Today’s score in the wood anemone derby:\u00a0 5-4.<\/p>\n
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As September progresses, the crowds in the park diminish.\u00a0 Kids are back in school.\u00a0 Tourists have gone home.\u00a0 For much of the first 30 minutes of my set, I played to empty benches.\u00a0 The trickle of people passing through gave me no notice.\u00a0 At last, a man sitting by the lake stood up, walked toward me, and gave me a dollar.<\/p>\n
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Two young Chinese women brusquely refused to hula.\u00a0 They wandered away from the fountain to sit down in the shade.\u00a0 After a few songs, one of them approached and put $2 in my case.\u00a0 Right behind her came a tall man with another dollar.<\/p>\n
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A pack of bicyclists dismounted.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d\u00a0 None did.\u00a0 They scattered around the fountain area, taking in the sights.\u00a0 When they reconvened at their bikes, instead of mounting and riding off, 3 teen girls walked toward me.\u00a0 They were from Mexico.\u00a0 One agreed to hula, one stood by to take pictures and the last one, with some encouragement, donned a lei and joined her friend. \u00a0At that point, the photographer asked for a lei too.\u00a0 They danced a synchronized hula with grace and humor, then each came up with a dollar for me.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAre you Jewish?\u201d asked a woman, putting a single in my case.\u00a0 \u201cI thought so, so are we.\u201d\u00a0 She and her husband were from Montreal.\u00a0 \u201cWe also believe in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cMe too, as an historical figure who has had great influence for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n
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They shook their heads.\u00a0 \u201cNo? If you mean do I believe that Jesus was the Messiah, then I\u2019d have to say no.\u201d\u00a0 They made a half-hearted attempt to convert me, then walked off in search of more fertile ground.<\/p>\n
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A young couple from Brazil was eager to hula.\u00a0 Like most Brazilians, they danced with style, adding inventive flourishes at lyrics like, \u201cwe\u2019ll throw our nets out into the sea,\u201d and \u201cwhere the lovely hula dancers roll their eyes.\u201d\u00a0 Unlike most Brazilians, they grasped the concept of tipping, in this case, a five dollar bill.<\/p>\n
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The last 15-20 minutes were again quiet.\u00a0 No further bill or coin covered Lincoln\u2019s face in my case.\u00a0 I folded up the fiver along with 7 singles.\u00a0 On my way out of the park, I noticed that another flower had opened on the wood anemone near the path, increasing its lead, now 6-4.<\/p>\n
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I found a new video on Youtube this morning. \u00a0I believe this is the Canadian girl from Monday (cf: Scotland and Kosovo Dance the Hula). \u00a0Check it out here and on my Third Party Images page:<\/p>\n
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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cMrYd8ZPp5s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"