{"id":15584,"date":"2021-07-16T20:21:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T00:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15584"},"modified":"2021-07-16T20:21:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T00:21:52","slug":"aura-lea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15584","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Aura Lea&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"97th Regimental String Band - Aura Lee (Civil War Music)\" width=\"474\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZUXJ27Xrj0I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Another week<\/strong> has been transferred to history&#8217;s OUT box. On balance, it won\u2019t be remembered by future biographers as one of my better ones. But it could have been worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No word about the car, of course. I keep hoping the July 30 date they gave me for part delivery was only a worst-case scenario, but we live in a fallen world. (In the Garden of Eden, I\u2019m sure, car parts always arrived on time.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then there was my struggle to find a new lawn guy, which I chronicled yesterday. I\u2019ve determined to leave the final decision until Monday, because I still want to talk to the guy who put a flyer up at my church. But if he doesn\u2019t show this weekend, I\u2019ll go with one of the Home Advisor sharks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Had a couple plumbers over today, to look at my water heater, which has been making disquieting banging noises. The diagnosis? Sludge build-up \u2013 no doubt due to the high mineral content of our local water. Recommendation: new water heater. Which my home warranty program should pay for, but there will be the deductible. I expect that will be in addition to the deductible I already paid for the plumber\u2019s visit today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What else? I just put a package in the mail to Sweden. There\u2019s a company (I won\u2019t say its name) that advertises Viking accouterments on Jackson Crawford\u2019s YouTube channel. I sent away to them for a linen tunic, because I wanted a new under-tunic (the ones I\u2019ve been wearing are getting threadbare). I ordered XXL, and got it, and it was too small. So I ordered a XXXL, and that was too small too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I mean no offense to Swedes when I say that their definition of \u201clarge\u201d is somewhat different from mine. And I\u2019m well aware that Americans in general, and I in particular, are way too fat. Which is too bad, because it seems to be well-made product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the fact remains that these shirts aren\u2019t suited to a large segment of the American market. To add injury to ignorance, the return postage cost almost what one of the shirts cost me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Little shocks to the bank account; they add up. But those are the terms of my life these days \u2013 the Lord provides. And sometimes I need to make small economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the plus side, I\u2019ve made substantial progress on <em>King of Rogaland<\/em>. I feel at this point that I\u2019m beginning to get a handle on the project. In fact, I think this could be the best book I\u2019ve ever written. I think I\u2019m a better artist than I was 45 years ago, which ought to be expected, or I\u2019m doing something wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The song in the video above is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aura_Lea\">Aura Lee<\/a>,\u201d an American piece sometimes attributed (wrongly) to Stephen Foster. The lyrics were in fact written by the American poet <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/W._W._Fosdick\">W. W. Fosdick<\/a>, who died in 1862, aged 37. The melody was by an English immigrant, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/George_R._Poulton\">George R. Poulton<\/a>, who died in 1867, aged 38 (according to Wikipedia, he was tarred and feathered in 1864 for having an affair with a young student).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The song was published in 1861, and became tremendously popular with soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. One can understand why. I\u2019ve always loved it. Elvis Presley used the melody for his song \u201cLove Me Tender,\u201d but I prefer the original. This rendition is done in period style by the 97<sup>th<\/sup> Regimental String Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">May sunshine come along with your weekend, and swallows in the air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another week has been transferred to history&#8217;s OUT box. On balance, it won\u2019t be remembered by future biographers as one of my better ones. But it could have been worse. No word about the car, of course. I keep hoping the July 30 date they gave me for part delivery was only a worst-case scenario, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15584\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Aura Lea&#8217;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[3778,3780,3779],"class_list":["post-15584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-uncategorized","tag-aura-lea","tag-george-r-poulton","tag-w-w-fosdick"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15584"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15588,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15584\/revisions\/15588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}