Despite the sub-60-degree temperature, I sallied forth for what I expected to be my last busking of the year.\u00a0 It had been 4 weeks since my last outing.\u00a0 Along Central Park West, Michaelmas daisies turned brown amid the begonias, which endured.\u00a0 The rose bushes sported orange hips; ageratum and celosia have so far survived.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I greeted Randy at the Imagine Mosaic.\u00a0 He opined about the disappearance of Canadians from the park.\u00a0 \u201cI love those guys, they\u2019re the best tippers,\u201d he said, then went on to blame Trump for his diminished receipts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The wood anemone along the path was resplendent with flowers.\u00a0 At the statue of Daniel Webster, the preparation for the NYC Marathon was underway, mostly in the form of tall chain link fencing.\u00a0 At the top of the stairs at Bethesda Fountain, I stopped to marvel at the beauty of the fall colors reflected in the lake.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I greeted Dominick, the big bubble man, who commented on my absence.\u00a0 He told me he\u2019d purchased a warm costume to help him through the winter.\u00a0 Unlike last year, he had a place to stay when it got cold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A tall young woman rode up on her bike.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say no.\u201d\u00a0 She was from Amsterdam.\u00a0 After a few moments chatting about her country, where my wife and I have visited many times, I put a lei around her neck and sent her dancing off to the hukilau.\u00a0 At the end, she gave me back the lei (\u201cfor the next tourist\u201d), and asked how much for the solar-powered hula girl.\u00a0 I let one go for a fiver.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another young woman walked by and asked if she could take my picture.\u00a0 She would not hula, but did give me a dollar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A strapping young man from Australia complimented me on my music and dropped a handful of change in my case.\u00a0 Among the nickels and dimes were at least 10 quarters.\u00a0 A young woman walked by and added her single.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman of a certain age stopped while I played \u201cI Can\u2019t Give You Anything but Love.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t give to the saxophone player, he was bad,\u201d she told me.\u00a0 \u201cYou, on the other hand\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0She finished her sentence by waving a dollar at me and placing it in my case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young man got up from the bench and tossed in a buck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was Halloween.\u00a0 Some costumes that wandered by were complex and imaginative, but the costume du jour seemed to be black ears mounted on a headband, easy enough to remove if one had to be professional.\u00a0 Then a woman walked by with a lampshade on her head.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She did, while her friend photographed her.\u00a0 She gave me a dollar, immediately followed by another dollar from a woman who\u2019d been listening from the bench.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A man came close with his camera and captured my finale, \u201cLittle Grass Shack.\u201d\u00a0 He put some change in my case before he started, then put in some more when I\u2019d finished.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With $13.91 in my pocket, I left the park, thinking this was most certainly my last day of the season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"