Friday was a gorgeous autumn day.\u00a0 The platoon guitarist at the Imagine Mosaic played \u201cMy Sweet Lord.\u201d\u00a0 It appeared that the honey bees, like me, were counting the wood anemone flowers (26-40).\u00a0 I checked in on the junior league of plants under the tree by the road, to count a total of 7 flowers among 3 groupings.\u00a0 Near Daniel Webster, the helicopter seeds from a maple tree hit me in the hat.<\/p>\n
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A young Swiss couple relaxed by the fountain as I set up.\u00a0 We chatted briefly, then I stood to play.\u00a0 When they stood to leave, they gave me a fiver.<\/p>\n
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Three Israelis enjoyed watching a fourth roll up his pant legs and wade into the fountain.\u00a0 He had thrown his cell phone into the water to prove it was waterproof.\u00a0 When he got out I invited him to hula.\u00a0 \u201cYou seem to be up for anything,\u201d I said.\u00a0 He was; and so were his jeering friends when I challenged them to dance a better hula, if they could.\u00a0 When we finished with \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d the first Israeli gave me $2.<\/p>\n
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A man with his wife and dog listened on the bench for a while.\u00a0 Finally, he walked up to me and gave me $3.\u00a0 His name was Jim and he lived on the upper east side.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re really good,\u201d he told me.\u00a0 \u201cNo, really, I\u2019m going to have my friends meet me here from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A young girl pushed a stroller past me and threw a penny in my case.\u00a0 \u201cThanks,\u201d I said.\u00a0 There’s a mean streak in all of us.\u00a0 She joined up with her family, who were taking pictures by the fountain.\u00a0 When they moved on, the girl, for reasons of her own, gave me 2 singles.<\/p>\n
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Two 20-something women from Taiwan danced the hula, then walked away.<\/p>\n
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A foursome of women gathered nearby.\u00a0 One of them broke from the pack and floated a dollar into my case, without interrupting the flow of her lively conversation.<\/p>\n
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A surfer dude sat on the bench with his girlfriend.\u00a0 He seemed to enjoy the show; when I sat down at the end of my set, he approached with 2 bucks in his hand.\u00a0 \u201cThanks a lot,\u201d I said, stuffing the bills into my pocket with the $14.01 I already had there.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNo, man, thank you.\u00a0 You\u2019re awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"