Today’s score in the wood anemone derby:  5-4.

As September progresses, the crowds in the park diminish.  Kids are back in school.  Tourists have gone home.  For much of the first 30 minutes of my set, I played to empty benches.  The trickle of people passing through gave me no notice.  At last, a man sitting by the lake stood up, walked toward me, and gave me a dollar.

Two young Chinese women brusquely refused to hula.  They wandered away from the fountain to sit down in the shade.  After a few songs, one of them approached and put $2 in my case.  Right behind her came a tall man with another dollar.

A pack of bicyclists dismounted.  “Have you got time for a hula today?”  None did.  They scattered around the fountain area, taking in the sights.  When they reconvened at their bikes, instead of mounting and riding off, 3 teen girls walked toward me.  They were from Mexico.  One agreed to hula, one stood by to take pictures and the last one, with some encouragement, donned a lei and joined her friend.  At that point, the photographer asked for a lei too.  They danced a synchronized hula with grace and humor, then each came up with a dollar for me.

“Are you Jewish?” asked a woman, putting a single in my case.  “I thought so, so are we.”  She and her husband were from Montreal.  “We also believe in Jesus.”

“Me too, as an historical figure who has had great influence for millennia.”

They shook their heads.  “No? If you mean do I believe that Jesus was the Messiah, then I’d have to say no.”  They made a half-hearted attempt to convert me, then walked off in search of more fertile ground.

A young couple from Brazil was eager to hula.  Like most Brazilians, they danced with style, adding inventive flourishes at lyrics like, “we’ll throw our nets out into the sea,” and “where the lovely hula dancers roll their eyes.”  Unlike most Brazilians, they grasped the concept of tipping, in this case, a five dollar bill.

The last 15-20 minutes were again quiet.  No further bill or coin covered Lincoln’s face in my case.  I folded up the fiver along with 7 singles.  On my way out of the park, I noticed that another flower had opened on the wood anemone near the path, increasing its lead, now 6-4.

I found a new video on Youtube this morning.  I believe this is the Canadian girl from Monday (cf: Scotland and Kosovo Dance the Hula).  Check it out here and on my Third Party Images page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMrYd8ZPp5s