Pineapple Hill Wine

I can make a good wine label. But not a good wine. Not yet.

After settling in at Pineapple Hill, I installed a small vineyard featuring Catawba grapes and a few others including Scuppernongs and Muscadines—grapes native to the South.

My first batch tasted awful and stayed that way. Later batches tasted awful then improved over time. There were some salad dressing batches too.’m not giving up.

grapes natvie to the South Scuppernongs and Muscadines

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.