Folk songs and haircuts: Awkward and Awesome {2} ~ all things bonnyand beautiful

Hello, friends! :-) This month has been so packed and hectic and wonderful, and so that's why I've been pretty scarce around here lately. Blogging has sort of taken a backseat, what with all the reading and writing and snapping beans and pitting cherries and all that fun stuff that goes on around here. Because, seriously, who wants to blog when you can be snapping beans? ;-P But here I am today for another edition of 'Awkward and Awesome'! Because July has been a lot of both-- y'all better believe it has. :-)

~Awesome~

Meeting people who are interested in and value the same things you do-- really kindred spirits. It's so rare to find them these days, but as Anne says, they really aren't as scarce as I used to think. :-)
Singing 'Red and Black' at profound decibels of sound with a bunch of other Les Mis fans in a dormitory hall.
Saying goodnight to the other girls in your hall by singing the 'Goodnight my Someone' song from The Music Man before your depart to your own rooms. That's just how musical theatre fans do things.
Listening to country music (real country music) while eating dinner and falling in love with the Songcatcher soundtrack. My copy should come within the next week. :-)
Time spent with your family, the people you love most in the world. Unloading produce from the truck with your mama, your two sisters, your three cousins, your uncle, and your grandparents. Blood is thicker than water.
When you finish the third chapter of your novel!
Coming home from a week at camp and finding you very own copy of EAST OF EDEN in the mailbox!!!!! Eeeeeeek!!!
That very same evening finding a note from your sweet cousin sitting on your pillow.

Listening to and singing songs from Songcatcher all the live-long day. My sisters are probably sick to death of 'The Wind and the Rain'.

Long phone conversations with your cousin after not seeing each other for over a week, talking about everything from writer's problems to antique stores.
When your sister cuts your hair on your deck one evening. We've always said that my hair loks like Sully in Dr. Quinn, but it was getting too long (and I was starting to look more like Hank) so I decided to have it cut and bring back the Sully look. We left the long braid and all. Behold.

Oh yeah, and you can just ignore that little blemish by my mouth. Thanks. :-)

Making plans to spend a few days at your aunt and uncle's house next week!
The August picture on my Downton Abbey calendar. I think I'll let you guess who it is.
Looking at pictures at your grandparents' house of your Grandma and great-aunt when they were little girls.
Finding oodles of Dr. Quinn pictures on Pinterest. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed that I went fan-crazy at approximately 3:30 Sunday afternoon.
Getting long and thought-provoking comments on blog posts that you didn't think were really all that interesting. (Thank you, Michaela!)
Meeting the biggest, fluffiest, sweetest cat you've ever seen in your life at a yard sale and almost instantaneously becoming best friends. I really wanted to take her home with me.
Eating pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and reading Lynn Austin books that you actually haven't read three times already.

~Awkward~

Singing Iris Dement's 'Our Town' in the bean patch as if your life depended on it, while bright yellow trucks sporting 'wet paint' signs keep driving by and stopping by the side of the road. I'm pretty sure they heard me, but I just sang louder.

If this song doesn't make you teary-eyed.....

Walking around to various yard sales with your sister and cousin, who happens to be dressed in Amish clothes and having to explain to various onlookers, he's not really Amish. One Amish guy we met up with: "You're not Amish!"
When you're singing a song at a wedding with an accompaniment track and the CD SKIPS in the middle of it.
Getting lost while trying to find someone's house and stopping to ask directions from a biker along the side of the road, who happened to be just pulling his shirt back on as we drove up. That was awkward. Turned out he was from southern California, so he didn't really know where he was either. Okaaaay.
When you open the truck door and an avalanche of pea pods falls out into someone else's driveway. The Andersons are here!
When your sister puts a stick of butter out on the picnic table to soften without thinking to put it in a dish, and it melts runs out of the paper all over the picnic table....if you ever want to make a big mess....
Sitting outside under a tree writing, completely wrapped up in the story and oblivious to anything that might be going on around you, when you hear someone laugh and turn to see your neighbor (aka Kenny Rogers) approaching with his scary dog. I must have jumped three feet in the air. Well, I guess he had the right to walk there, seeing as it was his property.
Talking on the phone with someone you haven't seen in a while-- phone conversations are usually awkward for me to begin with, but this time it was double-awkward because I had a sore throat and my voice literally sounded like a man's.
Eating supper at ten o'clock PM. Ironically it was just after we'd watched a Waltons episode where they were talking about how that's what they do in Italy, so apparently it's glamorous. John Walton: "We can eat at ten o'clock anytime you like, Liv, if I can stay awake that long."
Getting used to using a laptop with a touch screen and a nonexistent mouse, and a keyboard that sometimes seems to hate me. But other than that, I'm very fond of my little Cal.
Taking pictures at aforementioned wedding, and later zooming in as far as the camera will go so you can see...um, a certain person. Because, y'know, we couldn't just take a picture of.....said person. That'd just be awkward.