On the ground, the daffs have faded, the tulips hang on, and the masses of wood hyacinth are mostly spent, looking like the spiky skeletons of fish.\u00a0 The first red rose opens low on the bush.\u00a0 In the canopy, the trees are green.\u00a0 Both chestnuts are in bloom.\u00a0 At Cherry Hill, above salmon and white azalea, a giant paulownia is bursting with purple flowers.\u00a0 For years I\u2019d seen these trees blooming along the Henry Hudson, looking like purple chestnut trees.\u00a0 I looked up the name a few years ago.\u00a0 They were named for Anna Paulowna, daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Center stage at Bethesda Fountain looked like mine until I saw the old man with the accordion, sitting on the bench.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t playing; he appeared to be picking lint from his base buttons.\u00a0 \u201cAre you done, or are you still playing?\u201d I asked him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t seem to understand, or maybe he was hard of hearing.\u00a0 I asked again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOne o\u2019clock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I went to the maple for 20 minutes, where I made nothing, returned at 1 and set up at the fountain.\u00a0 The old man kept pumping out chords, while I waited.\u00a0 At last he noticed me and stopped.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I continued my set where I\u2019d left off.\u00a0 The fountain was crowded today.\u00a0 A large group of pre-teens from Central Islip, having picnicked on the lawn, started running around, from water\u2019s edge to the arcade, in front of which the big bubble man competed with 2 snake handlers on segways for their attention.\u00a0 \u201cHas this group got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The leader of the group, a rather rumpled 50-something, shrugged.\u00a0 Soon I had a line of kids squealing with laughter on their way to the hukilau.\u00a0 Between verses, they passed the leis to another line of dancers.\u00a0 Afterward, one of the kids came running back to me with a fiver from the leader.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I saw a woman recording me, so I gave her a good show, for which I received $2.\u00a0 An old man walked by and tossed me a buck.\u00a0 Two women slowed as they passed, then stopped 20 yards away.\u00a0 They were sorting through their wallets.\u00a0 One of them returned with 4 tightly folded singles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Toward the end of my set, a 20-something from San Francisco danced a hula and walked away.\u00a0 The same happened with 3 young women from South Carolina.\u00a0 My 90 minutes up, I sang \u201cLittle Grass Shake,\u201d sat down and started packing up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you mind?\u201d said a 60-something man in a white shirt and name tag (Mike) on a lanyard around his neck.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got a school group here from Chicago, and I\u2019d like to get the teachers dancing for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I took out my leis, set up the yellow dancing girl, and spread the currency out in my case.\u00a0 Standing, I sang out \u201cHonolulu Eyes\u201d until Mike led his group to me and stopped.\u00a0 With a word to the kids about an opportunity for blackmail, he called out 4 teachers.\u00a0 Dressed in the same black tee shirts as the kids, they donned leis and, after very brief instruction, lined up to dance to \u201cThe Hukilau Song.\u201d\u00a0 The kids howled as the teachers broke ranks, flapped their arms, spun in circles, and finally united like the Rockettes for a high-kicking finale.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mike, grinning, handed me a fiver, and one of the kids tossed in a buck.\u00a0 That 6 from Chicago, added to the 12 from my 90 minute set, boosted me to highly respectable $18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"