We just returned from a few days in Asheville - my wife's Father's Day gift to me. We stayed at a B&B called the Sweet Biscuit Inn. Great breakfasts, close to downtown. We strolled around the shops and bookstores.

The second day we went to Black Mountain, about 15 miles from Asheville. I've been trying to regain some of the skill I used to have at playing the hammered dulcimer, before working with Suzanne and the kids to create a family and building a home took precedence. Black Mountain has a shop specializing in hammered dulcimers called Song of the Wood. Jerry Read Smith, a highly skilled instrument maker and performer, opened the shop over 30 years ago.

I spent a very pleasant hour or so playing some of the instruments and chatting with Joann. We had been talking about Jerry's dulcimers and as we were leaving, I said, "From what you've told me, he must have one hell of a workshop."

"I didn't even think of that!" she said. "Would you like to see it? Let me call Jerry right now." She did, and a few hours later we met Jerry and had a chance to see his workshop and some of the instruments he was working on. Unexpected pleasure number one.

We were finishing the tour, including a look at one he had just finished for a woman in Japan - a real work of art. I thought we were finished when he said, "Would you like to see my recording studio?"

We walked into a small building, entering on the balcony level. Tongue and groove wooden walls, windows that looked out over the woods surrounding his place, vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows in the upper section of two of the walls - it was magnificent. A sanctuary. The feeling of peace and tranquility was palpable.

He told us he records there, teaches, and has regular concerts (there is seating for about fifty people). "The schedule is on my website," he said.

Unexpected pleasure number two.

"You should come back to the shop tomorrow morning," he said. "Josh Messick will be playing for a short time out on the sidewalk. He was the national champion a few years ago."

Of course we went back and were treated to some beautiful hammered dulcimer music from Josh.

Unexpected pleasure number three.

Thanks, Joann, Jerry, and Josh for several wonderful hours. Thanks especially to Suzanne for a great Father's Day surprise.