Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** Winter has, for the most part, been mild so far - or awesome for the month that Cassie and Michael spent in summertime-Australia! They are home now and will be working from home for most of the time until Easter. The hometown work will include getting ready for their next trip, but there will be a lot of fun to get in on and share with their favorite people - including their March Break trip to Florida adventure. All of your favorite Magi Masters will continue to work and play while their future plans unfold; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of their latest stories; and Happy Reading!

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Cassie's Journal - May 30, 2015



Camping is on for tonight, though it’s going to be a chilly night.  Ethan and Ehlana are doing sleepovers with Aiden and Naomi respectively; so it’s just teens in the back yard; and the parents are currently away having some fun with their friends too as I’m writing this.

With a gang of teens here, I’ll need to skip my usual nightly computing, so this is mostly just a quick note; and I’ll do a double update tomorrow with the details of our camping adventure.

Our day so far has been mostly work and studying.  I did chores with Dad this morning, and that was a bit messy since everything around here was fairly wet.  We did the must-do chores; skipped the rest; and called it a day when we stopped for lunch.  Michael, Rowen, Tim, and a few other classmates came over after lunch and we studied for most of the afternoon.  Our farm-kid friends didn’t join us until later in the afternoon once they were finished with chores on their farms, and not all of them were able to study for exams with us at all; but they were all here in time to help with the camp set-up by the river before dinner.

That was a game-time call, and I can assure you that the drop in temperature forecast for tonight was a plus for that decision for at least some of us.  Take a guess why; and then flip the digital page in your 'now' to find out if you were right! ;^)

Anyway, I’m just doing this quickly while taking a washroom break and grabbing my guitar before heading out again for the campfire that is just getting started.  We’ve been having a lot of fun pretty much since we started setting up our camp, and that’s going to just keep getting better, but I really do have to get back to that now; so look for the details in the next report.

Until then...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, May 29, 2015

Cassie's Journal - May 29, 2015



It rained off and on all day, and this time; it did pretty much wash out any outdoor fun.

In fact, I don’t really have much news from today at all except for a bit of schedule changing that Michael, Tim, and Rowen did so that we could all have a lot of tomorrow off to study for exams and either have a camping or sleepover adventure.  The last part of that will depend on the weather; but the main reason we couldn’t just do that tonight instead is because Lucas has to work on the farm tomorrow and couldn’t do that with us tonight.  The weather issue is going to keep our guest list smaller than we might have liked too; but I can’t do much about that when we do have a limited number of guest rooms here.

Rebecca and Lucas, Sally and Joshua, and Gretchen and Brock are confirmed for the night; and we’ll have others around here for the study afternoon we have planned.  Lucas and Rebecca might both miss the studying; but then they’d just be getting ready for their own exams anyway instead of working with us.

I can write about all of that with my next update, though, so let’s get back to the news from today and then I’m going to call it a night early and get some sleep.

As I mentioned, everything I did today was indoors except for the walks to and from school.  It was a quiet day of classes, and we were given a lot of time to either finish up end-of-term projects or study for our exams.  The rain kept us indoors at lunchtime, which was when we got serious about setting up a teen night at my house; so that did at least keep us entertained until we were back in our classes for the afternoon.

The parental approvals and work switches all happened fairly quickly after school; so it wasn’t long before I was temporarily friendless with nothing to do for the rest of the day except hang out at home with my family.  We did that, had some fun before, during, and after dinner; and then I actually came up to bed before Ethan and Ehlana did – though I did have the ulterior motive of spending some quality time with my Jacuzzi before turning in for the night.

I felt a lot better after having that nice, long soak in the tub; and wasn’t motivated to do more than the basic email and computer checks before getting to this update.

None of that sounds particularly exciting or interesting; but I’m good with getting a full night of rest for a change; and I’m just going to wrap this up now and get right to that extended nap time.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 28, 2015



This has been a really busy day filled with a mix of work and play that was all mostly fun; but I’m also wiped out and will be keeping this update very short.

We had rain off and on all day; and will have more of the same through until tomorrow night or Saturday if the forecast is even remotely close to accurate.

Tai Chi was indoors, but it was nice enough to be outside for lunch today.  We were inside for most of the rest of the day, including while in classes and then at my house for a study session after school that was mostly exam prep work.  The field was a bit damp, but baseball was on for us tonight; and then Michael and I had a chance for some quality alone time after that while Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the Inn for game night.

