Le Monde de Fromage de Kate

Yes, I am always behind – sometimes by five minutes, sometimes by a few months – sometimes by YEARS (my window for becoming a professional athlete is GONE, I tell you). But you know I try to make amends (whenever the hell I get around to it, anyway). I’m serious. I’m still planning an entry about the Christmas holidays.

First, I’ll go with the CUTE little baby picture that I should have posted two months ago:
Noelle Claire K.

Born January 17, 2007

Sorry, Pam. Oh – and I suppose I should apologize to EVERYONE for the fact that I never get permission to post pictures of them or their progeny or their pets – whatever tickles my fancy.

And here’s a whole BATCH of cuties! My cousin, John, had joked with me quite a while ago that ALL THREE of his sisters and his Mother AND his brother-in-law had been featured in my “On the Lee Side” link. I pointed out that whereas they all had blog(s) he did NOT. I did say, though, that he should send pictures of his cute boys and I would post those:

Alex, Benjamin, John & Tucker

AND A Complete Stranger in the Background (He’s cute & also very nice, I’m sure)

So, if I’ve retained any of my Aunt Mary Ellen’s superb clarification of the “removed” versus “first and/or second” and so on when pertaining to relatives, John’s children are my first cousins once removed.

I must say, even though I have a somewhat better understanding of the concept, thanks to Mary Ellen, I must ask: Who came up with “removed?” And who or what takes them? And to where? I would say that from these same sibling cousins of mine that their offspring (I’m sorry, but the other side of the family is SO BIG – let me rephrase that – there are so many – that I cannot even keep track of my COUSINS let alone their children. THAT DOESN’T MEAN I DON’T LOVE YOU, B-side!) that perhaps they are “removed” because they all live rather far away.

BUT, that whole theory is RUINED because I did meet Harper, first cousin once-removed of lovely cousin Jennette and her most charming husband, Tom. Does that make her unremoved? Perhaps that’s how you become ‘TWICE removed – as they went home after visiting. That reminds me – I’ve got to figure out the whole tiny video thing from my phone because I have footage of Harper.

Ah ha! Plunder from Jennette’s website! Pictures of Harper and Elena – I guess they were visiting the West Coast from the East (Elena is the daughter of my cousin Heather, a distinguished barrister, and her husband Ammon, a distinguished professor – AND THEY ARE DISGUSTINGLY YOUNG AND I HATE THEM. In a nice way). Actually, j’deteste all four of you – you YOUNG SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE (yes, you too, Erica, even though you are too young to have a house and children – other than kitten children – and to be a barrister or the like). But in a NICE way:

Harper & Elena Play

Elena & Pizza
Come on, Urbane Intellectuals-
Where’s the macrobiotic gruel?