After almost 2 weeks, I returned to the park on a hot and humid Wednesday.\u00a0 The stella d\u2019oro lilies, bloomed out, had green, thumb-sized pods clustered on the stems; the roses were now mostly hips.\u00a0 Along the more sheltered path, small displays of pink roses and orange day lilies flashed some color.\u00a0 Jewelweed, neglected by the volunteer gardeners, popped up through the flower beds and shrubs, 2-3 feet high.\u00a0 At the bottom of the path, where you cross the road to Daniel Webster, under the pin oak there is a healthy wood anemone, sturdy and tall, bursting with buds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard the amplified guitar from 50 yards away.\u00a0 Bethesda Fountain were better named Bedlam Fountain today.\u00a0 A tv production company had erected a wedding venue, with white flower festooned arches, lighting and camera equipment everywhere, attended by a gaggle of gaffers.\u00a0 The show was \u201cSay Yes to the Dress,\u201d a combination fashion\/reality show set in the Kleinfeld Bridal shop, now in its 17th season.\u00a0 At the water, under a boom, the amplified jazz violinist belted out his tunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I headed toward the maple, and the shade and quiet it offered. Sometime during my first 30 minutes, a group\nof 5 teens came by. It was Kaylie\u2019s birthday,\nso of course she and 2 of her friends wanted to hula. \u201cA tip for you,\u201d Kaylie said when they were done. It was my first dollar of the day, long in\ncoming and long to be repeated, by a 30-something dad just walking by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singing my way through the third third of my session, I didn\u2019t\nsee the large, bearded man approach with his personal entourage until he was\ngesticulating at me to play. Before I\u2019d\nbarely begun, he spoke Spanish to his fellows, from which I fished out the\nword, cuatro, a Latin American string instrument resembling a ukulele. (Cuatro means four.) I said, \u201cSi,\u201d and offered him my uke. He played for a while, then handed the uke to\none of his buddies, who showed even more proficiency. There was much joking and gesticulating, which\nthe cameraman captured while swooping in and circling the rotund ring leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end, one of the men came forward and gave a dollar to the second cuatro player, who thought it quite the joke.\u00a0 Eventually, he gave the dollar to me.\u00a0 Each of the men threw money into my case and fist-bumped me.\u00a0 Their 6 dollars tripled my take to $8 for the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"