While one may encounter many defeats,

one must not be defeated.

Some readers grumble that they haven’t heard from Bodger lately, so here goes . . .

It’s true, the last few months have been discouraging. As a youth, I learned to believe that the arc of history bends towards justice, but it’s hard to tell these days. Things seem out of balance, and difficult to set to right.

My boyhood friend Jamie and I used to play a Carrom game called Skittles on the floor in his family’s rec room:

Launching a top from the pocket at one end by vigorously yanking on the string wound round it, we’d cheer as the top zinged through the several chambers knocking over pins along its way. The loud buzzing as the top took off was really something. But perhaps most fascinating was watching the top as it went off balance, go off kilter, and begin to wobble. Try as we sometimes might, there was no way to gently touch it to set it right. One simply had to watch it wobble, wobble, wobble until it finally crashed, then rewind the string, and start all over.

Long story short, it all comes down to balance. That’s pretty much my total theory, which I call balance-ism. When things aren’t right, there’s something out of balance. Usually, you can simply hear it. Now, what to do to get things back to balance . . . that’s another story.

Anyway, after a few seasons of disappointment, I’m pleased to say I’m getting back in the saddle. Here’s a copper weathervane I just made for my friends Beth and Buzz. They wanted a bicycle built for two (something they ride regularly). Their garage had an existing spire with a sturdy mast thirty-some feet up there, so putting it up was a great project.

I like how the directions spell “W — E”.