Visiting with Steve Schneider

My journal has been a little quiet as I've done more visiting with friends than writing for the past few days. I needed a break from staring at the computer screen, as my friends and wife have reminded me, after spending way too much time making choo choo train animations and the like.

The Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival web site is mostly functional now and I'll be adding details as we nail them down.

I had the good fortune Thursday night of sleeping in an actual house after being invited to stay with Steve, Mary and Zach Schneider on our night off in Detroit. We were all surprised to find that our hotel was just a couple of miles from their house. Steve is one of the best known hammer dulcimer players and teachers in the country, and I was honored to be his guest. The title of this blog post is a link to his web site. Make sure you read about his Northern Lights retreat. I hope to attend it someday myself.

The visit was made even better when we were joined for dinner by another legend in the hammer dulcimer community, Cecilia Webster. Mary served up a wonderful meal and we closed out the evening with great conversation and some of the best dark chocolate I've ever tasted. Steve and I took in a couple of snowy walks during my visit and I equally enjoyed playing with his dog, Daja, who couldn't seem to get enough of catching the frisbee. (You can see a few pictures by using my Photographs link.)

It was such a refreshing break from hotel living and it all ended with them attending the Yanni show Friday night.

We're in Cleveland tonight and will make the long overnight drive to Washington after the show. I'm going to meet a couple more hammer dulcimer legends, Sam Rizetta and Nick Blanton tomorrow at 11am at the National Gallery. It should be a great day. ¶ 6:13 PM