I have his Wellington

Today is the Feast of St Fursey. I have a comparatively spartan calendar w.r.t. religious practice: StFursey's 16Jan, Darwinday 12Feb, StPs 17Mar, St John's Eve [w/o bonfires - sooo yesterday!] 23Jun, Santiago 25July, Άγιος Ανδρέας 30Nov. As a believer, I should really make the effort appropriate for the genuflect on The Day. I made a dry run preview yest because the sky was clear. Although that is no guarantee about cloud-cover to the East over the Irish Sea:

There was still a skim of ice on some of the puddles when I left the track and headed up the boggy incline to The Altar [whc lower L above]. "dry run preview" because wet ewwww socks. At least my genu's still flex. My ears were accompanied by Sebastian Barry's Old God's Time on borrowbox: the title at least is appropriate for the legwork.

What a difference a day makes! Today, the actual Feast of St Fursey, I startled awake at 0730. Gulped down 2 mugs of tea and a couple of cuts of yesterday's soda-bread, booted up my tired bod, and left the house at 07:57. I couldn't be doing Old God's Time again, so chose a cartographic episode of BBC's Start the Week to keep pace with my present exploration of the landscape between heaven and earth. The sun was rising but invisibly to this earthly domain. The cloud / mist was trying to lift, though:

It had been raining intermittently over-night and the grass was slicker than yesterday. But my feet didn't go-o-o-o from under me until I was almost there-and-back-again at the roadway. St Fursey held my arse out of the mire, however, so I didn't have to squelch home with a soggy bottom like I had a accident. The interceding saint also held the rain off until I was a few steps from our gate. I just made time to nip across the lane to count the sheep [N = 16, phew!] before shedding boots and socks and making a fresh pot of scalding tea. So here we are and there you are, and I wish you

Lá Fhéile Fursa

My Fursey calculus happened too late for The Day in 2021 but I've made the pilgrimage each year since 2022 -- 2023 -- 2024 -- 2025 with variable success on the ☀️ front, and indeed the frost front.