This week I’m twenty minutes outside of Culpeper, VA. Don’t ask me where it’s at, but it’s “out” there. Just google it for the map. If you’re familiar with H8ST8 geography, it’s somewhere south of Manassas, north of Charlottesville (at least I didn’t think we passed Cville) and I think Warrenton is closeby somewhere west of here. There are turtles here. Both domesticated and wild, crossing the roads. There are cows in the field across the street and I haven’t heard a siren since getting here. Dairy Queen’s and Arby’s abound.

What the hell is a self-proclaimed cityboy doing all the way out here? I’m being an au pair, or manny, whichever you want to call it. Friends of mine’s French au pair is on vacation in NYC this week and I’m filling in. Which means I get to spend all day hanging out with cute li’l Avary, who is will be two later this month.

Monday, my first official day of duty, I stated close to the house just to keep Avary in a somewhat familiar routine, as everyone had just returned from a week at the shore.

Tuesday I was a little braver, and took Avary into a downtown Culpeper excursion. We walked (I pushed, she strolled) around for a bit, but it was too dang hot outside and we retreated to a diner for lunch, iced tea and air conditioning.

Today I inflated her kiddie pool and tried to get her into that because I wanted some sun and time in the big, grownup pool. The water in her pool hadn’t been heated by sunshine, it was straight from the tap, so it was a little chilly. Avary wasn’t going for that too much. But she did stand in it and splash around for a while but didn’t want to sit and really play around in it. Maybe tomorrow.