Drink Deeply

Drink Deeply

Papa's Planet

Hemingway has left us plenty of lessons, but this is one of the most enduring: embrace the world. I’ve been in Europe for the past three weeks walking in the footsteps of Hemingway, exploring how these places have changed since Hemingway’s day.

To see what Hemingway can tell us about these places, and what these places can tell us about Hemingway.
I’ve found myself drawn to Hemingway through place. Hemingway’s places led me to the writer. The writer led me to the tragic puzzle of a man: a Chablis-swishing great white hunter with a thing for housecats. (more…)

The House Where Hemingway Lived and Died

The House Where Hemingway Lived and Died

Hemingway house Ketchum Idaho

David Frey photo.

The Big Wood River rollicks through tall cottonwood trees, their yellow leaves cascading to the dense litter below. A hint of snow from the distant mountains peeks through. Giant homes are scattered along the other side of the bank.

This isn’t the view Ernest Hemingway would have known. Those giant houses weren’t there. Neither were the giant cottonwoods. They were shorter, kept in check by a river that moved with the seasons. Now, development has kept the Big Wood in its banks, and big trees and big homes have come to dominate Ketchum, Idaho’s landscape.

The caretaker opens up the door, a big door with the doorknob in the middle, and a musty whiff blows out. It’s the first feeling you get of there being something special about this house, a place locked, sealed up, closed off.

This is the house Hemingway died in, but barely lived in. (more…)