I’m an optimist hodgepodge Q&A & WSC artist penned songs

This is week 20 of WSC.  Mary’s three prompts this week is to pick songs written by Barry Gibb, Prince, and Ed Sheeran.   No need for the mid-week blues, when we can rock it! 

SecondHandSongs reports Gibb has solo penned or collaborated with his brothers more than 150 song titles.  I don’t know how accurate that it but scrolling through the list my eyes instantly fell on one of my favorite songs released in 1977, the #3 Billboard Hot 100, Emotion by Samantha Sang.   The authors of these prompts are well established vocalist so I decided to find songs written by but sung by another artist.  I turned to SHS again to look through the 130+ songs Prince had written.  I learned that he and Stevie Nicks wrote the 1983 Billboard Hot 100 #5 title Stand Back. Although Ed Sheeran is explosive in the music industry these days, I still am not too familiar with his stuff.  Much of his songs he’s recorded but I found it very interesting to see one of his songs home town boy, Kenny Chesney recorded in 2019. Hot 100 #73 Tip of My Tongue.  Hit play to listen to my WSC picks!

Here are my responses to Joyce’s Wednesday Hodgepodge questions this week.

1. Realist, idealist, optimist, pessimist…which one are you? Elaborate.  I feel I’m more of an optimist than anything.  I’d rather to see the good in any situation, even when it’s not realistic. 

2. What’s something currently on your wish list? A new-to-me house.  This has been on my wish list for more than three decades.  After the birth of our second child, we both realized we needed more space but we couldn’t afford to upgrade.  We still need more space and now the house is empty we can afford to upgrade. Now to find the ideal place within our budget.  This is quite the challenge.

3. Three things on this week’s shopping list? Almond milk, cream cheese, and eggs.  All three were on my store list last week but they were out of the almond milk and cream cheese.  The eggs they had but the delivery guy didn’t bring them.

4. According to Trip Advisor here’s a list of the top ten things to do in the US this summer-  Chicago Architecture River Cruise, Skip the Line Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour, New York In A Day  guided sightseeing tour, Charleston’s Old South Historic Horse and Carriage tour, Grand Canyon helicopter tour, Full day iconic sights of LA, Beverly Hills, Beaches and more, D.C. at Dusk guided night tour, Beneath the Streets Underground History tour (Seattle), New Orleans Swamp and Bayou Boat tour, Gangsters and Ghosts tour in Chicago…read more about each excursion in the link here.   Of the ten attractions listed which do you find most appealing? Have you already experienced anything on this list?  I would love to visit Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty and to tour Charleston by horse drawn carriage would be super cool!

5. Besides home and work where do you spend the most time? In the car.  When we can we will take a long drive, through the mountains or along some back road near home.  It’s good to get out.  We’re reconsidering vacationing this year and may try to book something for after Labor Day which has me super charged! 

6. Insert your own random thought here.   Starting today, I am going to use Joyce’s random question spot to highlight what’s going on with my A2Z Road Trip every week or just whenever I want to share but just because I’m not saying anything doesn’t mean I’m not out there traveling the super highway to catch up with you. 😉

To date, I managed to get a few bloggers all caught up before April ended or shortly after.  These are the lucky ones so far:  RamblinwithAM, Crackerberries, FromThisSideofthePond, Incognitus Scriptor, JingleJangleJungle, Mike’sRamblings,  TheSoundofOneHandTyping, and TossingItOut.  I’m working on others and you know that I have because I do leave comments.  Please continue to be patient with me. 

On the sketching front, I used Procreate to draw a Looney Tunes A2Z Road Trip design to use for my post banner. I used Pixelmator later to add a vintage filter which makes me think of not only the good old days but anything that has to do with traveling in days gone by.  

post banner
The original Procreate sketch with no filters.

On how I’m pacing myself, I created a Numbers (Mac’s equivalent to Microsoft Excel) chart to keep up with all visitors who stopped by, as well as which posts of each blogger I did returns on last month.  In the days since the challenge ended, I discovered a few I forgot to make notations, as well I’m finding people I didn’t add.  Everyone is is being placed on my chart and regardless if they commented on all 26 of my posts, I will read all of theirs.

Why reflection posts are important or at least to me… some of  y’all haven’t written your reflection post.  It’s really a nice touch especially if the blogger includes a list of their A2Z posts.  That makes hopping from entry to entry quicker.   This drives more traffic to your site and it keeps people on your blog longer.  It’s just food for thought, folks.  I know when I first started the annual event I didn’t understand the importance of Reflections post but it has a valuable purpose.  Now to get the Road Trip perfected which has been a weakness of mine in past years but not this time around. 

A few weeks ago, I brought Foghorn Leghorn to life using my Procreate app and even created a greeting card for my son’s birthday.  I did the same thing for DD2’s birthday last week using my Kiss Me Cat pencil sketch.  Here’s the original Procreate illustration and below, you’ll find another greeting card for your use to download.

Tip for printing, the text on the inside is upside down for those who have a printer that can print both sides automatically.  If your printer doesn’t have this feature then you can manipulate the paper manually to get the same results.  I’d do a test print using black and white draft quality until you figure it out.

You’re invite to join the party where just about anything goes with Wild Wednesday link up.  Not to worry, folks.  This is all clean fun.  It’s just a fun way to promote whatever post you want today, so get wild!  Chances are favorable I’ll be back in tomorrow to join Rain’s art date and I hope you’ll stop in with your morning coffee.  Have a wonderful day! X💋X💋, Cathy

I’m linking with these Wordless Wednesday Communities… Sandee, Natasha,  Marie, & Wordless Wednesday!

error: Please contact me for permission to download. Thank-you!!