If you’ve been paying attention here, you know I have a real penchant for palm trees. Hawaiian palms, tall and lithe, Samoan palms, short and sturdy, fan palms with their solid, flat fronds. I love them all and feel inexplicably happy whenever I see them.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and that naturally brings to mind the wearing of the green. So naturally. I’m thinking about all the greenery I saw last week in Hawaii—not just on my beloved palm trees, but everywhere I looked, all along the road to Hana and beyond.

I wonder if the traditional Irish feast of corned beef and cabbage with be served anywhere on Maui today. I doubt it. But I’m sure the tourists from Ireland won’t mind substituting Kalua Pig and pineapple coleslaw.

I’d love to have Kalua Pig for dinner myself today if I could just find a palm tree to sit beneath while I dined. Maybe I’ll order up a Hawaiian pizza and watch the palm trees go by on my computer screen saver while listening to a CD of Irish folk songs.

How’s that for starting a new St. Patrick’s Day tradition?!