Dulcimer Jamming - Kind of a sweet sound

My RVing buddy Steve showed up this afternoon. I hadn't seen him since December down in Southern California, so it was nice to see him again. Since then he has bought a mountain dulcimer, smaller than mine, and participated in a three-day workshop in Mountain Springs, Arkansas.

It was hot and muggy in the house, so after he got his rig set up, we sat outside under the huge spreading elm tree, drinking wine, eating cheese and crackers, and catching up. I made some Zuppa Toscana soup this afternoon - you know, the delicious sausage, potato, and kale soup at Olive Garden, so we feasted while listening to my dulcimer CD.
Eating out of the way, he got out his dulcimer, I pulled mine out of the case, we tuned up, got out our various books and sheet music, and started playing. It was so much fun to play WITH someone, especially when one of us could play melody and the other harmony. We even sounded pretty good, much better than the bare beginners we really are. He learned some chords and different ways of picking and strumming while I stuck to the basics.

About an hour ago, it started raining again, along with the usual thunder and lightning. However, it isn't anywhere near as heavy as it has been lately. If it stops by tomorrow, we're going to walk over to the Farmer's Market that started two weeks ago. Wish we could do some bike riding, but my bike is in the shop getting some much-overdue work done on it. So, walking it will have to be.

It's going to be a fun visit.