Saturday, February 20, 2016

Authors and their Cats: Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway and his cats. Today's Caturday post of a famous author and their cats is very close to me. Hemingway loved cats. And it's well known that he had many polydactyl (six-toed) cats. The Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West where he lived from 1931 to 1939 has maintained and cared for Hemingway's cat population. Many, many years ago, my sister and I visited the House where we were quite taken with the 6-toed cats--the 100s that seemed to fill up the house and grounds. No big surprise, we ended up leaving with one. No, not in our bag, but with the permission and encouragement of the caretakers. That is not the case today, so don't even ask. What Judie and I had not considered was that pets were not welcome at our vacation hotel on Islamorada. So we ended up having to drive to Miami to board the cat for the remainder of our vacation before we returned to California. Times were different. No homeland security. We took the cat on board the plane easily, and there was no muss, no fuss. F-Puss, the Hemingway cat, had a litter before she was spade, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were and are some of the Hemingway 6-toed cat descendents in and around Palo Alto.

Here are some more photos of Hemingway with his cats in Key West. People who abhor cats on tables, turn away now.









And a present day Hemingway House resident:



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