Howdy-hi, folks! It’s mid-week again and it’s the last Wednesday in the month. The days disappear quickly on a person so fast in fact that’s it’s taken more than two years to bring my Little Mermaid Art Sketch illustrations to life in living color. I’m nearly through the alphabet. Today, I’m sharing the letters U and V, both ironically are of the same character which I purposely did because it felt like it was the right thing to do when I planned my illustrations in 2019. 🙂
Last week, I ask y’all how you felt about the linky party. Only two people responded. The second person who asked got me to thinking. Yeah, that’s a dangerous thing for me to do, but I wondered if you know that my mid-week link up is open to anyone who either wants more blog traffic or to share just to be sharing. There’s not commitment here and you don’t even have to visit anyone you don’t want to. This is just a list of people, announcing today’s post or an older one they would like others to see. That all being said, you’re invited to add your link below. 😉
After this week, I’m undecided if I’ll keep the linky party going. Participation is super low. Remembering to create and add it to my weekly post does take energy to keep up. I don’t want you to feel any pressure, I just want to know how to use my time the best. Do you like the linky or do you prefer to leave a direct link in comments for others?
I’m linking with these Wordless Wednesday Communities… Sandee, Natasha, Marie, & Wordless Wednesday!
This week Joyce isn’t cranking out her usual hodgepodge questions because she has other things to do like entertain some little punkins. I don’t blame her as I’d be happy doing the same thing. However, I won’t let this stop me from answering an old set of hodgepodge questions. Hey I was out all summer so I have plenty of resources from which to borrow at times like this.
I did a little poking around in Joyce’s archives lifting this set used for the weekly date on September 23, 2020 in which I didn’t participate. I have a whole lot of catching up to do!
2. When you think of the colors of fall, which one is your favorite? Is there somewhere you could easily day trip to see the leaves in all their glory? Will you? I don’t really have a favorite fall color. They all seem to work beautifully together but if I had to pick then I think I tend admire sunburst orange leaves. To see the fall foliage, we are an easy drive from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and western North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We frequently take daycations on DH’s off-Fridays to the mountains. Our chances are favorable that we’ll find our way to one or both locations within the coming weeks to enjoy autumn’s splendor.
4. If you’re wearing a sweater is it most likely a cardigan, crew neck, v-neck, or zip up hoodie? At the moment, I’m not wearing long sleeves. The temperatures this morning (Tuesday) was 60º and it’s expected to continue this pattern the rest of the week. Next week’s forecast is calling for slightly cooler temps to return. We’re really a long way off from needing to wear heavy clothing regularly.
6. Insert your own random thought here. Today’s randomness involves a memory. I find as the years go by pieces of the past slip through my mind like old photographs and I wonder… Is that all my life is meant to be? Will anyone ever know that I was here? Don’t my kids want to know anything about when I was little? Doing the same things over each day, I come to feel like I walk in the shadows of others or myself from another time. It’s frightening to think that maybe the memories I have might one day be replaced with voidness and confusion. I guess we all share those concerns to an extent, a fear each of us can relate to. Here’s a peek into my past.
Monday, one of my 4M dance partners, Alana, shared Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”. It’s funny I put up the same song and it’s possible my memory was jogged when I created the post but I didn’t think to include it in my post. Anyway, Alana’s music pick brought to mind a long ago memory. Do you feel like your childhood is made up of snapshots? That’s how I perceive it. I can’t recall everything about the moments or why some cling more prominently than others but that’s the way my memories are stored. Anyhow, back to the song that caused me to reminisce. Thankfully, I have actually have a photograph of that memory. Who knows, maybe this is why I think of my childhood as snapshots because that’s where most of my memory jogging comes from.
Here’s the picture. I’m the little blonde haired girl wearing the white boots. The only people I know are my cousin, Beverly to my right. Next to her stands a handsome elderly man with a little boy. That’s my maternal great grandpa, Sam Payne, and my cousin Sean. The things I remember about this scene is, we’re on the river bank at a baptism. Obviously the weather was chilly because we’re all wearing coats and the trees are all naked which makes me think it’s late fall. The most important thing about the memory from this picture is I’m wearing my brand new go-go boots. Well, that’s what I thought they were but it seems every time I wore those little white boots I thought of or hummed or sung out loud, “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” whether I actually did I can’t say with complete certainty but I can tell you this much, every time I look at this picture Nancy Sinatra’s song is first thing that comes to mind and I really loved those boots! They made me feel special.
There you have it a tiny flash back to my childhood. It’s not a particularly special moment but to have kept it all this time then it had to be special to me. Perhaps I’ll get motivated to pull such memories under one collective body as in a book form to pass to my children and grand daughter. One day, their curiosity might peek and whether I’m around or not they at least will have something tangible so that they can glimpse into my past.
Thanks for including me in your day. I will end things with on musical note with my WSC picks. I’ll return tomorrow for TAD with Rain with more artwork and I hope you’ll join me. That’s it for now. Have a wild and wonderful day! X💋X💋, Cathy
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Great sketches ❤
Those sketches are super amazing. So very nice.
