Wednesday was another hot day, but the humidity had dropped after last night’s storm, making it a perfect day at Bethesda Fountain. As I was setting up, a duck jumped out of the water and shook his feathers dry, delighting the children, while, at the same time, spraying water all over my ukulele. No matter, I wiped it dry with my shirt, stood up and started my set. My son-in-law, Evan, was on hand for the first hour. He took pictures, stills and video, which I\u2019ll post when he sends them to me.<\/p>\n
My first three hulas were walk-aways. A Korean girl started the inning, joined by another girl who saw us dancing, grabbed a lei and jumped right in. At the end of the dance, they each kissed me on the cheek and went their separate ways. A young child was up next, to the delight of her father, but at the end of the dance, without even kiss, off they went.<\/p>\n
The dollars started flowing with the second wave of dancers. A young man dropped 67 cents, which I used to anchor the singles so the wind didn\u2019t blow them away.<\/p>\n
A family from Indiana sat down near me. They wouldn\u2019t hula, even though they\u2019d been married in Maui. We chatted about destination weddings \u2013 it turned out they had paid the airfare for their guests. While I talked with the man, the woman walked over to my case and emptied her change purse. \u201cYou\u2019re doing me a favor,\u201d she said. \u201cNow I have less to carry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to lighten your wallet any time,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
A woman came over and gave me dollar. \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll dance if he will,\u201d she said, pointing to Evan. So they did.<\/p>\n
Marcel and Maggie came by. Usually Maggie will sit and listen until Marcel picks her up and carries her off. Today, however, the bricks were so hot, Maggie wouldn\u2019t sit down, even when Marcel pushed on her hindquarters.<\/p>\n
An extended family from Tibet filled the space in front of me. Two men, four women and a couple of kids, including an infant, started bopping to my tunes. One of the men, wearing a porkpie hat that was 2 sizes too small, took pictures. When I asked him to hula, a word he didn\u2019t seem to know, he smiled but made no answer. Then I picked up a lei and acted out a dance; his face lit up. Soon the whole family, duly lei-ed, was waving their arms to the music, after which the hatted man gave me $3.<\/p>\n
I collected the leis and finished the set with \u201cMy Little Grass Shack.\u201d The Tibetan children continued to dance, even when the music stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"