Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 2, 2026

 

Naomi and Ehlana:

Happy 16^th Anniversary, Mom and Dad-to-be!

Happy 4^th Birthday, Bradley Benton!

My best friends put on a special anniversary breakfast for their parents with help from Cassie and Michael; their grandparents joined in on the fun; and Aiden and I were their breakfast dates after we also joined them for Tai Chi by the river this morning.  We can’t help with any other celebrations thanks to the football game we need to head to soon in Varney.  They will be having a dinner party at the Inn and then some fun at the pub while we’re away; and Sophia is hosting the co-ed sleepover so a kid-free night is on their schedule too.  Cassie and Michael get teased about setting precedents a lot, but I’ll assure our future Magi that I am okay with the precedents that my future in-laws are setting for the more-distant future I plan on having with Ethan!

No, Ehlana, I am not suggesting that Ethan and I will have belated honeymoon gifts after we get married, but you really don’t want me to comment on any details that I am referring to now; so let’s move on!

Our school day has been good; Ehlana and I are nearly ready to meet up with Sophia, since she and her Mom are driving us to Varney while our parents are busy with the anniversary fun; and we really don’t have much news from the lessons and studying.  The rain moved on overnight, but it has cooled quite a bit too; and the game-time temperature will be around sixty and definitely be down to the mid-fifties before it is over.  We’re just glad that it won’t be raining; and we have our fall-weather uniforms available if it gets too-cool for the uniforms that our favorite boys like best!  Okay, most guys like those uniforms a lot more than the options that keep us warm, but we don’t need to write about something that obvious either! ;^)

We do have one more family story to cover that is still in-progress but that we’ve just gotten some after-school news about from Woodvale.  Sadie Rice has gone into labor and will likely have a bonus anniversary gift for Ethan and Ehlana’s parents – even if that will only be with future anniversary jokes.  That’s awesome, but Dawn Rice is in Woodvale for a vacation visit and had her own surprise – a serious boyfriend that she’s brought home to meet the family for the first time!  We don’t have details yet, but David Jordan is a pilot too; they met after Dawn moved up the ranks to co-piloting passenger jets; and he is only a bit ahead of her on the career path as a fairly-new Captain for the same company.  Dawn and David will be here for a visit next week – mostly to spend time with Violet and her family, but they’ll stay with Cassie and Michael; and we’ll hopefully get to spend some time with them too.  Those updates will need to wait; since Ehlana and I need to get going soon and she wants to add in a minor world news report before we go.

You can thank me if I’m still around in your ‘now’ as you read this; since I can keep that part of this update very short.  I will start by assuring you that I do keep up with world news – mostly through Ethan and Ehlana, but I also don’t spend much time even thinking about everything that I can’t do anything about anyway.  That’s why I am so much more-fun than my best twin-friends; and have to help them out with being happier than they would be without me too.  As for the actual world news, our leaders are again trying to manipulate the markets by releasing more energy reserves for the short-term gain and long-term risks are ignored.  Both wars are going badly for ‘our’ side but mostly for the people stuck in the middle of the fighting and bombing.  Reality isn’t keeping the western leaders from collective insanity; so nothing is likely to change anytime soon – unless it is a change for the worse.  Ehlana and I need to stay happy to be ready to cheer for our favorite guys and team tonight; so that’s all for this report.  Stay tuned; since this could end up being a very busy, entertaining weekend – especially if we need to add in a quick trip to Woodvale to meet my future cousin-in-law!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 1, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 4^th Anniversary, Marc and Gretchen Johnson!

Cassie and Michael are helping their friends with the celebration tonight – so they all missed out on game night at the Inn.  We weren’t involved in the fun at all, but hope that Marc and Gretchen have had a good day even with all of the harvest-time work on their farms.

We don’t envy them that work; since we’ve definitely had a major rain day; so outdoor work sucked for everyone that had to do that – where possible; since we should ad that some harvest work can’t happen in heavy rain.  That rain isn’t all bad news for the farmers, since it will end overnight; and then the weather looks good through what might be the last week or two of the main fall harvests.  I’ll add that the rain wasn’t fun for the football team; they got very wet during their afternoon practice; and I didn’t feel so-guilty that I offered suggestions for the cheer squad to practice in the rain too.  We practiced in the gym; and we are okay with not getting cold or wet unless needed during the games.  Our team is ready for tomorrow night; and Ethan was really glad to come home to a hot dinner after that tough, wet workout.

Ethan and I hosted the dinner and study time between practices and game night – though Mom cooked the meal and the teens in the house took care of the clean-up while multi-tasking our studies and a group Magi lesson.  Game night at the Inn was the entertainment highlight of our day; we didn’t win any championships this week for the family; and had fun even without some of our favorite young adults while they were busy elsewhere.  It was still raining when we left the Inn, so we all had rides home; and didn’t do any walks with Silkie or our friends.  We also didn’t do any office work with Mom and Dad – though they went to do some work while we opted for bath or Jacuzzi time.  Now we’re nearly ready for bed and this is the last ‘job’ on our bedtime to-do list before going there.

