Hemingway happiness, horrors and places to visit - and a six word story challenge

 

Hemingway House

The top Hemingway attraction is the museum at Key West. He had a menagerie of animals. Including the famous Hemingway cats. He also travelled around the world.

Hemingway History & Books

I saw a film based on a Hemingway book about a soldier who falls in love with a nurse. The whole things made no sense. After reading that the author himself fell in love with a nurse, but she later married somebody else, and that Hemingway was recruited as a spy, this unlikely jumbled work of supposed fiction turns out to be based on fact and makes more sense.

I had also wondered why Hemingway was honoured by a statue in Cuba. Now I know he lived there and was honoured.  Although he met Castro only once, they admired each other.

Hemingway\s house answers some queetions and poses others. He killed animals but kept many animals. For examples, six toed cats renamed Hemingway cats.

Travel Landmarks to Look For, For Hemingway Fans

Whether you are amazed and awed or appalled, you cannot help being interested in Hemingway. As a writer I love the story about the six word story challenge. He is often quoted as having answered this challenge, but during his lifetime it was not recorded, and it was found  to have been used years earlier by others. 

The Six Word Story Challenge

The challenge is, write A novel summed up in six words? For sale, baby shoes, never worn. 

I could easily write another similar to that. For sales, small gun, used once.

Alternatively

For sale, gun, one careful owner.

Gun. Used once. One careless owner.

For sale. Gun and five bullets.

For sale, small house, distress sale.

Discount, murder victim's ouse for sale.

Missing millionaire's house for wale. Executors.

For sale. Wedding dress. Never worn.

For sale. Wedding dress. Worn twice.

What about a five word story.

For sale. Diary. Christmas gift. Unused..

For sale. Thirties car. Never driven.

For sale. Wooden coffin. Not needed.

For sale. Left shoes. Never worn. 

For sale, tomb, book cancer recovery.

For sale, fake banknotes, offers invited.

Missing, fiance named John, numerous aliases.

Wanted. Man with machinegun. Don't approach.

For sale. Titanic lifeboat. Not seaworthy.

Discount. Groom's outfit with bullet holes.

For sale smiling Mummy. Maybe fake.

For sale,haunted church, empty graveyard.

Clothes for quadruplets, or four twins.

Identical twins seek part time work.

Heminsgway's home in Florida, USA

Statue of Hemingway in Cuba

Maybe you can pick up some moere six word story ideas or title on your travels.

Useful Websites

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Update on Hemingway's cats and Hurricane Irma

Problem
1 Why are the cats called Hemingway's cats?
2 Why didn't the museum curators leave?

Answers
1 The cats are indeed 'Hemingway's' cats, that is to say, not the original cats he owned (he died in 1961), but their descendants. How do we know they are related to the original cats? After all, cats wander off, mate with other cats, and stray cats can wander in, especially if you have large numbers of cats and entrances.

Hemingway had identifiable and unusual cats, six-toed cats. The present day cats include six-toed cats.

2 Why didn't the curators' leave?
Hemingway's house is on a hilltop, safest place to be. If anyone was going to survive, it was them. If you were to choose a place to seek shelter from flooding, it would be there.

Americans are more clued up on Hemingway than the rest of the world. Here's a potted summary from Wiki:

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.

Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he reported for a few months for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian Front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms (1929).

Americans say raised. Brits would say brought up.

The Daily Mail comes up with an amusing headline, Six Cats and Nine Lives. I must remember that trick. If you can't find two numbers which match, just do a comparison. Take any two numbers and it works.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4870610/Caretaker-Ernest-Hemingway-s-FL-home-rides-storm.html
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/USA

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Key West - Hemingway's Haunt, Florida and Disaster Reporting

Most people have heard of Key West even if they haven't been there. The name sounds so romantic that if you haven't been there, or you went there a long time ago, you want to go there and you want to back.

Problems
1 What is it and Where is it?
2 Who goes there?
3 How do you get there?
4 a) Why should I care?
b) Why do other people care?
c) Why do they - do they - care more about a US disaster?
5 If the island and I survive another year, what should I see if I ever make a trip there?

1

Nickname(s): "The Conch Republic", "Southernmost City in the Continental United States"

Motto: One Human Family

2 Hemingway fans.

Travellers and Trips
People are taken there on cruise ships. (Americans and tourists.)

People driving down the east coast who want to go to the far end and then drive back. 

