Thursday was neither too hot, nor too humid.  The reds, purples and pinks of begonia, ageratum and allium dominated the entrance at 72^nd St.  The arrival of white cosmos, just beginning to show, held the promise of more variety in the future.

Randy sang “Imagine” at the Imagine Mosaic.  Farther down the path, red and pink dog roses made a nice show across from the plaque of peace, a tribute to John Lennon from the nations of the world.  People climbed the rock to get a better look at the contributors; without irony they snapped pictures of the list, which began with Afghanistan and ended with Zaire.  Across the path, a giant jewelweed waited to be pulled, and a nearby nettle’s burr-encrusted branches stuck out like a rooftop tv antenna.  New life was evident in a clump of astilbe, and farther still down the path, under the pin oak, the wood anemone thrived.  I resisted the impulse to count the flowers.

At Bethesda Fountain, Colin, the singing cowboy, told me he’d be done soon, so I set up and waited.

The first contribution of the day was 51 cents from a pre-teen girl who watched while I waited for Colin.  A 20-something from Wisconsin happily danced a hula for a dollar, followed by 2 more badgers for $2.  “Are you with a tour from Wisconsin?” I asked.

“No, just us,” was the answer.

Two Argentinian women danced next.  As they walked off, having dropped a dollar in my case, I started to sing “I Wonder Where My Little Hula Girl Has Gone.”  After 8 bars, my low-G string broke.  A guy walking by said, “I hate when that happens,” and walked on.

I dug a new string out of my case, sat down and put it on.  For the rest of my set, I had to tighten it after every song – sometimes during a song – until it settled down.  With about 30 minutes to go, the park seemed to empty out.  During that time only 1 person chipped in a dollar, a 40-something from Huntsville, Alabama.

“Are you a rocket scientist?” I asked, exhausting my knowledge of Huntsville in a single question.

“Yes, I am,” he said.  “How did you know?”

“Is it supposed to be a secret?”

“I’m going to have to turn you in,” he said.  “Just kidding.”

My take for the day was $7.51, not great, yet not too bad.