As for the world news report, the top stories out of the Ukraine war included more Russian strikes on Ukraine that caused a major blackout in Kiev and elsewhere and more talk about nukes – this time through a Russian warning to NATO countries to keep their hands off of Russian territory.  There have been threats made by NATO countries and leaders, but this is also an escalation of rhetoric from Russia; and we are, apparently, well on the way back to another Cold War.  Let’s all hope that they don’t escalate the ‘hot’ war anywhere else in the region; since those warnings should be taken very seriously.

The top story from the Middle East for us was about the Iranian delegation that had been here for the United Nations meetings and had then been invited to stay for talks with ‘our’ diplomats were ‘kicked out’ of our country because our Foreign Minister didn’t like their refusal to surrender and give the United States and Israel everything they’re demanding.  Since those demands include regime change, total disarmament, and becoming a vassal to Israel, that isn’t going to happen, but it also looks very bad on our diplomats when they aren’t actually trying to negotiate at all while also intentionally trying to humiliate other diplomats.  They are simply proving to the rest of the world that our leaders are not trustworthy and negotiations are not ever done in good faith anymore.

There are a lot of other stories we could comment on today, but we’ve had enough and want the extra sleep; so that’s all for this update.  Stay tuned; since our first weekend of October should be another really good one; and we are really looking forward to all of the fall fun, work, and adventures!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - September 30, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 39^th Birthday, Uncle Nick!

We had a gift and best wishes for our uncle while at school today, but that was the extent of our involvement in his happy day.  Mom and Dad were among the guests for his birthday dinner, but we were at Aiden’s house and he hosted our dinner and study time between our afternoon and evening practices.  We can add that Leah and Sebastian are not at home tonight; and don’t need to comment on anything else related to that story!

Ethan and I have had a good day, and that was partly thanks to better-than-forecast weather.  We only ended up having a few afternoon showers instead of an all-day rain event.  We were able to have Tai Chi by the river; the high for the day hit the mid-eighties; and even the showers that came during our football or cheer squad practices was welcome to help us with cooling off near the end of our respective workouts.  Dinner and the studying at Aiden’s house were a highlight of our day thanks to the time we got to spend with his parents while Hailey was with Leah for that birthday dinner; and then we were on the go again for our teen praise team practice at the church.  That practice was a lot of fun too; Ethan and I split up after that for a bit of alone time with Naomi or Aiden that he did at Naomi’s house while Aiden stayed with me for an hour or so in the lounge.  Silkie went with Ethan; they were home before Aiden left; and then we had a short visit with Mom and Dad before moving on to bath or Jacuzzi time.  That pretty much brings us up to now, since I won’t be writing about that couples-only time; so let’s cover a last world news update for September; and then we’ll head for our beds and what will hopefully be happy dreams.

One of the stories getting a lot of attention today was the attempted hijacking of a passenger jet en-route to Israel.  The co-pilot attacked the pilot with a knife and tried to crash the jet, but was stopped by other passengers and crew; and then two other pilots on-board took over and landed the jet safely.  The rumors that have gone along with this story were expected, but it is also stupid to try and tie every incidence of violence with State actors before any facts are known at all.  We have mentioned that there is so much hatred growing in the Middle East that anything could set off new violence or conflict, so while we don’t want to see things like this happen; we will not be surprised to see more incidents of individuals or small groups attempting what they surely believe to be retaliations for the Israeli and American atrocities in the region.

As for the Ukraine war, the Ukrainian drone attacks continue to target civilians while Russian missile and drone attacks are focusing on destroying infrastructure that has recently expanded to include telecommunications centers.  They continue to hit energy infrastructure down to the gas station level; transportation systems; and port facilities.  The Ukraine steel industry is basically destroyed now; and every warehouse of any size has also become a target for Russian attacks.  The stories from the frontlines aren’t as spectacular as the bombings and don’t get much attention in western media, but tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are in constant peril as they are surrounded and are often forced to fight to the last man instead of retreating or surrendering.  We’ll continue to wish for their leaders to come to their senses and make a deal with Russia before they have nobody left to fight or anything left to fight for, but their elites are still getting rich; and probably won’t give up their power regardless of the cost to their citizens.

The last story we want to cover tonight is about how much our government manipulates data and statistics.  This is far from new, but we took note of it again today as our government changed methodology for the PCE – Personal Consumption Expenditures – index to make inflation look better than it really is.  Doing things like that have ripple effects that usually hurt the poorest people – such as reducing pension incomes that are tied to inflation and keep benefit payouts depressed.  We find those tactics particularly-disgusting when at the same time as our government hurts the people most in need; they also choose to throw hundreds of billions of dollars into military spending increases and pile up new debts that can never be repaid but will be a drag on our resources forever – or until our leaders take us collectively into bankruptcy.  Our actual point, though, is that manipulating data doesn’t change the reality of inflation – or any other statistic – and it is stupid to intentionally blind yourself to reality just to look better or feel good.  Reality eventually wins – or loses; and that will just be harder to cope with for everyone trying to live in the delusions our leaders and governments try to create to fool the rest of us.