(Meticulous route-planning people like my British husband who like to do the whole country end to end, north to south, east to west, or circular, even if they don't have time to stop where I want.)

Florida Fun
Sports and sea lovers, people who want to escape from the big cities.

Last on list in Florida: after you have taken the kids to Disney, and done art deco Miami, and seen granny in Miami, now what?

City and Country, Cultures
Mismatched culture couples. He wants to see the sea, whilst I want to visit museums. Offer him the sea and water and I get to see the Hemingway Museum (if I check opening hours). 

Sea and See
Real America seekers - as the songs say: 'America the beautiful' 'from sea to shining sea'.

Hurricane watchers. 

Suicidal selfie-takers.

News and Views
News reporters.

Rescue workers seeking information for planning.

Photographers seeking then and now and before and after pictures.

3
Fly.
Drive.
By sea.

4
a) I write a travel blog and I have friends in the travel trade. I just read that one couple were on a 'honeymoon from hell' in a hurricane. I need to know where not to go for my own benefit as I travel a lot.

A disaster in one area causes ripples around the world. In 9/11 when flights could not enter or leave America, my flight from Singapore to South Africa was delayed all day. First extra security checks. Then a bomb scare from a scared passenger. Then crews and planes not available. Then the few flights that were still going were cancelled because they were half full whilst others were over-full with people from other cancelled flights.

The same was happening to upset conferences and hotels as far away as South Africa. Our hotel had empty rooms. Speakers from the USA did not reach the conference. The driver spent several hours at the airport waiting to meet our delayed flight.

As a travel writer, like other journalists, I am watching for news stories such as museum closed, museum re-opened, no flights, new flights.

4 b) People you hardly knew, whose jobs you didn't know, were involved in 9/11. In Singapore, a friend's son doing national service, and another on reserve, were called up by the Singapore army.

People cancelled social events because they were volunteers on call. Others were staying at home by the phone because with cancelled flights their boat might be needed, for commercial reasons or humanitarian reasons.

4 c)
Many British people have second homes in Florida. They go on holiday to hot places in cold winter and get persuaded to buy and then holiday regularly in the USA or lend their home to family or let it out.
Americans speak English so it's easy for the elderly Brits who are not good at languages.
Brits, Americans and Canadians go to Florida for winter warmth.
Disney is a big attraction, visited, also known by people who have not yet been.
English language publications have a high American readership. My blogs get a high American readership, whether or not I write about America. I sometimes write about the Middle East, the Far East, but I still get far more readers in the US so I tend to write about what will interest my readers.

I would expect a newspaper written in India or Bangladesh or Pakistan in Hindi or Urdu or Arabic would have a higher readership in those areas. A newspaper published in Glasgow gets more Scottish readers and publishes more news about Scotland.

News stories also depend on sources. If you have lots of people taking selfies, with their long battery life phones, you have more vox pop available. If you have satellite pictures, and cameras recording on every building, you have more aerial views. If you have more people who speak English living in a place, you get more stories which the newspapers and social media will pass to other English speakers.

Post being written and expended - come back later for more.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Americanisms - what is a conch? The story of people who won't leave Key West In Hurricane Irma. How Will They Sleep?

Problem
I just watched a news video from the USA about a woman leaving Florida, Sept 10 2017, on government advice before hurricane Irma, whilst her mother and aunt and other relatives stayed behind.

The people who choose to stay have been warned, don't bother ringing 911 because nobody will answer.  (In the UK you ring 999. For non emergency medical advice you can call the NHS direct advice line on 111.)

In the old days you used to be able to find the emergency number in the front of the printed phone directory. Now more and more companies are starting to say they won't be printing any more directories. Everything will be on line.

In the video, when asked why her mother would not leave, the young woman replied, "Because she's a conch".

I know that a conch is a shell. But she was using the word to describe people. I guessed it was a dismissive or slightly derogatory term.

I searched all over to find out what that meant. I thought it was a type of personality or attitude.

Answer
It turns out a Conch, spelled with a capital letter,  means somebody born in or living in the Florida Keys (or the Bahamas).

Story
I've been to Florida and down to the Keys. Not for long. Drove straight back.

I remember staying further up the coast at The Breakers and hearing the pounding of the Atlantic. I thought, I'll have trouble sleeping.

I'd wanted a sea view room but the sound of waves at night worried me. I was afraid I'd dream about tsunamis. I was listening all the time to hear if the waves were getting higher or closer. That was in clear weather.

I think it must be even harder to sleep when there's a gale. I'm sure you stay up the first night. Then the second night you are so tired you sleep through anything.

