TSS - MIA (or I heart acronyms!)

Hey there Saloners! I've picked up the trend of many others out in the netosphere: taking an unannounced MIA detour from any sorta blogging. I think it's been three Sundays since I did a TSS (?) And really, peeps, it's not as though I've been a consistent blogger to begin with. (Yes, yes, we do know that "inconsistencies are the hobgobblins...")

As you know, I'm out for summer - one of the many perks of being a teacher. This is also the first summer that I purposefully didn't sign up for any conferences or workshops. It's just fun in the sun and loads of relaxing. So, after the first week of the desired vacay, me and D went on our first road trip down to Key West.

Holla! KEY WEST people. It's gorgeous. And home to many literary figures (Papa Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Robert Frost's cottage). Plus there are tons of bars, phenomenal street performers, beautiful waters, and chillin' people.

 

D and I had a BLAST. Now, me being the literary one of the two, she sought out all of the bookstores in the town and we moseyed our way to all three of them (with drinks, of course). It was hot and steamy and in many ways I would have been miserable had I not been so excited that we were in freakin' KEY WEST.

I found this great book about the history of cannibalism, which I cannot wait to begin.

We brought the yak out and ya'll, I mean, really...YA'LL (!) the water was pristine. We saw this huge - GINORMOUS - sea turtle while kayaking out in the Gulf. It breaks my heart knowing that soon these waters are going to be intermingling with oil. While yakking in the Atlantic, we saw two manatees swimming around. The waves were unreal. There were moments when they were crashing so hard into the yak that I didn't think we were rowing any closer to shore. I treated myself that night with an extra drink or two.

Now, - and OF COURSE - we had to go to Hemingway's House. For the recored, I think that Hemingway is a pretty big chauvinistic chump. The man really couldn't keep his pants on, ya know? (Hemingway lovers would say he was a romantic and couldn't help falling in love. I get that, but really?) *Still* even though I think that dear old Ernie and I would have gotten into some good ole drunken yelling had I got to meet him at Sloppy Joe's, I gotta respect someone who loves cats as much as he did. And, really, he never shied away from his personality.

The tour was great! There are about 45 cats on property - including the six-toed cats that everyone comes out to see. These cats are actual descendants from Hemingway's actual cats. I wanted to sneak one into my purse but D chastised me. Such is life. The three "kids" at home probably wouldn't have appreciated a fourth anyways.

The coolest thing at the Hemingway House is this urinal that had been turned into a fountain for the cats to drink out of. Story is, the original Sloppy Joe's went under, and the owner decided he was going to take everything from the building - including all of the fixtures. Hemingway exclaimed that he pissed enough money down that urinal that it should be his. The owner agreed and viola home he carried it.

Finally, as I mentioned before, there were tons of street performers. For those of you who love cats as much as I do - and understand how difficult it is to get them to do ANYTHING, you'll dig this video. This guy, fondly known as "Cat Man", is incredible. You can tell the cats love him. We chatted with him for a bit after the show and came back for more.


Well that's it Sunday Saloners. I will get back to my regularly book-reviewing schedule soon. :P