Hemingway's Cats

Tumi Ngae my Sibu friend likes cats.
Kuching is probably the only "Cat City" in the world by name and by historical development.

The famed six-toed cats at Ernest Hemingway's island home aren't going anywhere.

Those who love Ernest Hemingway's books would have read that there is a special museum for Cats!!


The Story of His Cats : 
The cats descend from a cat named Snowball given to the novelist in 1935 and freely wander the grounds of the Spanish Colonial house. All the cats carry the gene for six toes, but not all show the trait.

The home is where the Nobel Prize-winning author wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Have and Have Not" and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the Florida Keys.


I used to toy with the idea of bringing a cat into my English Literature class if I had a chance to teach books by Hemingway and fire the imagination of my students. But sometimes good intentions are often not so readily acceptable.

Then I remember this story. A foreign, enthusiastic teacher started a fire in front of his students to get his students to write about the dangers of fire. He was immediately hauled to the Principal's room and reprimanded.

(All photos from Google)