Thursday, May 22, 2008

Outside the Window at The Clan House

Whoopsie, something tells me that I need to talk just a "slight" amount about my use of the word "clan".

I've married into a family from the border country. That means the area around the Scottish/English border. Since I'm using the word "clan", you may guess which side my inlaws are on :)

Anywho, did you know that my mum-in-law is descended from the McGregor Clan. In fact she can trace her ancestery from Rob Roy himself. Shortly after Rob Roy's "rebellion" against the English, the clan name of McGregor was made illegal by the English. So she (me mum-in-law) is a Callandar (as that was the name of the town).

About five generations later, some of the original McGregor descendants started to use the McGregor clan name. However, my mum-in-laws forebears weren't some of them; they kept the name Callandar.

Ewan McGregor is (I think) tenth generation descended from the Rob Roy clan, good on 'im! That also means that my MIL is nine generations related to him. Yo, Obi-Wan! Gimme some force, bro!

What does this have to do with the word "clan" in US connotation? Well, kinda lots... See I never even thought that referring to this house as a clan house would be problematical. Yes, I do have long blond hair (and a goatee now).

I've worked with, and for, black blokes. I've worked with hispanics. I'm great friends with many Inuits, Athabascans, and Yupiks. Heck, I dated a Cherokee girl for a year. At my wedding were blacks, whites, hispanics, natives, and a few others that you just weren't sure about.

Before I moved down to Oz, my wife took pity on my bicycling for transport in Alaska and bought me a nice sports car (I think she was tired of being picked up at the airport in a freight truck). When I moved down unda, I sold the car to a bloke I worked with; he's black with a white wife. SO WHAT!

Why does this matter to me, you might ask. Then again, you might not. It matters to me cus I was reading about ole huckabee and his "joke" (yeah, right) at an nra rally. Someone in attendance wrote that it looked like a clan rally (the veep of the US was there and laughed harder than anyone else, BTW).

Anyways, I just wanted to let all my loyal readers (I'm up to 19!!!!!) know that when I refer to this household as "The Clan House", it has absolutely NOTHING to do with what some folks in the US might think it does. BTW, I refuse to type those three k's in a row.

The Clan House Down Unda is an extension (albeit a very oblique one) of the McGregor Clan. So there. Think tartans, not bed sheets.

Ok, on with the pic that I took while looking out the window the other morning at the clan house:





When you got it, flaunt it baby!



Bonus Edit!
Overheard at the Clan House:

Wifeypoo: "Yaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnn"
Yours truly: " I suppose that means you'll be sleeping during the movie tonight?"
WP: "Well, we're watching Seven Years In Tibet, right?"
YT: "Yup."
WP: "I figure I'll make it through the first three weeks."

1 comment:

Fizzgig said...

ewan mcgregor huh? he's pretty hot!
thats an awesome action shot btw!