Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 9, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 25^th Birthday, Jillian Sparks!

Happy 11^th Birthday, David Burroughs!

As we’re writing this update, Cassie and Michael are starting their Tuesday with an early flight from Somalia to Ethiopia; and they’ll be in and around Addis Ababa for their Tuesday and Wednesday.  They had a challenging work day in Mogadishu and walked away from one deal that was another case of bad guys trying to take over a legitimate project; and they also quietly dealt with the goons sent by those bad guys when they wouldn’t accept the loss of what they thought would be easy money.  Losing opportunities that can help people is sad, but Cassie and Michael can’t be pushovers and get taken seriously; so they took care of themselves both in the conference room and on the ‘mean’ streets.

Here at home, we had a little gift for David and best birthday wishes while at school, but left it up to his friends and family to help him out with the main celebrations.  Mom had a visit with Jillian today, but we didn’t see her; and left it up to Mom to pass along our best wishes for her too.  We’ve been busy-enough with our academic adventures, practices, and a work-play evening at the lab or archives.  There isn’t really much news to offer from any of that; and we’re tired after a long day that included extra time-phased hours.  The weather was still nice today with a nigh near-seventy, but the next cool-down is only a day or two away from returning us to more-normal temperatures.  I’ve skipped over the meals and morning Tai Chi, but that wasn’t newsworthy either; so let’s wrap this up with the world news report.

Everyone is waiting for the trilateral talks between America, Russia, and Ukraine that will be starting soon local time in the Middle East, but we don’t expect anything and hope that nothing worse will happen – like having those talks get disrupted by the conflicts in the Middle East.  There are risks for that – especially when the threats continue to fly between America and Iran, but there is so much anger in the region that we don’t even know why they’d choose any city in the region for those peace talks.  There is certainly no talk of peace with Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, or with the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.  Saudi Arabia continues to be on the wrong end of missile and drone attacks – including one against an Aramco office skyscraper.  It continues to be a challenge to get decent information; since many of those countries have very restrictive laws against media and social media sources.  We do know that the damages and costs continue to rise; and recovery after these conflicts eventually end will take longer and be more-expensive.

Let’s stop there.  We’re tired; our week is only going to get busier; and we need the sleep when we can get it.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 8, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Dinner last night was pasta and sides; we took care of the clean-up after not doing any of the cooking; and had fun with all of that with our friends and parents.  It was around nine o’clock by the time we got started on our evening plans; and the highlights included ‘live’ music, a movie, and chat time.  Mom and Dad joined us for most of that; headed for their room by around midnight; and we can’t report much more than that because the teens in the house fell asleep before we got very far into a second movie.  We were up early for Tai Chi by the river that was frosty and near-freezing; we helped with the cooking and cleaning for the hot breakfast; and then we had fun at church and Sunday school.  We worked on sets and costumes for Thanksgiving and Christmas; and some of the guys including Ethan got a lot of attention for their football successes and hopes for the rest of the playoffs season.

Ethan and I were on our own for lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we spent the afternoon at the lab or archives.  With the time phasing; we put in about nine hours of work there with our books or beakers; and came home in time for a normal-time dinner – though not early enough to help with the cooking.  That’s why we cleaned up again; and then we did some work and a Magi lesson with Mom in the office.  We used some time phasing to get all of that done and still be finished by nine; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down with the usual computer checks and twin chat time.

Cassie and Michael had a good day in Somalia; they’ll be in and around Mogadishu for the Monday they’ve already started as we’re writing this update; and then they’ll fly to Ethiopia and work there for Tuesday and Wednesday.  We’re starting to look forward to having them home in less than two weeks now, but not counting down the days yet.  They are really accomplishing a lot; and we’ll hope that will continue for the rest of their trip.

As for world news, peace talks are on with plans for meetings in the Middle East that are for the Ukraine war – go figure; and we don’t expect anything to get done because Ukraine and Russia are far apart on demands and expectations.  The war continues while the leaders pretend to conduct diplomacy; and Russia in particular is expecting to keep fighting until Ukraine has no choice but to surrender.  There are no serious talks going on for the Iran war – even though some of the local countries are trying to make side deals with Iran.  That will only work if Israel and America stop attacking Iran – including the economic sanctions and blockades; so we don’t expect any changes there anytime soon either – unless our leaders get a clue and back off before the world economy burns to the ground.

Europe is already burning; and now they’ve added in worker strikes to the protests and riots.  One of the top strike stories is out of Germany where four-hundred-thousand workers went out on strike; and that is likely to spread too; since companies are in big trouble in Europe due to the energy costs and crisis; so more layoffs are pretty much inevitable in all energy-intensive industries in the region.

With all of the bad news; distraction stories are never-ending; and the latest is about the CEO of NVDIA with some of the most-popular triggers including an affair and a honeypot spy.  This time, it is purportedly a Chinese government spy; and reports are not being revealed yet as to whether any major tech secrets were shared with her and passed along to Chinese officials or corporations.  As with all spy cases; the woman will be presumed guilty whether true or not; and the only benefit will be a week or two of diversion for the masses while none of the real problems get solved and the rich get richer with no care for anyone else.  News flash – political and corporate espionage have been around for Millennia; and most of the worst cases of it will never be revealed to the public.

