Grape's from Tino

Tino was my next door neighbor who past away several years ago. His wife Kay thankfully still lives next door. He was straight off the boat from Italy. He spoke VERY broken english and had many delightful "ways" that I loved to observe. He had a HUGE garden every year and alternated his garden bed from year to year from one side of the yard to the other. The side not used each year was covered with old carpeting. He planted all his tomato plants side ways with just the tip coming out of the soil. His seeds were from his childhood farm in Italy.He saved seeds from his plants each year. One year ~ we took our family on a fall vacation. When we came home ~ all my tomato vines were hanging from my basement pipes covered in green tomatoes! A frost had come and he didn't want to see the green tomatoes go to waste. It was a wonderful treat to come home to. I had a small grape vine growing on my front picket fence. Throughout the summer on his evening walk ~ he would often trim my vines as he walked by. Never ask ~ just trim away. My grapes were always sweet and abundant! One Christmas time ~ I was quite pregnant with my youngest daughter.Frank and I went over for a visit and he insisted I eat his homemade jared cherries. They were delicious ! I gobbled a bowl down ~ only to find myself quit tipsy! Turns out they were preserved in alcohol. Now this is a girl who didn't even drink a glass of wine when pregnant. When Tino passed away ~ I took care of my neighbors yard for a while. One day I found this tiny remnant of the grapes from his grape arbor that had been long ago torn down.I planted it in my yard and this year was blessed with grapes! They are hanging from the fence that divides our yards. If he were here ~ the ground below would be covered in bits of trimmed vines ~ and this little cluster would have been a huge bumper crop! We miss you and love you!