Tonight we held our June Subterranean Strings Hammered Dulcimer Club practice.

Sub-Strings, as we’re known, got the name because, when the club was started, it seemed that all of our practices were held in “basement” locations. The name stuck. We used to take the summers off, but this year since we’re the leaders and we’ve been in Florida so much, the club has been on a “break.” Now we need to get our tunes polished up to performance quality for several gigs coming in July.

So we worked hard starting 6:45.

The last part of the evening featured a surprise event for our dear friends Jane and Bill Kuhlman and everyone was in on it but them. They are a lovely 91-year-old couple who celebrated a special anniversary on June 17th. They had no idea we had a party planned to honor them. At 8:20, I suggested that we practice another tune, “Anniversary Waltz.” It was a ploy. As we played, they were presented with a large cake which said “Happy 70th Anniversary Bill and Jane.” They were totally surprised.

My John had made home-made ice cream and the banana cake was beautifully decorated from the best bakery we could find…. really tasty. We also served lemonade, punch, soft drinks and coffee.

About 35 members of our club including some spouses were present.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it. We were tired at the end, but several members pitched in and helped with clean-up. They’re a good group!