The news reports say that those staying include the people looking after Ernest Hemingway's House, because of more than 20 cats, kept because he had many cats. (Obviously not the same cats. They may have supposedly nine lives but they are not immortal.)

The latest advice is that it is too late to try to cross the roads to the mainland because the sea is rising either side and is about to flood the road. You just look at the pictures of the low road and the sea either side. It's horrific.

One just hopes that the storm passes out at sea, and quickly, and the people who stay have found the safest possible place.

If you are a tourist it would be a good idea to write the emergency numbers up by the phone. At some point, we hope, the emergency service people will be coming back and will be answering.

More Information
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/conch
Article headed Staying Behind On Florida Islands Is Almost Like Suicide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41211955

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
I have several posts on Americanisms and Britishisms and learning and understanding other languages. See next post on Key West. Please share your favourite posts.

Homes of the Famous in the USA, UK, Europe : authors, presidents, singers

AMERICA

ALABAMA - HARPER LEE - SCOTT FITZGERALD - HANK WILLIAMS SNR
(To Kill A Mockingbird)
Literary capital of Alabama is Monroeville, which has a trail based on the books To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. (See more details in my previous post.)
Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald Museum in the last house occupied by Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda.
Hank Williams Snr's home in Georgiana.

CALIFORNIA - JACK LONDON -
(Call of the Wild)
http://jacklondonpark.com/jack-london-directions.html
I also went to Hearts Castle but didn't feel I learned much about Hearst, just about the venue.

COLORADO - MOLLY BROWN
Molly Brown, heroine of the Titanic
Molly Brown House, Pennsylvania Avenue, Denver. I felt I learned about her house, but not about the Titanic.

CONNECTICUT - MARK TWAIN HOUSE - NOAH WEBSTER
NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE, West Hartford  (The Schoolmaster of America, wrote Webster's dictionary, reformed British English and created American spelling.)

FLORIDA - ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Author
Ernest Hemingway home and museum, Key West

GEORGIA - MARTIN LUTER KING JNR home
Atlanta, Georgia.

ILLINOIS - ABRAHAM LINCOLN -
(Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Springfield)

MARYLAND - CLARA BARTON
(America's Florence Nightingale)

MASSACHUSETTS - CLARA BARTON Homestead (founder of American Red Cross)

MISSOURI - Mark Twain birthplace, Florida, Missouri.

PENNSYLVANIA - EDGAR ALLEN POE (Philadelphia)

TENNESSEE - ELVIS PRESLEY - JIM REEVES
(Elvis, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee)
(Jim Reeves, Nashville, Tennessee)

VIRGINIA - THOMAS JEFFERSON (Monticello) - GEORGE WASHINGTON (Mount Vernon)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello

Edgar Allen Poe Museum, Richmond

WEST VIRGINIA - PEARL S BUCK Birthplace, Hillsboro

NORTH, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO - KARL MARX.

MORE IN AMERICA
See real life and online Halls of fame - eg music, baseball; more places connected with Edgar Allen Poe, Elvis. Cemeteries such as the one with the statue of Al Jolson. Graves of Wild West folk heroes. Jewish Museums. Battlefields and wartime heroes and leaders. Songwriters. Car manufactures. Coca Cola, Hershey, Pizza. Painters. Founders of railways. Owners of departments stores and newspapers (Hearst in California). Food factories and drink: Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Vermont.

***

EUROPE
AUSTRIA - MOZART birthplace, Salzburg.
BELARUSSIA - CHAGALL.
DENMARK - HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN Museum, Odense.
FINLAND - SIBELIUS museum.
FRANCE - CHAGALL. ZOLA/DREYFUS (Medan). PROUST trail.
GERMANY - BEETHOVEN (Bonn.)
IRELAND George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
ISRAEL BIALIK museum, Tel Aviv. (Playwright, also established Hebrew as the national language, because it was the classical language of the bible, close to Aramaic and Arabic, although I would prefer Yiddish, more modern and fun, like German with a sense of humour, told by a comedian.)
ITALY - PUCCINI home, opera. Statue of the man with the cigar which no doubt killed him.

