{"id":877,"date":"2017-07-07T12:02:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrukulele.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2017-07-07T12:02:36","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T16:02:36","slug":"good-start-to-the-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mrukulele.com\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"Good Start to the Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back from the July 4th<\/sup> break, and the stella d\u2019oro daylilies are as fat as figs.\u00a0 I can\u2019t identify the major new plantings at the Women\u2019s Gate; one has dark pink chive-like flowers and long, smooth-edged pointy leaves, the other has similar leaves and light pyramidal flowers opening pinkish-purple, like an artichoke.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first signs of the blight have appeared on the chestnut. \u00a0I saw little, if any, blight on the second tree across the path. \u00a0On the other side of the road, the catalpa pods hang like 18-inch-long string beans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Center stage again was mine.\u00a0 Alexis, a toddler of 2 or so, danced a hula.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A 50-ish couple was hanging around; the woman wanted to dance. \u00a0After Alexis was shown how to tip the busker, she did. \u00a0She knew all the moves to \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d which attracted a crowd. \u00a0After the dance she told me that she and her husband had a ukulele\/hula act in California. \u00a0“There he is,” she pointed to a barrel-chested man who was walking toward us. \u00a0He had long, gray hair and wore a beautiful aloha shirt. \u00a0I handed him my uke. \u00a0He made it sing with a softly voiced Hawaiian folk tune, in a way my plink-a-plink style of strumming could never do.\u00a0 They were good for a fiver.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A tourist family stopped to dance.\u00a0 While a young teen stumbled his way to the hukilua, his family laughed and snapped photos.\u00a0 Dad dropped a fiver; grandma chipped in a buck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While setting up today, a couple with a young child had been sitting at the fountain next to me. The child was too shy to hula.\u00a0 As my act got underway, they’d wandered off.\u00a0 Now they were back.\u00a0 Having seen others do it, the kid was ready to hula.\u00a0 A good observer, she needed no lessons.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Three strapping boys, maybe 16-18, just had to hula.\u00a0 They were from Florida, in NYC with a mom, who watched from the shade, inured to their nonsense.\u00a0 The hula was a shambles, and when they were done they came up with 5 singles among them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Throughout my set, a number of people came by to drop a dollar or two.\u00a0 An Argentine bombshell in her early 20\u2019s danced the hula for her friends.\u00a0 In addition to a dollar, she gave me 3 pieces of Lindt chocolate.\u00a0 A family from Kentucky stopped to hula.\u00a0 When the young boy of 8-9 faltered, dad took a lei and danced alongside for support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At $29, it was another high dollar day.\u00a0 On my way out of the park, I opened a piece of chocolate.\u00a0 It had melted in the sun; I had to lick it off the wrapper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back from the July 4th break, and the stella d\u2019oro daylilies are as fat as figs.\u00a0 I can\u2019t identify the …
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