Three Beautiful Things 04/27/18: Caesar, Up to Burke, Early to Bed

1.  Until breakfast this morning at Sam's, I had never known that a Bloody Mary mixed with Clamato juice instead of tomato juice is known as a Caesar. I thought about how much Mom enjoyed an occasional glass of beer with Clamato juice and wondered if we'd ever mixed her a Caesar. 

2. The temperature rocketed into the mid-80s under cloudless skies. The Deke and Maggie and Charly and I needed to be out of the house for about four hours or so while it was being fumigated for possible mold after Shawn's crew had removed carpeting that had been in the basement for over twenty years. We were grateful that Carol had told us that Charly and Maggie could hang out with her while she worked in her backyard.

We drove east, through Wallace, and up Burke Canyon to Burke, known officially as a ghost town. Yes, Burke features many boarded up and crumbling old buildings: dilapidated cafe, hotel, houses, mine mill and other mining structures, but people still live in and near Burke. Seeing Burke in shambles triggered, as it has before, my curiosity about the town's history, especially about the days over a century ago when Burke was a densely populated, thriving mining town. I resolved to get J. Anthony Lukas's astonishing book, Big Trouble, out again and reread passages about Burke. I think I'll also see about perusing Carol's collection of local history publications.

Oh! One other thing. Maybe Christy and Carol can help me out with this -- when Grandma Woolum visited Kellogg, from time to time she asked Dad to take her on a drive up to Burke. My earliest memories of Burke involve these occasional drives. I don't remember why Grandma wanted to go up there -- Christy, Carol..do you remember why?

3. When we arrived home, Ed called me, telling me he was shocked that I wasn't at the Inland Lounge where he was occupying a stool after a long day of work. I told him I'd be right up and I had fun yakkin' with him and Bird Legs and I had a good talk with Cas about a thing or two. I didn't stay long at the Lounge and thought the Deke and I might be returning a little later, but that turned out not to be the case. Instead, we stayed home and enjoyed the quiet. I was in bed for the night before the sun had completely set.