St. Piran's Day!

St. Piran came to Cornwall from Ireland (bringing the snakes with him?) and gets credit for being the country's patron saint.  He even has a flag, white cross on black.  One can see why it's not really included on the Union flag; though maybe there will be room when the Scots bail.

I have been to Cornwall twice, on walking tours and I love the place.  I would not, however, suggest that going to Cornwall was the equivalent of going to Italy.  Surely no one would, you might say; but you would be wrong. Frank Jacobs of the inimitable Strange Maps has recently revealed that the Great Western Railway made that claim a century back.  Absurd as the claim might be, its graphic presentation was quite beautiful.  Thanks, Frank.

The volcano was merciful

No hold-up on the flight to London, and only a three- or four-hour delay coming back. So I am back to my own side of the Atlantic.

Bonus: we flew way north to avoid the ash cloud on the return trip, and got to see the white, white mountains of Greenland.

I'm off!

If things work out and the volcano don't rise, I'll be flying today to the UK for another Cornish walking holiday. Wish us safe travel and good weather, and no inconvenient vulcanism.

In the meantime I have left a few posts timed for various points in the next two weeks. I've chosen material that should have a sufficient shelf-life.

For those who might be curious, I plan on being at the Kalamazoo Congress around noon on the Thursday.

Image: Standing stones, in other words, stones that haven't fallen down yet.