Greg O'Neil, Mill Manager for Lanterman's Mill in the Mill Creek MetroParks system, passed away three days ago, at the mill. A great guy, he will be missed. Greg revived the Olde-Fashioned Christmas Show, but more importantly, he kept Lanterman's Mill a working mill, grinding wheat, corn and buckwheat. Other mills are museums--Lanterman's grinds! That's not a bad legacy.

​It was a well-known image in the Middle Ages, as well as from the Tarot. The Wheel turns—now you ride high, now you sink.
I think there’s a Wheel for artists and writers too—especially those who both write and create 2D & 3D art. And in my case, work with fiber. I don’t think it’s possible to experience Writer’s Block and Artist’s Block at the same time. Spinner’s Block? Weaver’s Block?
2022 was surely a fiber-ascendant year: I took part in the Tour de Fleece and the worldwide Spin Together. (I spun my way to 5th place in the yarn spun on a drop spindle category.) My two Textile Tapestries won ribbons in the Canfield Fair Fine Art Show, a donated needlefelt raised money for Ukraine. I sold my hand-woven rugs at Lanterman’s Mill’s Olde Fashioned Christmas.
This year? Spin Together won’t take place till spring of 2024. My Textile Tapestries were juried out of a regional art show. All of my backlist books are in print from KDP, and it’s time to plan new writing.
But it bids fair to be an Art year: I’ve been honored with Featured Artist status at Confluence, the Pittsburgh Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Convention. I’ve designed the art for the t-shirt, which is adapted for the program cover. To draw attention to the Confluence Art Show, I’ll have a display of all the types of art I create. Remembering that ironically, I started writing Fantasy as a way of breaking into illustration. And nine books later…I did finally get to paint my cover art, for Thistledown and Wizard’s Destiny.
I’ve also drawn maps (Cathy Hester Seckman’s Right Side/Wrong Side), designed t-shirts, cut stencils in at least 100 Celtic and Fantasy designs. I demonstrate pastel painting every year at the Canfield Fair, and I have just agreed to demonstrate at the Art Show of the Ellwood City Festival. I will demonstrate hand-spinning at the Hermitage Arts Festival, and at Briar Brook Barn, both of those just before Confluence. The Wheel turns…