That’s enough for this report.  After those comments, we’ll sound hypocritical to admit that our focus this week will be on the second-round football game and the rest of our hometown adventures, but we can’t do much about those major world problems yet; so we’ll do our best to keep love and joy alive and well here in our little town.  We’ve drawn Hillcrest for the game on Friday; so we’re up against one of the other top teams instead of one of the remaining underdogs.  Ethan and our team won’t take anything for granted; and will work hard to be ready for the challenge.  Those stories can wait until we live them; so that’s all we have; and now we’re off to nap time very soon.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 7, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Marcie White!

Happy 5^th Birthday, Sophie Denninger!

Cassie and Michael had a happy work and travel day in Somalia for their Saturday; ended up staying on the road until late; and are already in Mogadishu a bit ahead of plan but with extra time now for a bit of sightseeing to go along with the work they have scheduled.  They’ll be finished with the driving parts of this trip soon – after they get to Ethiopia and finish their work there; and then they’ll be flying back across Africa from Capital to Capital because they don’t have time to drive all the way back and do the work they want to get done too.

Here at home; our top news is that our team won the first-round football game over Three Rivers.  Ethan had three of our six touchdowns; we let up and coasted to the end with three field goals; and Three Rivers only managed three field goals in the fifty-one to nine loss.  The victory party that Miles and his parents hosted was fun; we stayed up too late at Aiden’s house after that; and then we needed some fatigue healing for everyone in our little group after the short co-ed nap time.  Tai Chi was still by the river this morning despite it being close to freezing; we had a hot meal that we cooked for breakfast; and then what should be our last fall clean-up chores day got started for all of us – though Sophia and Aaron worked with their own families while Naomi and Aiden worked with us.  As usual, we worked at a handful of homes and cottages; we only took breaks for lunch and snacks; and we worked until we were done today – which was about fifteen minutes ago.  We’ve grabbed quick showers; this update is being multi-tasked with getting the lounge ready for hosting Naomi and Aiden for the night; and they’ll be here soon and in time for our very-late dinner.  The rest of our news for today can wait, but let’s add that we haven’t had anything to do with either of those birthday celebrations today, but Cassie and Michael had a gift for their friend; and a family gift was sent for Sophie and the Carringtons did a vid-chat with her too.

Finally, for today, we’ll skip the world news and just do a weekend update tomorrow night.  Let’s add that the war with Iran didn’t resume yet, but the war talk continues; and the idiots advocating for that in Washington and elsewhere will lead us down an even darker path than we’re already on – especially if they get serious about sending in troops on the ground into Iran along with plans for renewed airstrikes.

I’ll stop right there before I start a rant that is overdue and that we wish someone would unleash on our leaders.  We are going to be happy and have fun tonight – if we don’t just fall asleep right after dinner!  We’ll let you know if that happens too, but won’t know until we live those experiences; so we’ll get started on doing that right now.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 6, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Thanks to having home field advantage for the playoffs, Ethan gets to do this early update with me – though we need to make it quick because he needs to eat and get back to the school soon.  As we mentioned last night, Cassie and Michael are in Somalia today – already past-midnight on Saturday their local time; and they will be traveling along the coast as they work their way to Mogadishu through the weekend.  It is warmer along the coast; they’re still getting daily mixes of sun and rain; and their work will include more business related to shipping and fisheries and agriculture with less focus on technology or environmental projects.

Here at home, we’ve had a good day so far – though the cool-down continues and the high is barely touching fifty and will definitely be in the low-forties for most of the game tonight.  We don’t have much news from our academic adventures; and most students are focused on football and the playoffs hopes.  The rest of our news for today will need to wait; since we’ll be busy and away from home for the rest of the day.  Miles will host the victory party tonight if we win; and Aiden is hosting his five best friends for the co-ed sofa sleepover we’ve set up for after the party.  Let’s add that we don’t really have any doubts about winning tonight, and yes, that could happen, but we really do have a very good team; so it would be a major underdog win for Three Rivers if they managed to defeat us.  Ethan really does need to eat and run soon; so let’s wrap this up with the world news of the day.

We don’t really need to offer another war update since the last one; since nothing has changed.  Peace and war are both on the table; the talk of peace isn’t actually going anywhere; and the war-mongering rages on – especially for the leaders that really want to keep bombing Iran, Yemen, and other places in the Middle East.  Israeli leaders might try to take that choice out of ‘our’ hands by attacking Iran without us; and the region continues to be a powder-keg.

European protests and riots will likely continue and spread over the weekend, and while we wish that wasn’t happening; we understand the frustration and anger when politicians won’t listen to what the people need.  Stock markets continue to be oblivious to ‘real’ data and trade on every rumor and lie; and there is a total disconnect between what is really happening around the world to what most leaders choose to believe – or pretend to do that for selfish reasons.  One thing that the midterm elections might accomplish is that the American people could be distracted and appeased from now to spring instead of getting out to protest like the people are doing in Europe and elsewhere.  That won’t last – especially if we don’t find a way to get out of those top wars and start repairing all of the damage that has been done so far.

