We've had several move-related questions. Let's see if I can sum our answers up in one post.

Especially with buying raw land instead of a ready-made homestead, there are a lot of hoops we have to jump through before we can settle in up north. Unfortunately, most of them are out of our control, so we don't have an actual timeline. I've been marking fun events to attend down on my planner starting on August 30 (Ecuadorian ethobotany!), but I'll be quite happy if we sleep the first night on our new land by the middle or even end of September.

(Okay, I'm lying. I'm totally impatient and want to be there now, now, now! But I'm pretending to be okay with the slow speed of real-estate deals.)

Mark's mom and her partner have very kindly offered to bring a covered trailer about six feet wide by nine feet long to transport our stuff, while Mark and I will follow behind in a car full of unhappy cats. That said, I'm tentatively planning to cram every nook and cranny of our car with potted plants when we go up to Ohio for the closing. My floral offspring should (hopefully) survive a couple of weeks on their own as long as the weather isn't too hot and dry.

I'll admit that I was having trouble focusing for the first couple of weeks after deciding to move. But recently, I've actually gotten more done than usual. Most of my move-related tasks are complete, and I don't have a garden to manage. So I'm writing up a storm and actually feel a bit like I'm on vacation. Looks like this change of venue is already a good idea.