It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend here in New Orleans, and folks are already wearing green.  Tonight’s parade–which I missed in favor of a concert–took place here, at Molly’s On the Market on Decatur.  I saw people painting this flag and shamrock on the sidewalk a couple days ago, and already it looks like more than a parade has walked all over it.  It’s amazing how quickly a drunken crowd can take down some sidewalk art.  But I like that this town decorates.  For everything.  Even the sidewalks.  My bike ride tonight took me from Uptown, through the CBD and the Treme, over to Bayou St. John, and then back through the French Quarter.  It’s one of those rides where you really get to see how neighborhoods are organized and where home values are highest and lowest and the effects of these values on things like street and sidewalk quality, number of trees, streetlights, etc.  This part of the ride felt almost fake, with the highly orchestrated sense of celebration weaving its way through the Quarter.  But sometimes that orchestrated show is fun.  Tonight, though, I just wanted to fly on my bike through the cool air.  There’ll be more fun tomorrow–that’s right, there’s another parade.