A few more stellas were blooming on Friday.\u00a0 Along the path, a wood anemone, also known as windflower, poked through the underbrush, laden with buds.\u00a0 Another stand of wood anemone, under the pin oak across the road from Daniel Webster, was in full flower, with buds sufficient to last the rest of the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stood up when Colin sat down. Before long, a woman from Munich came by with\na dollar. We talked auf Deutsch, until\nmy German faltered, and I reverted to Hawaiian. \n\u201cAloha.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A mother of 2 walked by. \n\u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d \nMom consulted with her kids; the 5-year-old girl was game, but the 8-year-old\nboy would have nothing to do with the hula. \nWhile the girl struggled to keep her arms up and moving, her brother called\nout instructions. He grabbed a handful\nof leis off the back of my case and put them over his sister\u2019s head, one by one\nby one. Never flinching, the girl concluded\nher dance with a twirl and a curtsey. \nHer mom gave me $2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A teen-aged boy in long black pants and a sleeveless T-shirt\nstrutted by. \u201cS\u2019up,\u201d he said, tossing a\ndime and a penny into my case. When I\nbroke for a long swallow of water after playing for 30 minutes, I\u2019d already\nmade my carfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rain started lightly, carried by a cold wet wind blowing in from the west.\u00a0 People started scrambling as it rained more heavily.\u00a0 I threw everything into my case and carried it into the arcade, where I found a seat along the wall.\u00a0 A do-wop group, accompanied by a bass viol, entertained the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dominic, the big bubble man, carrying his bucket of soapy\nwater and netting, found a spot to sit down near me. \u201cNo bubbles in the rain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you kidding?\u201d he said. \n\u201cEvery raindrop falls like a rock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure I have the patience to wait this out,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t last,\u201d said Dominic. \u201cLook, it\u2019s clearing already.\u201d Indeed, there were small patches of blue amid\nthe dark clouds moving toward us from Central Park West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOk,\u201d I said, \u201cyou convinced me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a rain delay of 15 minutes, I ventured forth and set up again.\u00a0 I played for the next hour, yet despite the return of the crowds, $3.16 was all there would be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"