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| The opening words of Ernest
Hemmingway's "Old Man and the Sea," begin as follows,
"There is an old fisherman, Santiago, in Cuba who has gone
eighty-four days without a catch. He is "thin and gaunt with
deep wrinkles in the back of his neck,...and his hands had deep-creased
scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these
scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless
desert". Santiago's lack of success, though, does not destroy
his spirit, as his "cheerful and undefeated" eyes show.
He has a single friend, a boy named Manolin. Who helped him during the
first forty days of his dryspell. After forty days, though,
Manolin's parents decide the old man is unlucky and order their son to
join another boat. . ." How could I not fall in love with a man that could create such thoughts, and pen such words as these? In recent months I have written of Jack London's "Valley of the Moon" - in California's beautiful Napa Sonoma Wine Country. I've written about John Steinbeck's Monterey Valley, which provides fervent blossom to his "Cannery Row," as well as other vibrant characters of his writings during the Great Depression. While in Hemmingway's Key West, Florida, I joyfully stalked the very footsteps of his past. Among the above scenes, notice the Key West Lighthouse, which sits on an adjacent property of Hemmingway's house. The cats on the bed, were told that I had come well over 3000 miles to visit them, and to see their multiple toes. The grey one on the right, yawned a bit, but quickly returned to slumber. Don't we wish life could always be so easy! Written by Myrl Jeffcoat 2/16/2010 ActiveRain archived at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1497652/wandering-around-key-west
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