At the entrance to the park, the stellas formed a golden carpet leading to a profusion of pink dog roses behind the benches.\u00a0 At Strawberry Fields, the ferns fought with red-leafed corral bells. \u00a0Daniel Webster oversaw a newly mown lawn, with clouds of incipient clover blossoms rising to the sun.\u00a0 After the heat and rain of the past few days, the park was lushly fecund.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A buck from a man and wife walking by got me started.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHas this group got time for a hula dance today?\u201d\u00a0 There were 8 teenage girls in blue tees from a high school in NJ.\u00a0 The leader, similarly dressed, was enthusiastic.\u00a0 They had come to the park to smell the roses, she told me.\u00a0 \u201cAnd to hula.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They danced to 2 verses of \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d then walked off.\u00a0 I saw them stop at the bottom of the path, where they smelled the roses, of course.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While singing \u201cI Wonder Where My Little Hula Girl Has Gone,\u201d I looked to my left and saw a toddler bearing down on me; her dad proudly followed.\u00a0 \u201cAre you my little hula girl?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she is,\u201d said dad.\u00a0 I gave her the baby lei, and off she went to an arm-waving, foot-stomping, body-turning hukilau.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young woman, who had been watching from the bench, came up with a dollar in her hand.\u00a0 She was interested in ukes, and peppered me with questions about tuning, string types and the various sizes ukes came in.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A stylish woman photographed me from afar.\u00a0 When the song ended, she smiled and walked away, but she soon came back with a dollar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At the end of my set, I sat down to count my take:\u00a0 $5.\u00a0 A young teen, who had been sitting near the water with her family, came running to make it $6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"