Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The Denver Post - Checking in with Papa on Key West
The Denver Post - Checking in with Papa on Key West: "Key West, Fla. - I saw him on the same bar stool he left 70 years ago. I recognized him immediately. The gray, scraggly beard. The fisherman's cap. The book outline in his pocket. (Or was that an alimony check?) Yep, it was Ernest Hemingway, all right.
I had come to Key West before the start of the college football season and found its most famous resident, who wrote 90 percent of his work while living here from 1931 to 1940, sitting in his old haunt. The bar's name had changed. So had the town.
Maybe that's why Ernest had this sullen, brooding look on his face when I approached him. He looked as if he was going to hit me."
I had come to Key West before the start of the college football season and found its most famous resident, who wrote 90 percent of his work while living here from 1931 to 1940, sitting in his old haunt. The bar's name had changed. So had the town.
Maybe that's why Ernest had this sullen, brooding look on his face when I approached him. He looked as if he was going to hit me."
Labels: cuba, Environment, Just Because, Key West
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
'Key Weird' -- Hemingway would still feel at home today
McCook Daily Gazette: Story : Column by Walt Sehnert: "In 1928 Hemingway settled in Key West Florida, with a new wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, and a new career, as a writer of short stories and books.
Though he lived in Key West for only 12 years, it was here that fully half of his lifetime literary works were written.
Today, some 70 years after he left Key West, the Hemingway stories are still fresh and vivid, and the locals refer to 'Our Ernest,' as if he were a neighbor who is merely on vacation and will be soon back among them.
Their Key West home, a major tourist attraction, is referred to as Hemingway's house, even though ownership stayed firmly in Pauline's hands after their divorce. The couple bought the home soon after arriving in town, thanks to the generosity of Pauline's Uncle Gus, who financed the purchase -- and future improvements on the home. "
Though he lived in Key West for only 12 years, it was here that fully half of his lifetime literary works were written.
Today, some 70 years after he left Key West, the Hemingway stories are still fresh and vivid, and the locals refer to 'Our Ernest,' as if he were a neighbor who is merely on vacation and will be soon back among them.
Their Key West home, a major tourist attraction, is referred to as Hemingway's house, even though ownership stayed firmly in Pauline's hands after their divorce. The couple bought the home soon after arriving in town, thanks to the generosity of Pauline's Uncle Gus, who financed the purchase -- and future improvements on the home. "
Labels: Key West
Friday, April 06, 2007
Project to sink Vandenberg off Key West begins
Sport Fishing - Project to sink Vandenberg off Key West begins: "fter 10 years of fundraising and permitting, a project has begun to sink a retired military ship off Key West, Fla., to serve as an artificial reef.
Last Friday, the decommissioned U.S. Air Force missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a 523-foot ship that also monitored NASA space launches from 1963 to 1983, was towed from the James River Naval Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Va., to Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk, Va.
The ship also saw 'action' as a film set in the 1999 movie 'Virus,' starring Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin.
The ship is to become the second-largest vessel ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef, according to maritime and recreational diving experts. Currently, the largest ship ever scuttled for an artificial marine habitat is the USS Oriskany, an 888-foot Navy aircraft carrier sunk in May 2006 21 miles southeast of Pensacola, Fla. To date, the second-largest vessel, the 510-foot landing ship dock Spiegel Grove, was scuttled in May 2002 about six miles off Key Largo.
Artificial Reefs of the Keys has $3 million in commitments from two Monroe County government entities, a $1.3 million pledge from the City of Key West and other funding resources to help defray the estimated $5.7 million price tag to properly sink the ship, according to Joe Weatherby, the project's coordinator and founder of ARK.
Make-ready and cleansing is being coordinated by ReefMakers, and is expected to take about a year. The ship is slated for scuttling about six miles off Key West in spring 2008.
The proposed artificial reef is expected to attract marine life, provide ongoing positive impact to the tourism-based economy and benefit the underwater environment by taking recreational diving pressure off natural coral reefs. It will also serve as a sportfishing venue for anglers.
"She's an eye-popper and doesn't look like anything else out there," Weatherby said, noting the large electronic tracking dishes that are to be removed and then reinstalled on the ship before sinking. "Portions (of the ship) will come up to within 40 feet from the surface, making it a world-class dive."
