CATAWBA WINE

I’d like to get better (much better) at making wine from grapes grown here at Pineapple Hill. I’ve planted a dinky vineyard here and after testing several varietals it seems Catawbas do best in terms of resisting disease and deer. Catawba grapes are a native/European hybrid and one of the first grapes used commercially in the USA. I plan to plant some more. (That’s my jailhouse ID bracelet in the background… another story for another time.)

Bad things happened, an entire run of them that shut me down, caused me to withdraw from everything except my inner self.

One afternoon, in a hammock, I took a photo of myself. Just my legs. But there was no one to send it to. No one to understand.

I needed a sidekick so I sketched an armadillo because they’re crusty on the outside but not within. I made him my butler. Crusoe’s manservant Friday.

We began interacting—my hammock photo speaking to that critter, that critter speaking back.There’s a folder of cartoons somewhere. For now there’s just this one. (LINK)

Eventually after that I began writing novels.

I’m still a hermit, marooned you might say, but leaving my shell more and more—my inner self seeking its freedom through writing.