This summer won\u2019t end.\u00a0 The plantings in the park could use a killing frost; instead they are dying of old age.\u00a0 The second growth of lantana has taken on the look of spring.\u00a0 Pink roses bloom amid orange hips.\u00a0 The chestnut tree, at least, looks dead and its sister tree looks not much better.\u00a0 The wood anemone score:\u00a0 6-20.\u00a0 On the lawn to the south, people are working on their tans under yellow- and orange-leafed trees.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My first donation was from a young man who said he was a comedian.\u00a0 He gave me a dollar and took my card.\u00a0 A woman walking by dropped 57 cents.\u00a0 A man asked if he could take a picture of me, but first I made him put on a lei.\u00a0 \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI am from Paris,\u201d he said, as if that said it all.\u00a0 He gave me back the lei and walked off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young man from Ohio had a dollar for me.\u00a0 He was from a small town outside Cleveland.\u00a0 He had not come for the baseball game.\u00a0 Another young man, with his skateboard tucked under his arm, chipped in another dollar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A quintet of Venezuelan 20-somethings gathered at the fountain.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no money.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s ok,\u201d I said.\u00a0 Usually, after a hula dance, those with no money manage to find a buck or two, but not in this case.\u00a0 After the dance, they huddled over a map and set out for new adventures to the south.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman in her 40\u2019s was leading 3 other people through the park.\u00a0 She wanted to hula but her friends were not interested.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m from New York,\u201d she answered my question.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re from Kentucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want anything to do with you,\u201d I said, as the friends moved farther away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cF**k \u2018em,\u201d she said, then off we went to the hukilau, after which she returned the lei and ran off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019d more than broken even on this slow, October day.\u00a0 Finishing up \u201cLittle Grass Shack,\u201d I sat down and counted $3.57, when a group of youngsters from Edmonton, Alberta, stopped to check me out.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re doing hula dances today,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A slight woman, dressed in red, wanted to dance, so I stood up with my uke and played \u201cThe Hukilau Song.\u201d\u00a0 She was lithe and graceful.\u00a0 \u201cIs this your first public hula?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI dance in public all the time, just not the hula.\u201d\u00a0 She told me they\u2019d been to the Yankee\u2019s game last night, and were going to a hockey game tonight.\u00a0 As she and her friends prepared to move on, she found a ten-spot in her wallet for me, turning a so-so outing into a winner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"