That make-out time with Michael was the best part of my day, but the group Magi lesson after the rest of my family got home was fun too; and then it was time for Michael to go home and for me to get to work.  I’ve been alternately studying and working on the family business since then, and though it’s later than I’d hoped; I am finished that work for the weekend – except for the usual bits of family business action I have to deal with most days.

Okay, that’s short and sweet; and now I’m going to crash for not quite a few hours until it’ll be time to get up and going again.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Cassie's Journal - May 27, 2015



Happy 14th Birthday, Reid!

No, that isn’t a typo – Reid’s a year younger and in Grade Eight.  He does hang out with us at school, though, since he’s dating Lily; and he’s also a regular member of Tim’s weight training workouts and the lunchtime football scrimmages.  That’s why Tim and Michael – and Rowen and I – were invited to his birthday party today.  They’re becoming friends too; but Reid definitely looks up to the two older boys – and wants to make the football team next season as much as Tim wanted to be on the team last year.

We’ve had an awesome weather day for Reid’s birthday, and that was especially timely; since his party was on his family farm and wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if we’d been stuck indoors for it.  I’ll get to that part of the report in a minute; but let’s back up and cover the news from the rest of the day first.

Tai Chi by the river is always more fun when we get to welcome the day with a beautiful sunrise; and Michael stayed for breakfast before going on to the school for his morning workout.  I had more time to get ready for school before meeting up with Rowen for the walk there; and then we were into exam review mode for most of the day.  Since Reid isn’t in our class, his birthday was only part of the daily fun for us during lunchtime while we were at school; and Lily had a minor birthday celebration set up for him that included all of his closest friends from both Grade Eight and Grade Nine.  That bonus action didn’t keep Tim from having a football scrimmage too; but then Reid was very okay with that too.

Before I get to the party report; I should include a little update from around the rest of the family – and should have included that yesterday.

After taking last week off, Violet and Dillon started their summer jobs at the lab yesterday.  Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana have been there both days too; and will likely be there a lot more all summer.  Violet’s official job is interning with Aunt Grace; but she also has the family business job too that she’s continued to do part-time while in school.  Dillon’s working in the lab with Uncle Adam and Ehlana; and they’re going to have lots of fun playing there this year.

While they’re busy at the lab, Christina is going to split her work time this summer between the Emporium and helping out with the set-up work at the med center.  She’ll mostly help Aunt Deborah with that, and then work with her part-time for the rest of the summer after it opens getting everything organized – and possibly transferring patient records to the new computer system Mom’s developed for them that meshes with other programs at the lab and in the archives.  If you’re interested in those digital details, there are other places in the archives where you can read all about that; so I won’t bore everyone else with the details.  Josiah’s summer job is at the bank again this summer; so that isn’t really news.

Since I’ve mentioned the medical center, though, that work is kicking into high gear now.  We’re down to just weeks until it opens, and while I haven’t done a tour lately; all major new equipment is installed now and it’s going to be the move from the old offices that is going to keep Uncle Adam, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Deborah busy – along with all of the people helping them with all of that work.  That’s going to leave Uncle Adam with less time for the lab; but Ehlana will happily make up for that if she can find enough excuses to be there.

I feel a bit out of the loop for all of that, but can’t exactly add more to my own schedule; and the lab, archives, and med center are never going to be a big part of my life anyway.  That doesn’t change the fact that I’m missing out on things that are very exciting and important for other members of my family, though; and I sometimes wish that I could be part of that too.

Too bad that time-phasing can’t be used to travel back and forth through time.  If we could do that; then I could do both – or even live multiple, different lives!

By the way, just in case you’ve been reading or watching too much time-travel science fiction; jumping backward – or forward – in time really isn’t possible.  Tim is a man-made measurement construct anyway, but what matters is that all of creation moves ‘forward’; and you can’t jump from your ‘now’ either into history or the future.  Time phasing only changes the speed of your present moments.  Concepts like time paradoxes are meaningless; since you really can’t go back and change the past anyway – even if it is fun to imagine it.

In my case, I’m especially glad that isn’t possible for Magi Masters.  If it could be done, I’d expect that Mom would have done it to go back in time and save her parents from that plane crash; and then there’s a very good chance that I’d have never been born at all.  She’d have never met Gawain Hathorne; we’d have never ended up here in Witch Falls; and, well, you get the picture.  Let’s just be glad that things have happened the way they have – even though that means taking the bad parts of life with the good.

That got way off-topic; so let’s move on and get to the birthday party news.

