The begonias and Michaelmas daisies along Central Park West just won’t quit.  Behind the benches at the Women’s Gate, a few roses bloom above a bushful of hips.  Two yellow foxglove, with thimble-like flowers, have emerged in the middle ground, where the dinner plate hibiscus has melted away in the heat.  The reddening dogwood fruit resembles spherical strawberries.

At the Imagine Mosaic a new guitarist has shown up with an amplifier.  The button seller told me that he’s been told several times to lose the amp, to no avail.

The crowds were sparse at Bethesda Fountain.  A kid of 12 or 13 dropped a handful of quarters into my case.  A few songs later, an elderly man, walking by, covered the change with a single.  A baby sitter, with two charges, gave me $2.  The kids were too young to dance, but they came back later for a picture.  The boy of 3 or 4 put on a lei, but the girl, not yet 2, ran crying back to the sitter.

“Real nice,” said Carole, with camera around her neck.  “Making the little girls cry.”  It was too hot and humid for her to stand with me in the sun for long.

An Asian teenager spotted me as she walked down the path from the Boathouse.  Sporting an ear-to-ear grin, she danced a lovely hula to “The Hukilau Song.”

A young woman, Kate, from the Parks Department, roamed the fountain on her lunch break.  We chatted for a while and she danced a lazy hula (“Why not?”) before moving on.  A Chinese photographer captured a dollar’s worth of “Honolulu Eyes” on video.  A trio of young women, 1 from Westchester and 2 from East 86^th St., lined up for a hula.  They snapped photos while they danced, laughing all the way to the hukilau.

After an hour, the crowd thinned further, until several songs went out only to the trees and sky.  At such times, I often close my eyes and play for myself alone.  When I opened them again, a tall blonde woman and her tall blond daughter had just dropped $2 into my case.

I closed my set, as always, with “My Little Grass Shack.”  A 30-something bicyclist, in spandex and a racing cap, walked with a handful of change from the bench where he’d been listening.  When he returned to his bench, I thought for a moment I should play him another tune, but at that moment the sun came out from behind a cloud, and the tropical humidity dissuaded me, so I stuffed $10.55 into my pocket and went home.