Dispatch #41 (July 2026)

Nico turned two in June. What the hell! Where’s my baby boy, and who’s this sassy little dude running around my house. We threw him a farm-themed birthday (my man loves cows), then took the kids up to see their cousins in Richmond. The next weekend, we went camping with Claire’s family at Carolina Hemlocks Recreation Area. This was awesome – bit of a haul for sure, and the boy couldn’t handle the switchbacks on the way up the mountain, but we were rewarded with a beautiful campsite with river views and temperatures a good 20°F cooler than around here. In what’s surely a sign of a creatively unfulfilling month, here are my thoughts about a few recent purchases: Aventon Pace 5 REC E-Bike: we ordered Claire a new bike after hers was stolen last month. This thing is sweet, some nice upgrades from the previous version. I’m jealous of some of the tech, and especially the power to get up some of the bigger hills around here. At the same time, I’m pretty chuffed with how much mileage I’ve…