Technical Difficulties

No, I have not abandoned this poor little book blog; nor have I dropped off the face of the Earth - despite all evidence to the contrary :) But I have taken a break from writing to pack up an entire household consisting of two adults and a small herd of domestic animals into two compact cars and 14 foot U-Haul truck and head West.

1500 miles.

To Texas.

Austin, Texas, to be exact,

It's crazy. A month ago. I didn't even know that I would ever be visiting Texas, let alone moving here with everything I own and no place to live. But Austin is turning out to be very cool. I joke (badly) that they should have named the city "Alistin" because it has so many characteristics I appreciate: friendly people, a relaxed attitude, support for locally owned and independent businesses, a high level of environmental awareness, many hiking and biking trails and dog-friendly parks, and lots of vegetarian fare, just to name a few.

For the past few weeks, Charlie and I have been in high-gear: trying to plan our wedding, de-skunking the poor dog, paring down and packing up our belongings, looking for a place to live in Austin. At the moment, 95% of our stuff is in a storage unit - that is, 95% of what we have left after donating or giving away many of our material possessions. My personal book collection, for instance, is now much leaner at 75 or so.

But despite the short notice and all the chaos, everything is somehow coming together, with the help of our wonderful friends and family on the East Coast and some very nice Austinites. We now have a lovely roof over our heads, and today Charlie is starting his "dream job." It's all very exciting. And exhausting.

But rest assured, readers, we will soon return to the regularly scheduled blog, including my Summer Reading Challenge progress, the 500 Words a Day challenge and Booking Through Thursday, as well as more book reviews. And, yes, there will be pictures of our trip west, our new house, our adventures in Austin, and (by popular demand) of my awesome new Underwood No. 5 antique typewriter - as soon as I figure out where we packed the USB cable for the camera!

Stay tuned. . . .