about half way done with the 2nd painting

and i SWEAR i need to SEE whistling ducks in person cause they are giving me fits
the center duck in this painting has a great head but i'm not sure about how feathery his back is
the front one at this point looks good

meanwhile it's our saturday (yes it's everyone else's monday)
i am going nuts looking for my birth certificate, i know i have the original, and at least two copies
i need it this week and i can't find it!
i may have to order a new one from jersey!

and to add to things......
we are trying to decide which state to focus on for retirement.......
i wanted new hampshire....... bernie is not too thrilled with the amount of snow my friend karen gets up there .....but i like the idea of no income tax and no fracking so clean water-- and where she is.....they have a traveling/visiting nurse that comes to the house.. among other things
its a nice area
if money was no object, i would say rhinebeck ny first (rhinebeck sheep and wool is important to me)
or somewhere in mass...... somewheres quaint, with artists
or new hampshire (tamworth area i think)
or bucks county nearer to philly
or near williamsburg va

those are my dream retirement areas


a lot of our friends are in one or the other of the carolinas....... i really don't like the south but i was assured that in the mountains of NC there are a lot of us northerners, and there are a lot of artists, plus sugar maples and some snow...... ok so they got my attention with the artists and the sugar maples

i don't want to go west, i have a thing about tornados.... earthquakes..... mud/land slides..... and either excessive drought or excessive rain
pretty much leaves out anything north of middle pennsylvania
i wouldn't mind pa if some of the taxes/government changed...... and we moved a bit south or a bit north.... but definitely out of this area (so south it would be.... probably closer to quakertown)
but bernie doesn't want to stay here
we need to really start thinking about this soon so i can start to do the research and target some areas....
i would like to learn about a few different areas and then go see them for a week or so to see how it really is
although you don't really know until you are actually living there

i do know i would like to build if we can...... and i would like a round house with solar....
and a flat piece of land...
i want a much bigger studio...
and i want open plan.....one big open room with the bedroom/bath in another room, that fits us
we always tend to hang out where ever i put my work.......so one big open room is perfect

we're talking about it back and forth.......but until we decide on a WHERE.......we can't decide on a when or how....
ok i have to get back to  work

take care for now