Reid didn’t invite everyone from our class, but he did have about half of our group and more than half of his own classmates.  The Spencer clan is fairly large; and most of them were at the farm for the dinner part of the party – some of them as volunteers and the rest as guests.  Amy, Jared, and Drew were there with the rest of Reid’s extended family, so I got to spend a bit of time with them too; though Amy was pretty worn out after her day at school and dealing with the usual first trimester pregnancy issues.

Tim’s Mom drove us out to the farm after school; once Rowen and I had taken the time to go home, change, and freshen up first.  Michael and Tim got changed too; but that was more about dressing for comfort and play than appearances – even if they did also look great too.  Sure, Rowen and I are biased about that; but that doesn’t mean we’re not right. ;^)

We were closer to the first arrivals than the last when we got there; though it was also mostly the other farm kids there by then – and most of them had just taken their usual bus route and gone home with Reid.  Once we were there, it wasn’t long before the boys were hanging out together and talking football, and while we – the girls – stayed with them for some of that pre-dinner hang-out time; Rowen and I did some socializing with other teens, adults, and younger kids.  As usual for us, that included hanging out with Reid’s younger sisters, Carrie and Julia; and they appreciated our efforts a lot since they advised us that they were usually ignored by the teens when Reid had his friends over.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen are different, but Ethan and Ehlana likely feel the same way sometimes when we have other friends over at my house – as we will start doing a lot over the next few weeks until exams are over.  Too bad they can’t just join in and help with the tutoring!  I’m sure that my classmates would appreciate them a lot more if they could do that – even if they’d be freaked out too.

Okay, so the start of Reid’s party was mostly a social hour or so while everyone got there from school, work, or elsewhere; and then we had dinner in an extended wave that started with the kids and teens mostly being fed first while the adults waited for the last batches of food to come off of the grills before sitting down to eat.  That took a while, and after we ate, the kids and teens had time to play for a while until everyone was finished dinner.  Reid’s parents rounded everyone up again after that for dessert and the rest of the usual birthday cake, song, and gifts thing; we had fun with that; and then it was time to play again through until the party ended at around nine o’clock.

That’s when the football scrimmage started; other games were available around the yard ranging from baseball to flying fairies and micro-helicopters.  Swimming in the pond was an option too for anyone interested in cooling off; and Rowen and I were among the swimmers – though we only swam for about twenty minutes after running around with some of the younger kids for a while.  The early wrap-up for the party was entirely because it was a school night, and I was okay with that; since all of my usual work was waiting for me when I got home – along with the homework that needed to be done for school.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home with me to do that bit of studying that was mostly exam review assignments; and Mom was our driver for the trip home.  We did that studying in the lounge; spent a bit more than an hour together; and then Rowen and Tim left a bit ahead of Michael so that he and I could have a bit of alone time before he went home for the night too.  I followed that up with getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed; Mom did my Magi lesson with me in the office while Dad worked at his computer; and then I came up to my room again to get started on my nightly studies and family business work.

It’s a good thing that I got to bed early last night, because it’s going on four o’clock now; and I only stopped the family business work because I need to get at least some sleep tonight.  In this case, the extra work was partly my own fault.  Getting the extra work done yesterday brought more work my way today; and I’ll likely be dealing with extra work tomorrow night too.  That was mostly fun for me tonight, since I was dealing with some of my favorite businesses; but it is also tiring.  On the languages front, I’m nearly finished with learning my current language; and should be able to wrap that up a bit early this year so that I won’t have that to do in addition to the exam studying I’ll be doing over the next couple of weeks.  I really could just wrap it up now; but I’ll finish the entire program I originally set up – just as I do for all of my new languages.  Sometimes that sucks; but it’s just the way I am.

Oh, I almost forgot one tiny little teen drama news flash from the party tonight.  Allen and Karla have been having dating issues lately, and they apparently did not have a good holiday weekend; but they basically didn’t hang out together at all at Reid’s party.  There hasn’t been an official break-up yet; but I’d say that’s just a formality at this point.  I’ll stay out of the he-said-she-said thing; and just report that they’re both unhappy, angry, and broken-hearted.

When things like that are going on with our friends, it sometimes doesn’t seem fair that Michael and I are so happy, but I can’t bring myself to feel even a little bit guilty about that; and I’m really glad that I don’t have those teen dating issues.

Michael’s probably happy about that too, since having a Magi Master mad at him might just be a bit scary for him! ;^)

Anyway, that’s it for tonight, and I really do need to get started on that nap time now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!