The dog roses sport bulging orange hips; the single dinnerplate hibiscus has started melting in the sun.\u00a0 The dogwood fruit ripens pale pink to red, and a new planting of celosia sends its bottlebrush flowers skyward.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The platoon guitarist sings \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand\u201d at the Imagine Mosaic.\u00a0 Farther along the path a single wood anemone flower is open among dozens of buds; another single flower has opened on the wood anemone behind the orange jewelweed, the stem of which is as thick as the cold water pipe in my bathroom.\u00a0 Across the road near Daniel Webster, the smell of newly mown grass fills my nostrils.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite the heat, the winds from faraway Hurricane Florence blow cool, wet air from the northeast.\u00a0 Carole, the photographer, stops to chat.\u00a0 \u201cHere,\u201d she said, pulling a dollar out of her wallet, \u201clet me start you off.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two Korean girls stop to hula.\u00a0 They toss a dollar and change into my case.\u00a0 An Irish guy lopes up to me.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s all the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI was wondering the same thing.\u201d\u00a0 Looking down, I saw that he\u2019d thrown me a Susan B.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A couple of Brazilian girls stopped to hula.\u00a0 In my experience, you don\u2019t have to ask Brazilian girls twice.\u00a0 Another dollar and change came my way.\u00a0 A 30-something man contributed another dollar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two women, one in a hijab, the other in a burka, slowed to study me, so I asked, \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d\u00a0 A bearded man ran over, assessed the situation, pulled a handful of change from his pocket, and tossed it into my case before he hustled the women out of danger.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All told, it was a fine outing, netting $9.05.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"