I checked out both chestnut trees this morning.  The one south of the path has brown leaves, with only a few shiny nuts on the ground.  To the north, the chestnut still has some green in its leaves, but no nuts that I could see.  Either it did not bear any, or the squirrels did a good job gathering them up.

The wood anemone near the path is covered with buds, but has no flowers.  The other wood anemone, off the path, is also covered in buds, with 3-4 flowers to show for it.  While never heavy with flowers, the plant near the path, given its sunny location, ought to be showing something; perhaps the ease of access has encouraged people to pick the delicate blooms.

A family of Canadians were the first to stop to hula.  The younger daughter swayed easily to “The Hukilau Song;” the elder was too embarrassed, and clung to her mother. Dad gave me a dollar.

A contingent of Scots came next.  Ainslee was herself a uke player; after her hula, she strummed out a little tune.  Her friend decided that she wanted to hula too.  When they all got up to leave, Ainslee gave me a fiver.

A young woman, with Goth makeup and piercings, tossed me a dollar as she walked by.  A Seattle couple stopped to record “That’s My Weakness Now.”

“Thank you,” I said, as the man peeled a dollar from his wad.  “Your generous contribution entitles you to a hula dance.”  So hula they did.

A young woman from Chicago, with short brown hair with blonde streaks, photographed me from several angles.  When she came up to give me a dollar, I invited her to hula.

“Why not,” she said.  Why not, indeed.

A steady stream of dollars flowed.  I lost track.  Blue sky, puffy white clouds and a cool breeze put me into some kind of ukulele trance, until a foursome of Kosovars entered the fountain area.  “Have you got time for a hula today?”

One of the men encouraged his girlfriend to hula, but there was no hukilau until he joined her.  They soon fell into a synchronized rhythm, leading to the big finish: “huki huki huki, huki huki huki, huki huki hukilau.”  The man shook my hand, thanked me for helping out his country in the 90’s, then gave me a fiver.

At the end of my set, I had $16 in my case, thanks largely to Scotland and Kosovo.