useful for the delivery of Ian).

Here is a nice picture of Lauren, Elaine, and Uncle Greg:


So, we went out to the pitch (field, for the gauche Americans) and watched the game. Ryan's team played well, and scored the first goal. However, the other team tied the game in the last few seconds, and then went on to win on penalty kicks. Still, defeat aside, it was a fun morning. Ian was transfixed by the gold (which is what the official called Ryan's team, even though they were wearing green jerseys. Sometimes I just can't get past my American-ness) and red blurs flashing by on the field.

After bidding goodbye to Ryan and Lauren, we went home in time to meet one of Elaine's close college friends who was in Chapel Hill visiting her grandfather. Becca has a 13-month-old daughter, and brought her four a visit.

Here are Becca, Abby, Elaine, and Ian:


It was nice; Elaine and Becca got to catch up, and Abby got to meet Ian:



Two interesting notes about Becca:

1. Becca and her husband Dan are moving to Amman, Jordan to live and work for a couple of years. This is intrinsically interesting.


2. Becca also writes a baby blog, and it was through the blatant copying of this idea that The Life of Ian came to be.