Several people have wondered what (if anything) is going on here. The short answer is that this site is on hiatus while I work on a new backend. The code used to drive this site is vintage 1995 (yes, it's been around that long) so it really doesn't meet the needs of a modern site.
When I was writing and teaching more or less fulltime, I could treat this site as part of that, and arguably it returned the time I invested, but that's no longer the case. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that there really hasn't been much of value here for a long time, both to me or to site readers; and that if Cafe au Lait was to become valuable again some serious rethinking and rework was needed. This site has always been a part time endeavor, and I did not feel I had the time to both continue updating it in its current state; and to work on improving it going forward. Nor did I think it was really worth pushing forward in its current state. Consequently early this year I made a deliberate decision to devote what time I had to writing a modern backend and putting updates aside while I did that.
Why write something new instead of adapt an existing modern backend such as WordPress? WordPress would have made sense if the site were valuable in and of itself, but the site really didn't seem to be. My thinking was (and still is) that the infrastructure holds more potential than the content. That potential may or may not be realized, but I am still reasonably convinced that the site in and of itself no longer justifies the time investment I'd have to put into it to keep it running in its current form.
Work on the new system is ongoing in fits and starts, but it may yet take some time before it's ready. The new site almost launched in very rough form a month ago, but hosting issues held that up. When it is ready, (if it is?) you'll hear it here first.