The heat was back… making one last stab at triple digit temps before being banished to wherever it goes for the fall and winter. Next week we should be back to normal temps (low 90′s) for this time of year. Still the low 90′s are a welcome break from triple digit weather.

This year Katie has a new friend that walks home from school the same way Kate does. She’s a cute little girl who is new to the neighborhood. Today Kate came in red-faced and breathless. Before we could ask her where her brother and uncle were (they walk her home every day) she announced that her new friend lives in the white house around the corner. My mom and I perked up immediately…

Could it be?

No!

Yes.

It was, indeed, the two story white house with the curving hedge that lined the front walk all the way up to the large porch with the adorable railing. This house looks like something out of “Leave It To Beaver” – it’s a VERY nice house… but it has an old-school charm to it, even though the house is only about 10 years old. It’s gorgeous and adorable all at the same time.

As we chatted with Kate about her new friend and the house around the corner, Ethan and GJ walked in. They had been a few minutes behind Katie (apparently something had distracted them from their duty of walking their sister/neice home from school) assuming we were discussing neighborhood gossip Ethan announced, “Kelsey McJunken has black widows on her trash cans.”

It was as if for a brief, shining moment, we were all transported to Mayberry and instead of a tall, dark haired, 13 year old, I was looking at a short, freckle-faced Opie. It must have been the combination of the name McJunken and trash cans that just had an old-fashioned twist to it. Mom and I just looked at each other and started to laugh.

I thanked Ethan and told him that he had just given me my blog post title…