New year, small projects

Well, it's finally here. The new year which is supposed to bring new hope. After all, we have vaccines that should assist with recovery from our dreadful pandemic which has been so potently mismanaged it is killing thousands needlessly. And true to form, the vaccine roll-out has already been beset by problems that again demonstrate that money talks, people are willing to let their politics get in the way of the common good, and nobody in charge is actually in charge. Happy New Year.

I've tried desperately to focus on good things: good friends, happy walks, and of course, my projects at home. Since the weather turned too cold to work on the mosaic, a couple of niggling little projects finally got done. 

Several posts back, there was a hint that a large open sphere languishing in the backyard was going to be re-homed. That sphere was once the framework for a globe on a Rose Bowl Parade float. It is now in the infamous thicket. I will say that there were other plans to add to the sphere, but upon trying them out, we decided they didn't quite go. Not unusual for my best laid plans. I'm still trying to figure out what else is going to happen there, but in the meantime:

 

The next project involved the back gate to the back-of-beyond (which, as a reminder, is what I call the very messy back area of our property). The gate would no longer close properly because the wonderful trees that surround it have powerful roots that made it wonky. We asked the fence professional what it would take to fix it and he said he'd get back to me. That was 6 months ago. I have a guy I like very much who comes and fixes small things for me and showed him the situation, and his solution was quick and effective (and cheap). Unfortunately it left dings in the wood and extra holes in the gate that made me crazy. Aha! I'll just use old drink cans, emboss them, and then cover it up. Little did I know how doggone hard it is to emboss old drink cans. Unlike tooling foil, cans are made of heavier metal. So, going through a drawer of stuff leftover from a class I taught on embossing, I found some small copper squares. A little glue and some tacks, and voila (detail below big gate pic):

As I type this, the Capitol Building is being overrun by people who apparently don't understand the US Constitution or the democratic electoral process and believe that dictatorships are a good thing. It saddens me we have reached this state. It angers me that Trump is fanning the flames to suit his ego rather than the good of the country. We desperately need a do-over for the new year.