Where is our future?

Now that I'm back from my vacation to Colorado and Cayucos, it's back to reality in the Inland Empire. Such as it is. We possibly will live right here in this golf course condo for the rest of our lives. Sometimes I am tempted to go back up to Gualala, Calif., the Mendocino coastal village where I first worked after college, and see if the Independent Coast Observer needs a reporter. And if they don't, to go down the coast until I find one that does. However that plan, does not suit Don well, so I am pretty sure it will not happen in his lifetime, and I hope I'm well past retirement age after that.

What is a more realistic plan is to find a small town in the Rockies, or even another part of Colorado, and settle there. I am pretty sure the town we end up would not be in or near Denver, because that's just the conglomeration of suburbs we would be trying to escape if we left southern California. But it could be Colorado Springs. Or Durango. Or ?????

It's not a decision we will be making soon. Don has obligations here. He won't finish with CBU until the end of 2014 or counting student teaching, the middle of 2015. And he's obligated to be on the Jurupa Valley Planning Commission until the end of 2016. So I don't see how we could possibly go before then.

Meanwhile, I need to find something to help pay the bills until August 2014, when Don's income increases with his eligibility to start collecting Social Security. Although Congress has decided not to put a 100 percent tax on federal unemployment benefits, I will exhaust mine sometime in 2013. If jobs continue to be impossible to find, but there is some way possible to get the start up funds, I will start my own business officially. And if succeed in making Pen Porter a bonafide, legitimate company, I will be reluctant to move away from my clientele for a very long time. I think I would stay in business for at least 20 years, maybe longer.

And then there are parents to think about. Mine are very healthy, thank God. The possibility right now is more likely that we will need to stay in California so they can take care of us, not vice-versa. But someday that could change, and I am my parents' daughter.

Don's mother needs more care already, but that is primarily given by his sister, and to a greater extent than Don at least, by his middle brother. However, we want to be there as a backup, as it is hard for Nancy to do this without a break.  And we enjoy spending time with our parents.So, as long as there are parents, that is another good reason to stay in California.

And, although we have much against our state, our personal reasons listed here are just four more reasons to stay on top of a long list of other really good things about our state. So, I will be content to stay here for now.

For the art journalers: I used a new series of prompts at Daisy Yellow, called 6ix, to inspire this page. These will  list six colors, materials, techniques or topics to use on a journal page. At this point the only one she has posted is the one that inspired this page, which was to use "teabag," "California yellow," "vermillion,"  "pencil," "fabric" and "decision." This page also was slightly inspired by an ongoing series of prompts she calls EDM. I am not sure what EDM stands for, except that they are all about drawing objects. The one she posted most recently was to draw something "vintage" or "retro."

So, here's my process: I used a tea bag to tea stain this page. (And the one facing it, which will fit in well with my next planned creation.) I wasn't sure what shade of yellow is California yellow, but since I knew the page would be about deciding whether to stay in or eventually leave California, any shade of yellow I use is California yellow. Vermillion is a dark red, so I used my red and yellow water color pencils to add more color. The yellow is highly visible here, but the red has faded in with the other colors. This includes brown, because I used my brown water color pencil to draw a "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign I photographed on the state highway we took into Colorado on our November 2009 trip there. I am not sure that the sign is "vintage," but it is in a retro style that could be. I smudged all the water colors, including those I used to draw the sign with, with the water brush because I love that effect. But then I drew the sign over. I wrote the words on the sign, and in my journaling, with my best lead-point pencil.