Marcia Lynn McClure's Blog, page 14

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-The End!

I really had planned to post more often during our "read-a-long" of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!  I love it so much and knew you would, too!  However, it's at an end now (heavy sigh)…and what did you think?  I'm going to draw a name for the "November Wonder" (since October is over) tomorrow!  So let me know your thoughts…like what were some of your favorite things about this nearly forgotten treasure?

Meanwhile…in a couple of weeks we'll start another easy-read favorite of mine!   Fun!

Winner of Fritz DVD!

Alisha is the winner of the "Fritz" DVD!   Alisha…e-mail me at marcialmcclure@cs.com with your address!  Congratulations!

AND thanks to everyone for commenting!  I'm so glad to know I have fellow Fritz lovers!

Fritz! We LOVE You!

James MacArthur died?  I'm heartbroken!  You KNOW how I LOVED James MacArthur!  I grew up watching him as Danno on the original Hawaii Five-O…totally crushed on him for years…and THEN there was the Disney Movie, The Swiss Family Robinson!  James MacArthur was Fritz and OBVIOUSLY more cool, ripped, intelligent and capable than Ernst!  So…if you loved Fritz or James MacArthur, too…leave a comment here (today) and be entered to win a DVD of The Swiss Family Robinson tomorrow!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #5

And now we are talking FOOD…Glorious Food!

But first…let us linger near Baltus Van Tassel's well and stream:  "A great elm spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well formed of a barrel; and then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a neighboring brook, that babbled along among alders and dwarf willows."  Seriously…aren't you totally thirsty?  I LOVE this!  I can see it in my mind…here the brook trickling along…and my mouth is watering for want of the water it carries!  LOVE it!

Now, though most of you have probably finished the book…let us go back and linger on the food descriptions in this part of the book.  They are glorious!…bringing to mind warmth, harvest, abundance and comfort!  I love it!  Thus, another favorite passage for me is:  "The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring mind's eye, he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion sauce. In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon, and juicy relishing ham; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed up, with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a necklace of savory sausages; and even bright chanticleer himself lay sprawling on his back, in a side dish, with uplifted claws, as if craving that quarter which his chivalrous spirit disdained to ask while living."  Delicious!  Someone mentioned that Ichabod sees everything with accompanying descriptions of food…yep…we girls have a kindred spirit in Ichabod!

We've met Brom now…and I like this description:  "This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear…"

But I prefer to move on to one of my favorite quotes in the book.  As the narrator is claiming, "I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won."…I love this line:  "He who wins a thousand common hearts is therefore entitled to some renown; but he who keeps undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero."  It's an insightful thought, I think…and true.

Something else is revealed here to you if you enjoyed my book The Whispered Kiss.  Now, though in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Katrina Van Tassel is 'a coquette' (of course in this instance meaning:  "a woman who flirts lightheartedly with men to win their admiration and affection; flirt")…I chose the name "Coquette" for the heroine in The Whispered Kiss for it's alternate and more ancient meaning:  "Enchantress".  However, I will admit to first having heard the word referenced in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Just a little trivia side note there.

We move on to a lovely description of the autumn day when Ichabod sets out for Van Tassel's party.  I LOVE this and wish I could nestle in such a scene for a time!  "It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of beech and hickory-nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble field."

Now…let's onward to more food descriptions to set our mouths to salivating, shall we?  Ichabod's imagining as he heads to Van Tassel's…"…his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples: some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields breathing the odor of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slap-jacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel."  Love it!  Seriously, I'm starving now!

One last food quote and then I'm off to find some lunch!  "Fain would I pause to dwell upon the world of charms that burst upon the enraptured gaze of my hero, as he entered the state parlor of Van Tassel's mansion. Not those of the bevy of buxom lasses, with their luxurious display of red and white; but the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea-table, in the sumptuous time of autumn. Such heaped up platters of cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives! There was the doughty doughnut, the tender olykoek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller; sweet cakes and short cakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole family of cakes. And then there were apple pies, and peach pies, and pumpkin pies; besides slices of ham and smoked beef; and moreover delectable dishes of preserved plums, and peaches, and pears, and quinces; not to mention broiled shad and roasted chickens; together with bowls of milk and cream, all mingled higgledy-pigglely, pretty much as I have enumerated them, with the motherly teapot sending up its clouds of vapor from the midst– Heaven bless the mark! I want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, and am too eager to get on with my story. Happily, Ichabod Crane was not in so great a hurry as his historian, but did ample justice to every dainty."

Sheesh!  A ham sandwich and BBQ chips ain't sounding too very good right now in comparison!

