It was warm and overcast on Good Friday.\u00a0 In the weeks since my last outing in the park, the yellow daffodils were replaced by a white variety, swaths of pink and white tulips opened as wide as saucers, while tall stems of yellow fritillaria wowed the tourists.\u00a0 Other spring starters, like bleeding heart, grape hyacinth and Virginia bluebell, bloomed behind the benches.\u00a0 Across the road, at the Imagine Mosaic, the beds were thick with pheasant\u2019s eye narcissus.\u00a0 Magnolia bloomed in several locations.\u00a0 Foot-high Solomon\u2019s Seal and hellebore lined the path toward the statue of Daniel Webster, around which dandelions poked above the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I neared Bethesda Fountain, I noted flowering forsythia and the trees, so many trees, showing red and green leaf tips and pollen-rich florets.\u00a0 There were mobs of people around the fountain, which was filled with water, and operating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I set up, got to my feet and opened with \u201cMaking Love\nUkulele Style.\u201d Before long, a man gave\nme a dollar. A little later, a dad with 2\nyoung sons stopped to listen and gave each boy a buck to give to me. For the next 30 minutes, a steady stream of singles\nfilled my case, but no one would hula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d\u00a0 This time I asked a group of teenage girls from Montreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do,\u201d said one, who was immediately joined by 2 of her friends.\u00a0 Another 10 or more girls gathered to watch, as well as a ragtag bunch of curiosity seekers. \u00a0The girls hula-ed through 2 verses of \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d then stood with me for a picture, while members of their group started tossing money into my case; the dancers put money in too, probably doubling my take up till then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sang \u201cLittle Grass Shack\u201d for a grandma from W. 84th<\/sup>\nSt., who was enjoying the sun with her granddaughter. She gave me a dollar coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A family of 4, mom, dad and 2 daughters, stood nearby,\nwaiting for me to finish a song. They\nwere from Waterloo, Belgium. They wanted\nto know if I could sing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to Pierro. We all sang together into the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you want to sing it in French?\u201d I asked<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course not,\u201d said dad with gallic disdain. \u201cIt is an English song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While dad and I talked about Bruges, one of the daughters\nput a few bills in my case. Later I was\npleased to spot a fiver. After another\nsong, and another single, I looked down and saw what I thought was another\nfiver. No, wait, it was a 50!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last time I got a 50-dollar bill, it was from a tv production company who paid me not<\/em> to play.\u00a0 I’ve gotten a few 20\u2019s over the years, and once was handed a $100-dollar bill by a man who was part of a foursome from Nantucket who very much enjoyed my music.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ended the day with a few more singles, and one more hula, by a 20-something woman from Maryland.\u00a0 On my way out of the park, I said hello to Dominick, the big bubble man.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI can\u2019t believe what a good day this is.\u201d\u00a0 With $78.22 in my pocket, I enthusiastically agreed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"