Ethan and Ehlana:
The last of our visiting cousins are home again now; and we’ll be getting back to ‘normal’ summer work and play by morning. That won’t be as much fun as Cassie and Michael will be having while on their anniversary vacation with four of their best friends, and as we’re writing this; the three couples are winging their way overnight to Portugal. They’ll be in that area for the week, and then Rowen and Tim will come home; Madelana and Stefan will move on to a second week of honeymooning, and Cassie and Michael will get started on their work trip with the first stop this time in Italy.
As for our adventures, we enjoyed the last barbeque dinner and campfire with our family, friends, and cousin-guests; and then we didn’t stay up for long after going home with Naomi and Aiden and getting started on a movie and co-ed cuddle time that led straight into the co-ed nap time. We got the expected rain overnight, but it had cleared out by dawn, so Tai Chi was by the river; we had a hot breakfast; and then church and Sunday school kept us busy until our guests headed out with designated drivers to half-way meet points with their parents. While some of our favorite parents were busy with those trips, Ehlana and I helped with kid control during lunch and this afternoon. The high temperature hit one-oh-six this afternoon, so we weren’t all that interested in playing hard. We floated around in the river a lot; played a few back yard games; and rested under the shade of trees while staying cool with drinks and frozen treats.
We didn’t plan anything for dinner or the evening. Our cousins and friends moved on for their own plans for the rest of the day by late-afternoon; Ehlana and I had a quiet dinner and evening with Mom and Dad; and we spent the evening working in the office on family business and charity projects. Mom had us wrap up the work by nine-thirty, but we used a time phase for quite a while; so we actually worked for around seven hours – including our Magi lesson. Bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down and pretty much ready to get some sleep. World news continues the usual bad, and the fighting in Ukraine continues to be brutal and looking worse every day for Ukraine while Syria is still the current hot-spot in the Middle East as that country is being torn apart. In that case, it certainly looks as though Israel and Turkey are interested in taking over parts of Syria; and nobody except the Syrians themselves seem to care about what is being done to them by all of the warring parties involved in the destruction of yet another nation. Tariff nonsense continues with no end in sight; and our leaders seem incapable of understanding the true consequences to the world as countries and businesses take sides. Whether threatened or imposed, tariffs are now only causing stress between countries, and ‘our’ side might eventually be very surprised to discover that heavy-handed economic policies will not end well for us. Since Cassie and Michael are going to be in Europe for the next month, we want to mention that there are internal stresses in most of those countries too. There is a definite disconnect between regular people and their leaders, with the top stresses coming from economics, immigration, supporting the war in Ukraine when that money could be better-used within each country, and social issues ranging from free speech to government plans that are destroying farms and small businesses. It doesn’t make us feel better to know that other countries have problems too, and really, when you think about it; those issues are minor compared to countries where simply trying to survive and stay alive are the primary goal each day. When you take all of that into consideration; it becomes even-clearer just how idiotic it is to spend any time on the political stories of the day that really are only pushed to distract most of us from the real issues!
Okay, that’s enough of a rant for tonight. Ehlana and I are ready to crash and nap now – so we will.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