Again, I hope you're enjoying (or have enjoyed) the book!  I've been slow about posting…wanting to stretch out The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and my treasured October as long as possible!  Still, the scary part is nearly upon us!   Why not bake a batch of pumpkin cookies to munch on before you finish?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #4

Are you still loving it?  I know!  It only gets better, doesn't it?  I mean don't you just love phrases like, "rough country swains" and "a supernumerary dish of cakes"?  How about "…the rich bed of clover boarding the little brook that whimpered by his schoolhouse"?  LOVE it!  AND this is where I think Disney did a pretty good job animating their version…"Then, as he wended his way by swamp and stream and awful woodland, to the farmhouse where he happened to be quartered, every sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited imagination,–the moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside, the boding cry of the tree toad, that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of the screech owl, or the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened from their roost.  The fireflies, too, which sparkled most vividly in darkest places, now and then startled him, as one of the uncommon huge blockhead of a beetle came winging his blundering flight against him, the poor varlet was ready to give up the ghost…"

ANYWAY…now that we know Ichabod's character and habits…intimately know them…we meet the fair Katrina!  Do you LOVE the description of her, or what?  "She was a blooming lass of fresh eighteen; plump as a partridge; ripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her father's peaches…"  I LOVE that!  The little alliteration in the middle there (plump as a partridge) and the comparison to a peach…delicious!  Wonderful!  So visual!

Now…wait until you get to the descriptions of the food!  You'll be salivating!  Seriously!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #3

We meet Ichabod!  And boy oh boy it is one of my favorite descriptions ever!  Can you believe the imagery Irving brings to mind when first introducing us to Ichabod's physical character?  I LOVE it!  Paragraph eight is one of my favorites!  Don't you love this part:  "To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a corn field."

A 'scarecrow eloped from a cornfield'…I LOVE it!  Visions like this are one reason I LOVE this book!  So perfectly described so that our minds just totally see Ichabod!

And then…oh my heck…I laughed out loud at this one the first time I read it…in the paragraph that begins, "When school hours were over…" which is maybe paragraph 11…as the description of Ichabod's personality and habits goes forth…this phrase, "...for he was a huge feeder, and, though lank, had the dilating powers of an anaconda;"  I LOVE it!  Do you ever read an author and just think, "How in the world does he think of this stuff?"  That's Washington Irving to me!  I LOVE that!  Again, humorous and very visual!

And now that we've met Ichabod and begun to have a vision of him…('the dilating powers of an anaconda'…hilarious!)…read on!  I'm loving it!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #2

Okay…you  KNOW how I love words!  Right?  So, in reading paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the book…I have to list some favorite words used by Irving:

"oftener"…do you LOVE it?  We would have been grilled in elementary school for that one, right?  Love it!

"anon"…meaning 'in short time' or 'soon'.  Groovy!

"propensity"…meaning inclination or tendency…sounds very intellectual!

"imbibed"…in this case, 'to take or receive into the mind'…nice word!

And now, one of my favorites…"embosomed!'  …to enfold, envelope…to take into the bosom…to embrace!  Beautiful word!

My favorite sentence in this section is:  "Though many years have elapsed since I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its sheltered bosom."

Are you being sure to take your time in reading…savoring every wonderful moment?  I hope so!  Let me know your thoughts as you go!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #1

Have you started reading yet? (I know copies are shipping out from the Distractions Ink warehouse today!)  If not, fear not!  If so, here's my little ditty for today:

One of the things I LOVE about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is the almost melodic mood it whisks the reader away to.  If you've never read Washington Irving before, you may want to begin by reading the first paragraph twice…just to get  a feel for his style.  My very favorite excerpt from the first paragraph, is the final sentence…it reads thus:  "A small brook glided through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility."  LOVE it!

The second paragraph is wonderful!  This is what I'm referring to when I say the book whisks the reader away!  Furthermore, the final sentence of this paragraph totally speaks to my heart and sometimes over-tired spirit:  "If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley."  Just that one sentence offers respite to my mind and soul!

I'll stop there for now.  Please do share your thoughts with me!  I love hearing them!

Read with Me-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, is by far one of  my favorite pieces of literature.  In truth, I think it stands as my very favorite!  If you've never read the original version, I'd like to invite you to read it with me during this wondrous, glorious, perfectly autumn month of October!  It's a very short story in truth…the little edition available on my site is only 35 pages…but it's fabulous!  The ambiance created by Irving's writing absolutely whisks you into the past and an atmosphere unavailable to us today!  I love his poetic way with words, the dreamy quality of the book!  You just have to read it…whether you read it along with me or not!  I'll begin commenting about my read next week when I return from Washington State.  I'm off to have an Autumn Adventure with my Autumn Pal, Gina!   (You know her, too…from The Time of Aspen Falls!)

So if you'd like to join me in my annual read of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, grab a copy from somewhere and begin!  It's wonderful!

P.S.  Everyone who reads The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with me and comments with everyone here or on my forum will be entered to win an "October Wonder" care package from moi!

Race Bannon-Inspiring!

Okay…if you've read the Author's Notes in Romantic Vignettes, then you know that I once secreted a crush on a cartoon character…Race Bannon!  Race is such a stud!  So capable and masculine!  Right?  Well, imagine my delight when I received a note from a reader confessing her secret crush on Race!  How totally fun!  So, now I'm wondering who else might have cached a little infatuation on tall, bronze and studly, Race Bannon!  Hmmm…let me know if you were in the "I think a cartoon character is ...