NETHERLANDS - ANNE FRANK HOUSE, Amsterdam; REMBRANDT.
NORWAY - IBSEN museum, Oslo.
POLAND - CHOPIN birthplace. (Also huge monument in Warsaw is passed by tours.)
SPAIN - DALI.
SWEDEN - JIM REEVES. STRINDBERG museum.
Jim Reeves Museum
http://www.jimreeves.se/Jim_Reeves_Museum_Sweden/Om_oss.html
UK - BRONTES; BYRON; Capt'n COOK; DAHL; D H LAWRENCE; T E LAWRENCE (of Arabia); FREUD; JIMI HENDRIX; HANDEL; KEATS; Beatrix POTTER; WORDSWORTH; SHAKESPEARE
Jimi Hendrix museum (opened 2016) and Handel museum (adjacent) in London, England. (See my previous post in this blog.)
Freud Museum, London.
Keats Museum, London.
Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon; theatre in London, bust in church in London.
Also see Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London.
Captain Cook birthplace, Marton, N Yorkshire.
Bronte Museum, Yorkshire.
CROMWELL Museum, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks.
Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Buckinghamshire.
Beatles Story, Liverpool.

WALES DYLAN THOMAS Boathouse and two more museums.
SCOTLAND - BURNS; SCOTT; DAVID LIVINGSTON (Dr Livingston, I presume?)
Sir Walter Scotts House, Waverley.
N IRELAND & Ireland:
George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
JAMES JOYCE.
YEATS.

AFRICA - MANDELA
Home of Nelson Mandela, Soweto; also Robben Island. (More about Mandela in the Jewish museum. A Jewish friend bought a farm for Mandela to hide.)

ASIA
CHINA - SUN YAT SEN home, Shanghi. Also Hong Kong.
INDIA MAHATMA GANDHI Museum, Delhi. (Includes his polite letter to Hitler.)
THAILAND - Jim Thompson house, Bangkok. (American born Silk King.)

AUSTRALASIA
NEW ZEALAND KATHERINE MANSFIELD HOUSE.

MORE IN UK
Burns in Scotland; Wilberforce in Hull; JANE AUSTEN in Bath; DICKENS in London; ROTHSCHILD; ISRAELI; SASSOON.

More information from:
http://experience.usatoday.com/america/story/best-of-lists/2015/10/05/50-state-famous-americans-homes-museums/73410480/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton_Homestead
https://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/visiting/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Birthplaces_of_individual_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen_Museum
http://gandhimuseum.org
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/ (Hull's Wilberforce Museum)
http://www.maisonzola-museedreyfus.com/uk/zola_uk.html
(Tourist Boards and citizens, if you have any suggestions please send them to me.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.

International Museum day is May 18.
Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ATG, author, researcher, travel writer and photographer, speaker.

Books set in your destination

Pick the plot's landmarks by choosing your destination. Benjamin Disraeli (The British Prime Minister in the Victorian era, not his father Isaac Disraeli) said, when I want to read a book I write one. If you want the illusion of creating your own book, here's the solution.

Travellers often pick up guidebooks about the destination from the airport or on the ferry, but what about fiction? Some destinations are obvious places to buy books set there. For example, in the UK, a book by the Brontes when visiting the Bronte museum in Haworth, Yorkshire in the north of England. I bought Withering Heights by Emily Bronte, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and the novel by Anne Bronte. Many homes in the area are places featuring in the novels or were homes of the Brontes or their friends. Dickens features many landmarks. You can do walking tours of London and see sites connected with famous authors, then read the books.

I often visit homes of famous authors. Or pick up the children's or adult's book set in the local area. In Australia I bought Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by their best selling author May Gibbs after visiting a museum about the author and the illustrations of Australian plants.

In the USA I bought books by Arthur Miller, Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jack London.

But now here's a new concept. The book which you change by slipping in your location.

The idea of audience interaction dates back a long time. At the Canadian Expo in the sixties you could watch a performance of a play in which the audience voted. So if there were four times when you could vote there were - was it sixteen variations? I'll have to get a mathematics expert to help me on this one. Yes, my tame statistician confirms there are sixteen variations.

Now there's a pioneering story which changes the plot to include local landmarks in major cities. I'd like to change all my books to happy endings. Surprise endings and happy endings. I may not be with the majority on this. Women's magazines require short stories to have happy endings. But films and novels are different.

I think it was one of the great American novels by Hemingway, later made into a film, where studio audiences were shown two variation and asked to vote. To the surprise of the film producers the audiences chose the sad ending. More realistic? The Chinese like classic works to show grim reality. Not me. But I do like local landmarks on my literature.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3172264/Is-ultimate-holiday-read-New-travel-book-uses-GPS-adapt-plot-include-nearby-landmarks.html