Visitors and a Visit to the Hemingway House

Bill's older brother Bob and his wife, Betty, drove down from their home in Simpsonville, SC, to stay with us for a week. Our time with them was made more special when Bob's daughters -- Jeni Russ and Deanne Fitzpatrick -- joined us.

We had a blast. A tour of the Hemingway House was the highlight of the day we spent together in Key West.

 The great man's writing room. According to our guide, Hemingway came here daily and stayed until he had written 700 words. At that point, he departed for his favorite watering hole to imbibe and recover from his exhausting ordeal.

 

 This large pool, the first in Key West, was constructed by his second wife, Pauline, at a cost of $20,000. The site was previously occupied by Ernest's boxing ring. She removed that while he was on an extended trip that involved a tryst with his latest lover. Perhaps a soupcon of revenge on Pauline's part?

As unhappy as Hemingway was to discover his beloved boxing ring had been replaced by a hole in the ground filled with water, the salt in the wound was its extragagent cost. Rumor has it he told Pauline if she was going to spend his money like that she might as well take his last red cent and ended his declaration by tossing a penny on the ground. Said penny is now embedded in the concrete near the pool.

Many cats, some with six toes, roam the house and grounds. This one is named Bogie

Cats are a major theme, even appearing in the curtains hung at the upstairs windows.

Then there's the urinal Hemingway liberated from a local bar and installed on the grounds as a watering dish for the cats. It fell short of Pauline's design standards so she added a large urn in an effort at disguise, or at least deflection.

Ernest Hemingway married four times. His wives are pictured below in the order in which they exchanged vows. 

A bit of a non sequiter but I found it interesting -- an antique birthing stool used as part of the bedroom decor.

Our tour guide -- she did an excellent job. Great voice and very knowledgeable.

I will close by intoducing you to three outstanding women: Jeni Bowles Russ, Betty Holloway Bowles, and Deanne Bowles Fitzpatrick. Bob Bowles is a fortunate man!

Fishing and Crabbing and a Surprise

Billy decided to try his hand at catching some blue crabs. My assignment was to be the "netter." This was a task I approached with some trepidation, knowing the likely consequences of failing to net one that was on the line. You don't want to disappoint the Captain!


Down to the dock we went. It wasn't long before one took the bait. The trick is to pull the line in very slowly and steadily and to get the net under them without them seeing it. The net has to be below the water's surface and then quickly moved under the crab in case he sees a motion that makes him turn loose the bait. I netted all but the first one which was kind of small anyway. Only male crabs can be kept and they must meet minimum size.

Mr. Blue Crab

Careful, they bite!

They chow down on the bait in short order so, in addition to pulling in the line when a crab was on, Billy had to keep the other line in to catch bait fish. That takes a smaller hook than the crab line. After a several bait fish and two large branches that were hurricane debris, something big hit the baitfish line. I grabbed the net and we were both surprised to see a nurse shark on the small hook. I netted him but he almost immediately started coming through the net. I got him on the dock and Bill took over to work on getting the hook out. No need, Mr. Shark took care of that, just like he took care of the net.

Checking out the baitfish

We hauled him back from the edge of the dock and Googled whether a nurse shark was good to eat and what size it needed to be to keep it. Turns out they are nothing special to eat and must be 54" long to keep. Bill estimated ours was about four feet. He was heavy; skin was thick with a uniform texture, like fine sandpaper but softer. We turned him loose.


The photos below were taken while the nurse shark was being reeled in -- a job well done given the light line and small hook.

The captioned photo is one from the site of the Key West aquarium and was included for comparison purposes.

 

Official Aquarium Photo

We ended up with about a half-dozen blue crabs and had a crab boil for dinner. Lots of work to pick out the meat but excellent flavor made it worthwhile. Earlier this week, the ocean provided a mess of snapper for supper. Also an excellent meal.

Our Extraordinay Digs

Our accommodations, that is.

83 Bay Drive is in the Saddlebunch Keys and was acquired by the owners in the autumn of 2016. They'd vacationed at a home on the point of the drive for ten years and when this place became available, they went for it. They are a very nice family and great at being landlords, perhaps from all those years they spent being vacation rental tenants.

Thanks to luck and having been built in compliance with a good building code, the home withstood Hurricane Irma with only minor damage, although the landscaping, which had been a lush designer garden, definitely took a hit.


Below are photos of the view, left to right, from the second story screened balcony. We've had the sliding doors wide open since we got here and love the outdoor feeling. Best of all -- no mosquitoes.

This is the ramp for launching kayaks and paddle boards and walking into the ocean for a swim.

Private Beach!

Bye for now from Captain Billy, Elvis the Wonder Poodle, and me.