The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway

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Worked all day yesterday–just getting organized and spruced up so that I can start listing this afternoon  don’t forget to check out my store:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/DragonLaire?ref=hdr_shop_menu    Pictures today are more MT. DORA (main one ) on the ground at Lakeside Inn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeside_Inn_(Mount_Dora,_Florida)  and along the Dora Canal https://www.lakecountyfl.gov/boating/the_dora_canal.aspx   You can’t get away from ads anywhere.  Oh and see more of MY View of Florida with my pin Floridays https://www.pinterest.com/lindachase56829/floridays/    and completely off the subject but I’m working on a trip to England next year—what do you think of Lincoln Castle www.lincolncastle.com or Gilford in the Heart of Surreywww.visitguildford.com   and a trip to New Port Richie next month:  any particular favorites?  http://nsbfla.com/video.cfm

 

 

 

 

 

SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH OUT A NEW EPISODE EVERY SAT AT 9????   I TRY TO WATCH RERUNS–ESPECIALLY 107 AND 109 OFTEN ENOUGHT TO KEEP WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS AT BAY.  No relief this year:  Check this one out—Sam doing French for interview:  http://www.outlandertvnews.com/2015/06/how-has-sam-heughan-been-progressing-with-french-lessons/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well here goes my 2nd Author of the Week that relocated (at least for awhile) to Florida and was a noted addition to the state’s history and literature:  Ernest Hemingway
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
After he published The Sun Also Rises (1926), he and his wife Pauline (2nd ) came to Key West (1928).
He came from Europe (Paris where he had lived for seven years) with a sojourn in Cuba and at the recommendation of another author:  John Dos Passos. 
KEY WEST & THE FLORIDA KEYS
Hemingway’s two sons (Patrick & Gregory) were raised in Key West
Hemingway was 29 years old and in his prime when he arrived in Key West.  He would work on his novels in the mornings and spend his afternoons and into the evening—but usually home by midnight so he could start his day early again–with the characters and toughs of the place, doing amateur fighting and drinking booze that was readily available even during probation from the many rumrunners who plied the waters about the small island only 90 miles from Cuba.
Hemingway found the Gulf stream and it fabulous fishing in the Keys.  He even wrote a letter about this to Esquire magazine in 1936.
After the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane Hemingway went by boat from Key West to the scene of the storm and was shocked and appalled by the fate of veterans working in a Depression program in the Keys.   “…Out of 187 only 8 survived…” He went on to write stories that were carried about the nation and which brought investigation of the entire program.
Hemingway called Key West “St. Topez of the Poor”,  He arrived at the beginning of a famous career and his life here was seen by the world in news reels and Life Magazine.
While Hemingway was in Spain in 1938 covering the Civil War Pauline added a swimming pool to their home–the first in the city.   She in fact remained in the house (which was originally  purchased for the couple by a member of her wealthy family) until her death in 1951.  Hemingway didn’t return to the house but he kept it until 1961 when he finally sold it.
Books about Hemingway in Key West include:
Papa: Hemingway in Key West McLendon 1972
Hemingway’s Florida (Lost Generation Journal  Vol 1, no. 2) Brasher 1973
With Hemmingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba Samuelson 1984
Ernest Hemingway in Key West Bellavance-Johnson 1987
THE BOOKS
While in Key West he wrote
A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Death In the Afternoon (1932)
Green Hills of Africa (1935)
To Have and Have Not (1937)*
For Whom The Bells Tolls (1940)
in his studio on top of the pool house.
*Only one was set in Key West, actually it is the only of his novels actually set in the US.
THE PLACES
HEMINGWAY HOUSE
907 Whitehead St.
Most famous literary site in Key West.  He owned the house from 1931-1961 (but he only lived there until 1940).  Of interest is the very badly laid out brick wall around the property.   Tradition is that when the City put his home on a list of tourist (He complained of this in a 1935 letter to Esquire) he first hired a local black man with a odd skin disease that looked like leprosy to meet visitors and later with the assistance of his handy man he built the wall, obviously without levels or any other normal brick laying equipment.  Today there is a guided home and grounds tour which includes the famous Sloppy Joe urinal (which some sources state was brought home by Pauline and not Ernest) , the studio with its connecting cat walk from the house; and a hand-blown Venetian glass chandelier purchased with money from Pauline’s dowry.
CAPTAIN TONY’S SALOON
Greene St.
Where the original Sloppy Joe’s Bar (founded by Joe Russell –some say he got the knick name “Sloppy Joe” from the author) was located.  Russell  moved the bar to its present location in 1937 when the landlord here raised the rent.   So the author spent considerable time at this location.  In fact it’s where he met writer Martha Gellhorn, who was in Key West expressly to meet Hemingway.  The meet up was so successful that an affair began resulting in his divorce from wife number two and his marrying Gellhorn and leaving Key West for Cuba.   Least you feel too bad for Pauline, she had befriended his first wife Hadley, socialized and traveled with the couple and  eventually became #2.
CASA ANTIGUA
314 Simonton St.
Now Apartments this was a hotel where Hemingway and Pauline stayed when they first came to Key West and where he fell in love with the island and its way of life and decided to stay.  If you go into the Pelican Poop Gift Shop they will sell you an admission or buy something for a prescribed amount and get a free admission.  The hotel is gone but there’s a great court yard built around a cistern that is totally charming and worth a visit. 
SLOPPY JOE’S BAR
201 Duval St.
Just about half a block from Captain Tony’s the place is a bit touristy now days but it has (according to locals) some good groups playing and it was frequented by Hemingway.  In fact it is reported that after  Hemingway on July 2, 1961,  “quite deliberately” shot himself with his favorite shotgun, that there were still items there that Hemingway had left with Russell for safe keeping .  By the way at his death Hemingway  was with Mary Welsh wife number 4. 
BLUE HEAVEN
www.blueheavenkw.com/

 729 Thomas Street
There used to be a boxing ring here that Hemingway use to spar at.   A Cuban tradition–there were also cock fighting and there’s still a rooster cemetery as well.  Oh and the water tower is from Little Torch Key and was part of the Overseas Hwy. which died in that 1935 hurricane.  There was also a “house of ill repute” here and the tiny rooms are up stairs from the yard in which you eat your meal–breakfast here being Divine. 
Islamorada sites:
Bass Pro Shop
81576 Overseas Hwy
Has Hemingway’s  Pilar’s sister boat (very much like) on display in its huge store and while you’re there step out back for lunch or dinner at their restaurant The Islamorada Fish Company
Hurricane Monument
To those who died in the 1935 storm and many of those victim’s ashes are buried beneath it.
“Love is all the dirty little tricks you taught me that you probably got out of some book.”
Ernest Hemingway, To Have and Have Not
Sources:
A Key West Companion  Christopher Cox
Key West & The Florida Keys June Keith
The Book Lover’s Guide to Florida Kevin M. McCarthy Editor
The Houses of Key West Alex Caemmerer

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