Ehlana and Ethan:
We are sorry to report that Cassie and Michael are dealing with a rain day in Sydney, but let’s not feel bad for them; since the high for the day is also near-eighty and we are more than a little jealous! They did have a long flight, so the one-hundred-degree temp change wasn’t a shock to them, but they do love it; and will be even-happier with the sunny days they expect to have for the rest of the week – along with even-warmer highs!
Those thoughts are not making it warmer here at home. The deep freeze continues tonight; and we were happy to be indoors for most of the day. Tai Chi and breakfast with Mom this morning was fun; our academic adventures were not newsworthy; but the weekend gossip was entertaining; and the school band practice was a highlight of our day too – though we were again a bit light on members due to the cold and need to continue helping out on farms or elsewhere.
Dealing with a dusting of snow on the driveway and sidewalks after we got home is a nothing burger by comparison; and we wouldn’t complain about doing that in the cold anyway. Mom had a hot dinner ready for us by the time we were done; we enjoyed the food and quality chat time; and then our evening has been quiet with a Magi lesson and a couple of hours of family business and charity work. We were still at school when Mom had a short vid-chat with Cassie and Michael, but they pretty much got right to work after arriving in Sydney; and the time change is going to be a challenge for chats with us. We’ll keep you posted on their adventures in Australia, so stayed tuned for that; and we’ll move on.
Here at home, while we were mostly busy at school, Mom took care of some grocery and supply shopping; did a check on Cassie and Michael’s house that probably won’t be needed, but new homes can have deep-cold issues too. She’ll have lots of help with that, since Rowen and Tim will take turns – and so will we and some of our cousins. We didn’t bother with any shoveling there, since there just wasn’t enough to make that necessary, but we definitely will be clearing their driveway and sidewalk whenever needed over the next month. Mom had some local stories for us too, and while we were out of the loop; the issues ranged from farm troubles to slow business days in most stores. The Solar-Wind farm doesn’t get much attention in our journals, but we’ll advise you tonight that Miles’ father is doing an awesome job out there, and while the solar side of the power production is obviously lower in the winter, they deal with the extreme cold very-efficiently; and haven’t had any problems that are common with other locations – like having the wind turbines freezing up. We checked tonight, and they are still producing enough to meet local power needs – though they aren’t currently selling excess into the grid.
Speaking of power issues, the deep cold is definitely causing issues elsewhere in the country, and with apologies to Ethan; I can’t resist some commentary on these stories. First up, there are alternatives to using electricity to heat homes – though yes, electricity is required for furnaces that heat with natural gas or other fuels to blow the hot air around the house. My point is that we should promote more use of natural gas and those alternatives instead of trying to ban them, and before anyone actually tries to go there; imagine a future when the power grid can’t keep up with the demand for all-electric homes and cars – including the part where the grid fails and we all get to freeze to death and can’t go anywhere because our cars are bricks! I’m not suggesting that we can’t do better with renewables – our own efforts here at home is proof of that, but we also understand that there are no short-term solutions to energy sustainability and environmental challenges. We’re more than a decade into our local changes and still have decades to go; so changing the world isn’t going to happen faster. Part of that bigger plan is to reproduce what we’re doing here in other communities around the world, and that can happen alongside what we’re doing; which is also what Cassie and Michael are doing with some of their business and charity projects.
Okay, that’s enough for that little non-rant. I want to play nice; and not pick on any of the long list of leaders that appear to be incapable of considering unintended consequences of bad ideas! No, Ethan, I won’t take that thought and run with it for any of the other, many bad ideas that our world leaders have about so many other things – though it is always tempting. Another fairly-early night and more sleep is higher on my priority list right now, though, and since we don’t really need to write about anything else; we’ll go and do that now. Stay tuned, since even if our hometown fun might not be exciting by comparison; we definitely expect that Cassie and Michael will have lots of amazing news for us from about three-quarters of a day into our future! ;^)
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