For more information on the Vandenberg, dive into www.bigshipwrecks.com. More travel details on the Keys are available at www.fla-keys.com."
Labels: ARK, Key West, parrot head, parrothead
Saturday, March 10, 2007
BUY THIS DVD
That's right folks you need to head on over to the Paradise Charitable Foundation Website, go to the store and buy this DVD. Bring back memories of "Island Daze" The 15th Annual Meeting of the Minds in Key West Florida. Loaded with photos and video great music this is a must have souvenir from the 2006 Convention.
Labels: Key West, Music, parrot head, parrothead
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
From Key Largo to Key West, a stretch of paradise
Tri-City Herald: Travel: "Then, finally, the signs announce Key West, where chickens wander freely, cats have six toes and the setting sun is reason enough to party.
Harry Truman loved Key West. Next to Independence, it was his favorite place in the world, our guide announced on a tour of the Little White House, a rambling Victorian structure where Truman spent 175 days of his presidency."
Harry Truman loved Key West. Next to Independence, it was his favorite place in the world, our guide announced on a tour of the Little White House, a rambling Victorian structure where Truman spent 175 days of his presidency."
Labels: Key West, parrot head, parrothead
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Florida Keys: A stretch of paradise
Kansas City Star | 02/25/2007 | Florida Keys: A stretch of paradise: "KEY WEST, Fla. | Only one road leads from Key Largo all the way to Key West, so you’ll get wet before you get lost. For the directionally impaired, that makes things easier.
Yet the 100 or so miles between Key Largo in the north and Key West on the southwestern end cover a lot of territory. The Keys comprise 1,700 islands, after all.
Harry Truman visited 11 times between 1946 and 1952. Ernest Hemingway spent 11 years in Key West.
I had two days to take it in."
Labels: Key West
MiamiHerald.com | 02/25/2007 | Key West chickens get lucky, find new place to roost
MiamiHerald.com | 02/25/2007 | Key West chickens get lucky, find new place to roost: "KEY WEST - The Chicken Lady of Key West has helped the island's feral fowl survive hurricanes, cruel kids, auto accidents, disappearing canopy trees, a worldwide bird flu scare and even a barber-turned-chicken-catcher.
But Katha Sheehan, owner of the retail Chicken Store that doubles as a chicken orphanage, rescue center and adoption agency, wasn't sure she could protect her brood from the newest threat: sky-high property values.
Their roost is being converted into vacation rentals.
''I was really worried,'' said Sheehan as Ashton the rooster crowed and strutted among customers on the floor strewn with wood chips.
In 2000, Sheehan opened her unusual store, which has been featured on TV's Martha Stewart Living and the CBS Morning Show. Sheehan sells eclectic chicken souvenirs, including painted shingles with plucky sayings done by a local artist. The retail sales fund the care of the chickens she has saved around the island. Her store also educates about the local chickens' history and plight.
''I wanted to become their defense attorney and press agent,'' she said.
But when Sheehan learned a month ago that her landlord was booting her out by summer, she didn't think she would find a place affordable --"
But Katha Sheehan, owner of the retail Chicken Store that doubles as a chicken orphanage, rescue center and adoption agency, wasn't sure she could protect her brood from the newest threat: sky-high property values.
Their roost is being converted into vacation rentals.
''I was really worried,'' said Sheehan as Ashton the rooster crowed and strutted among customers on the floor strewn with wood chips.
In 2000, Sheehan opened her unusual store, which has been featured on TV's Martha Stewart Living and the CBS Morning Show. Sheehan sells eclectic chicken souvenirs, including painted shingles with plucky sayings done by a local artist. The retail sales fund the care of the chickens she has saved around the island. Her store also educates about the local chickens' history and plight.
''I wanted to become their defense attorney and press agent,'' she said.
But when Sheehan learned a month ago that her landlord was booting her out by summer, she didn't think she would find a place affordable --"
Labels: Key West
Doug Bennet's: This Week on the Island 02/25/2007
This Week on the Island: This Week on the Island 02/25/2007: "The construction has started at the old Jaubors Camp Ground (behind Schooner Wharf). It has been approved for 32 condo's, each with 3 bedrooms and will sell for about $2 million each."
Labels: Key West, parrot head, parrothead
