It's been a long long time

I haven't posted here for a long time, it's not that I haven't been doing anything, it's just I've not felt my unfinished stuff would interest you. I get a point in some of my work that I say "o.k., I like this but now what?" and I tend to walk away hoping divine intervention will soon arrive.
this is a bench I received from my friend Janice. It sat in my family room for a time and then on my front porch for 23 years. Yup, 23 years. The cap of one of the arms popped off when I was washing it after the winter, and I needed new cushions. So now what? I've been doing some furniture refinishing, and like anything I do, I'm obsessed. I thought O.k. I'll just glue the cap back on and paint it black and maybe get another year out of it. It's a great place to sit in the shade and read. Well when I took it into the shop to work on my co-strippers went wild, "look at the wood" or "it's going to be fabulous when you strip and refinish it." considering my husband said "don't bring this back". I thought, huh! I think I'll strip it.
after a great deal of banging, these were the nails holding a couple of pieces of plywood down, forever.
It's now resting for the summer in the workshop, we can't work in the shop during the summer months no air, and too toxic with the stripper fumes. The wood under the many layers of paint looks good, I'm thinking a nice dark port, and then what, I can't put this much effort into a piece and then put plywood back on the seat. I'm thinking cane, but that's a skill I know nothing about, yet another new adventure.