Love those sketches!
I also love your childhood photo. It speaks to me as I agree with your thoughts. Great that you have a black-and-white one to share. It’s true, people would deem it as special as we grow older and they would want to find the exact date and place for it to gain meaning.
Thanks for the linky and the effort to install one, and I hope a lot of us would still continue to put their mark on each other’s blogs.
Happy WW!
Thanks for the reminder that the linky is for everyone, i went ahead and linked up. So often i’m very far behind, so i was glad to get here today.
Your sketches are really excellent and i love your memory in the white boots. You’re beautiful!
I always love your sketches and your fun answers to those questions. Hey, I like the white boots, they were made for walking! I never mind linking up.
Great post today, Cathy! Loved your song choices and the sketches 🙂 As for linkys.. this will most likely be the last month I host them, as no one wants to share the links on their posts.
Hi Cathy, this post is chock full of interesting stuff! 🙂 Your sketches are so good and getting better all the time! 👌
Regarding linky parties, to be honest, I think they are way too time-consuming and not worth the effort. I always used to feel obligated to respond to everyone, which was rarely reciprocated (with a few exceptions, like yourself). So, now the tactic is to visit my favourites, plus others who visit me, (time permitting) and leave it at that. Also, I use the CommentLuv plugin which allows people to share one of their most recent post links automatically. We all have other things going on offline and can’t be slaves to the computer. 💻
Early fall is beautiful, especially the colours, my favourites being reds and oranges. Not a fan of what comes after, though. 🥶
Back problems are awful and I hope yours will clear up soon. Exercise has certainly slacked off here too but at least I have to walk the dog. 🐕🦺
You were such a cute little girl! Love the Go-Go boots. 😀 Unfortunately, your playlist video isn’t available in Canada but those are all familiar songs.
Have a good rest of the week. Happy Fall! 🍂
Those are Hullabaloo boots, aren’t they? Mary had a pair, too. Good drawings and excellent song choices!
You are ever so talented. You were a cute three year old too.
You and I are on the same page about winter. Not a fan at all.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug and lots of love. ♥
I love the old photo, Cathy, and your sketches. I joined in your linky party for Wordless and Wild Wednesdays. Have a great day! 🍂 🍁
I like your drawings. Thank you for hosting- I like hopping with you.
I love fall, there is nothing I can think of that I don’t love about it. XO
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Wild and Almost Wordless Wednesday, dear friend! It amazes me how you are able to crank out content day after day, my good friend.
I am attracted to purple, and therefore love seeing your Sea Witch character from the A to Z Little Mermaid Art Sketch illustration series brought to life In Living Color. That’s a screensaver for sure, and suitable for framing in my opinion. Illustration #2 is just as good. You did a wonderful job of rendering the Sea Witch as she shape-shifts into Vanessa, a beautiful brunette with soft, feminine features. I wanna hug and smooch her!
I appreciated your Hodgepodge answers. That #2 prompt was an easy one for you, since you and DH routinely travel east to see the changing colors of fall in the Smokys. I look forward to the pictures of brilliantly colored foliage that you will take in the weeks to come and share with us at CAAC. I loved reading your #6 answer and seeing the picture of you as a little girl in 1964 wearing your go-go boots. We need to consider that Nancy Sinatra’s song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” came along a little later, peaking on the chart in early 1966, so I’m thinking that you began to attach that hit song to this photo around that time and continue to do so ever since. Most of my memories are stored as snapshots, too. Like you, I worry about losing those memories someday. Surely we are helping to preserve them by writing them down here in our online journals (blogs) and by sharing them with each other. I also share your dismay that our children and grandchildren express very little interest in knowing about our past and what life was like in the 60s and 70s. The younger members of my large extended family simply do not care. There are hundreds of interesting stories I could tell, but they never ask.
Your song picks for the WSC are excellent, and I know all three. “Respect” is a creative choice for a protest song, but it actually is a woman’s protest against her lover man’s apathy and neglect. I tried to come up with a “fall” song that uses the word to mean “autumn,” but couldn’t think of any. Songwriters typically go with the more poetic word “autumn” in their compositions. Therefore, like you, I needed to “fall” back on a song title in which the word is used as a verb. That Frankie Lymon/Teenagers hit was huge in my neck of the woods.
Here are my picks:
PLEASE SONG: I score double points for naming a tune that has the word please used twice – “Please Please Me,” an early hit by The Beatles, It’s interesting to note that the song was originally released as a single in the U.S. in early 1963 with “Ask Me Why” as the B side. The record fizzled. When it was re-released nearly a whole year later with “From Me To You” as the B side, it reached the top 3 on the chart.
PROTEST SONG: “Uncle John” by Pearls Before Swine, the one-man (Tom Rapp) art rock band that captured my imagination in 1967, an anti-war song from the album One Nation Underground.
FALL SONG: “Catch My Fall” by Billy Idol, a song and single from the glam rocker’s 1983 studio album Rebel Yell.
Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday and your week, dear friend Cathy!