We need to start focusing on football – and get back to the weekend adventures; so that’s all for this report.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 5, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

***RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Cassie and Michael were awake all night for their Wednesday and then through Thursday because their fight with Makarai Kalenga and then the follow-up visit they had with him after his defeat and before they made him forget what happened to him took around six hours.  He was and is a brute both as a person and Dark Magi Master; he didn’t care about collateral damage for his own people; and Cassie and Michael needed to deal with that danger to his own employees as well as they could while fighting him.  They’ve advised us that his tactics were often disgusting and crude; he possibly understood the least about how Magi abilities work compared to most of the other Dark Magi they’ve faced; and that didn’t make the fight easier for them – only different; since he did still have a great deal of power and wielded it in horrific ways.

Their chat with him and investigation into his corporate networks led them to a lot of important information about his family and their power in the region both Magi and political and economic, but they won’t be going at anyone else in the family on this trip – in-part because this is another family with some very young children.  We will be able to do more in the region with that information; and Cassie and Mom will lead the way for countering all of the evil that their family businesses do in the region.

Finally, Cassie and Michael did not get injured at all in the fight; did some Magi healing for some of those employees; and made sure that nobody remembered them being there at all.  We are all very glad to have one more Dark Magi Master out of the way; and can hope that this win will at the very least lead to a pause in all of the evil during the transition from father to son – and we have no idea how long that will take; since Makarai might not admit his defeat to his son right away if they don’t have plans to get together anytime soon.  We’ll add more if there is any news to report in the coming days or weeks, but that’s all we’ll include tonight in our journal.

***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Dad’s birthday dinner was fun; we don’t need to comment on the rest of his night that included some time at the pub and the kid-free night; and our teen praise team practice went well and we got a lot done with extra work on the Thanksgiving holiday music.  Ethan and I also had a lot of fun with our respective co-ed sofa sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden; and none of us got a lot of sleep by the time we got around to our co-ed naps.  We did our own thing for Tai Chi and breakfast this morning; and then our academic adventures were good with the final football and cheer squad practices ahead of the first playoff game went great too.  It is staying cool into the weekend; so practicing when the high only reaches the mid-fifties again will help us with the forecast game time temperature we’re expecting to have tomorrow night.

Ethan and I hosted the dinner and study session with our four best friends after those practices; Mom added in a group Magi lesson; and then we all headed to the Inn for game night.  Mom and Dad won the senior title this week; and they got teased about that being a belated birthday gift for Dad while also getting jokes aimed at them for being able to win despite the kid-free night that should have left Dad too messed up to play his best.  We don’t want to give them any good ideas for teasing us, but for the record; Ethan and Naomi didn’t win the junior title – and neither did Aiden and me.  We did take Silkie for a walk after the gaming while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes; we only did a short chat with Mom and Dad after getting home; and bath or Jacuzzi time followed that little break.  Now we’re winding down fast toward nap time; so let’s wrap this up and then we’ll go and get some sleep.

Cassie and Michael are starting their Friday as we’re writing this; they worked in Garissa, Kenya for a while on their Thursday morning; and then they headed toward Somalia and have or will be crossing the border from Kenya very soon and while we’re sleeping.  They’ll get to spend some time here and there on the east coast of Africa, but won’t have much time for sightseeing; and won’t be at any risk from the Saudi-Yemen war – though they won’t be far from that war on the other side of the Red Sea and strait.  Somalia is another country they’ll need to be careful in while visiting and working there; so we’ll hope that they stay safe and can help a lot of people that really need the partnerships – especially because of all of the fighting in the Middle East.

That will work as a transition to the world news; and there hasn’t been an escalation in the war with Iran yet.  The threats are still happening, but our leaders appear to need to come up with a different angle to get more war after the midterms clearly shouted out a no-war message from the American people.  That’s never stopped our war mongers in the past; so we’ll take any reprieves we can get and hope for even better.  Peace is on again for Ukraine with envoys meeting the First Lady at the White House today, but we still don’t see any changes on the ground in Ukraine; so we aren’t getting our hopes up when the two sides are still far apart on expectations and unwilling to make any real concessions.  Ukraine and Europe are definitely not willing to deal with the core issues for Russia; and the Russians are ready to fight on until they do get what they want – including a neutral Ukraine free of NATO support and influence.

The protests and riots in Europe haven’t gotten as much attention for a couple of days, but that is still a huge problem; and the anger is very real and still spreading.  That is sure to slow heading into winter, but then it is going to be a bad winter for the people in Europe – especially if they start having major energy shortages.  There could be food shortages too – though we expect to see more of that happening next year.  Their leaders are not doing anything to help with those pending and growing problems, and if anything; they are doubling down on the most-idiotic policies.

We need to stop and get to sleep soon; so that’s all for this report.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!