The weather forecast for Friday promised a beautiful day with temps in the 70\u2019s, so Thursday night I got down my tenor uke and tuned up.\u00a0 The hum in my low-G string reminded me that I should have put a new one on last busking season.\u00a0 It takes a few days for a string to settle in, but there was no help for it; I spent my first day of busking retuning after every song.<\/p>\n
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Central Park at W. 72nd<\/sup> St. still had a wintry feel.\u00a0 The trees had not yet leafed out, although the spring flowers were starting to show: \u00a0yellow and white daffodils, pale violet myrtle, blue chionodoxera, and scattered red and white tulips from some prior year’s planting.\u00a0 Behind the benches, a single 2-foot tall yellow fritillaria bloomed in the sun.\u00a0 Forsythia has started to show here, while deeper in the park it is already in full glory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In my haste to start busking, I left my water bottle at home, but was happy to find the water fountains had been turned on.\u00a0 Snowdrops burst through the undergrowth around Strawberry Fields, where Randy, the dobro player, now played early Beetles on his guitar.\u00a0 It was nice to see a friend.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Making my way down the path, past hellebore galore, patches of violets and fat magnolia buds 3 inches tall, I heard the 5-piece jazz combo across the road from Daniel Webster.\u00a0 The dog roses were leafing out; pale impatiens hugged the ground.\u00a0 More magnolias, these in full sun, were clothed in blossoms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bethesda Fountain, center stage, beckoned.\u00a0 \u201cWelcome back, sir,\u201d said the hot dog man when I bought a bottle of water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHey, you\u2019re back,\u201d said Carole, greeting me as I sat by the fountain and set up my solar-powered hula dolls.\u00a0 Carole, with camera, is a regular at the fountain, which is how I got to know her.\u00a0 \u201cThe place is hopping today.\u00a0 You\u2019ll do great.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tuning up — always tuning — I chatted with a young couple from Cherry Hill.\u00a0 Soon they were on their feet, paper leis around their necks, doing the hula to \u201cThe Hukilau Song.\u201d\u00a0 She gave me a dollar; he gave me two.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I started my set, as usual, with \u201cMaking Love Ukulele Style,\u201d and moved through my play list, successfully remembering, for the most part, all the chords and lyrics.\u00a0 Two young women stopped to listen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No, they didn\u2019t, until I picked up a lei and dangled it in front of them.\u00a0 One of the girls came forward to dance, the other followed.\u00a0 The follower lived in the city; her friend was visiting from Austin.\u00a0 They dropped a buck and change.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A man who had been sitting at the fountain to my right gave me $2, as did an English couple walking by.\u00a0 A large group of teenagers from the UK spread out on the benches to my right.\u00a0 After a few tunes they came up to me, singly or in pairs, some to dance, some to investigate my solar-powered hula dolls, each making a little donation before returning to the group.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two little girls shyly approached, their mom proudly watching.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWould you like to hula?\u201d\u00a0 They nodded, and I put a lei around their necks.\u00a0 The older girl, who was about 5, quickly got the hang of it, then began choreographing her little sister.\u00a0 By the time I started the second verse of \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d the girls were moving in unison, step to the right, step to the left, arms waving, fingers aflutter.\u00a0 Their mom, who was also English, gave me a fiver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As well as I remembered chords and lyrics, I couldn\u2019t remember my playlist.\u00a0 There were songs, I was sure, I hadn\u2019t played yet, but what?\u00a0 After more than an hour, as I looked around at the lake, the sky, the pennants in the wind and the azaleas lining the path to the boathouse, I saw the willows on the shore, leaves turning from yellow to green.\u00a0 Of course, \u201cTiptoe Through the Tulips,\u201d which begins, \u201cEvening shades are creeping, willow trees are weeping\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A family from Belarus danced the hula.\u00a0 A couple from Queens, soon to be married, did too.\u00a0 During my final number, \u201cLittle Grass Shack,\u201d a sixty-something couple from western Canada stopped to chat.\u00a0 He tossed 2 singles in my case, bringing the day\u2019s take to $27.32, a hefty sum marking an auspicious start to the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"