As was inevitable, I have found a bit of a downside to living in Arizona. It’s not the rattlesnakes or scorpions—I find them intriguing, and I’ll have more on that later. Instead, it’s something infinitely more mundane but nonetheless important to me.

Now I’m not one to quibble about money. If I want something, I buy it. If I could have bought it for less somewhere else, this would have no bearing on my life. I wanted it, and I bought it.

Neither penny wise nor dollar foolish, just happy.

The problem here is not only the price of this item but even finding it has become problematic.

T’is the season for those of us with Irish ancestry to celebrate with the traditional Irish Soda Bread with Corned Beef, Potatoes, and Cabbage dinner boiled in  Guinness—a worthy sacrifice of a wonderful beer. And although my genetics say there are both Scandinavian and Jewish traces, it was a recent discovery and unknown in the formative years, thus no yarmulke, children named Sven, or other traditions.

But it would appear that the Irish never made it this far. The Irish influence seemed to fade after the Mississippi. There are some Irish pubs, but I prefer to do this myself.

Perhaps, if they had pushed on, their patron saint, St. Pádraig or St. Patrick in the vernacular, might have also been petitioned to remove the snakes from here. Then, we’d have the same availability and pricing for the ingredients for the holy repast.

But, alas, it is not to be. Corned beef is a wee bit pricier here, as is the cabbage. Now, truth be told, I can do without the cabbage. Even the nectar of Guinness cannot fully mask the taste, but tradition is tradition.

I’d like to blame the supply chain problem left over from the pandemic, but I can see the prices in New England are their usual low; thus, that excuse fails. A return to the homeland would require freezing to death so that’s out. So here I will remain.

But, I will stay with my usual habit, buy corned beef and cabbage, and enjoy my beloved tradition. We are only here once, and denying yourself something seems a foolish philosophy.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh

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