Okay, that’s enough bad news for one day and we really do want to head off to dreamland with happy thoughts; so we’ll end this and try to get to that happier place by the time we do drift off to sleep.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - September 29, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Michael!

Cassie did a special birthday breakfast for Michael and we caught part of the birthday dinner at the Inn between our practices, but we weren’t involved in the rest of his birthday adventures – and probably don’t want most of the details!  We’ll add that Cassie and Michael still had a normal work day for them and are working tonight too, but they are doing that together; and they are always happy even when busy with their work.

The rest of our own adventures have been pretty good, but we’ve also had a very long, busy day; so we’re tired and ready to get some sleep soon.  Tai Chi was by the river as we enjoyed the outdoor time with Mom and Dad that we might not get to have with a lot of rain in the forecast over the next two days.  Breakfast was standard fare; and then the highlights of our school day included my cheer squad practice at lunch; the football and band practices afterschool; and the lessons and studies with our classmates.  Yes, we’re ranking the classwork last, but even with the showers that Ethan had to deal with near the end of his football practice; you can’t be surprised that we had more-fun with the music and sports when the academics are all for show for us anyway.

We went to the Inn after those practices with Naomi, Aiden, Sophia, and Aaron for Michael’s birthday dinner; had a time limit to eat before we needed to be back at the school for the marching band practice; and we did that in the gym because the rain continued through the evening – and is still ongoing right now.  That practice went well too; we had more students show up for the second practice; and we’re already planning on having the marching band do the Christmas parades this year.  It is definitely early for learning Christmas music, but we’re also working on Disney songs; since we’ll need to prepare for our application submission.  We will eventually get sent the songs the parade coordinators will assign to us, but that won’t happen until much-closer to whatever date we hopefully get assigned.  Ethan and I don’t have any doubt that we will be approved again, since the band that Cassie and Michael were part of for their trip to Florida did very well and impressed the park managers and spectators.  We came home from the school and didn’t do any extra walking because of the rain.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us; we did a bit of office work; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time.  Now we’re winding down fast with the usual twin chat and computer checks, so let’s cover the world news of the day; and then Ethan and I will call it a night.

The top world news of the day might be that the distraction stories are getting most of the media and political attention while the worst of what continues to happen around Ukraine and the Middle East gets ignored or lied about on both sides of those conflicts.  For one example, the purported ‘terror plot’ against a United Kingdom airbase where police arrested suspects that were then released on bail because actual evidence is apparently scant or non-existent is getting a lot of attention while possibly being a nothingburger.  Russia and Iran have each been mentioned as being behind the plot; the CIA gets mentioned for advising the British government of the plot; and it is a perfect example of the daily distractions meant to keep the people from focusing on just how corrupt and evil their leaders have become as they collectively loot and destroy their own countries in their efforts to gain more power and wealth.  That’s cynical and true too-often.

As for the biggest crises that our leaders don’t want us to learn truths about, the world economy continues to be damaged a bit more every day; the stresses continue to grow; and we can’t predict where the next explosions will happen – only that they will come as desperation grows.  In the Middle East, tankers continue to be hit; the Saudis continue to fight with their enemies; Israeli elections are proving that all of their leaders are racist murderers bent on genocide of the Palestinians, Lebanese, and any others they deem sub-human; and hatred only grows throughout the region.  Ukraine continues to get pounded by Russian airstrikes while ground forces are being decimated along the frontlines; and we expect life to get even harsher for the Ukrainian people and armed forces as they head into winter and their leaders continue to be willing to force them to suffer instead of agreeing to end the war on what will be worse terms for every day they keep fighting.  Even if they did that tomorrow, we are not sure that Ukraine could ever recover; since they have lost generations of men to the point where they might not survive as a people.

Ethan and I need to stop now; so that’s all for this report.  We’re going to work on taking happier thoughts into our dreams; and will continue to hope for better for the rest of the world – even when there is no real reason to have that kind of optimism.  We want to be ready for the last day of September, so we’ll get to the nap time now; and have the stories about our next adventures for you sometime tomorrow night.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - September 28, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 14^th Birthday, Valerie Malloy!

We did a vid-chat with the Malloys at breakfast this morning and sent gifts, but that was our only involvement in her special day.  We can mention that they’ll be here for the fall festival weekend – including the extra day on Friday; so that will be fun - when we can spend time with them while not busy with football and chores.

The weather has been good today with another mid-seventies, so Tai Chi was by the river; and our football and cheer squad practices are always more-fun without any rain or worse.  Ethan and I were home with Mom and Dad for dinner; we took care of the clean-up; and then we headed for the lab or archives for the evening.  As usual, time phasing helped us with getting more done; I repeated two successful tests of one of my cancer cures; and Ethan had fun exploring ancient History while researching for a specific Magi training module that he’s been updating.  For the record, yes, he knows where Atlantis is; and no, the ancient Magi did not build the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids; or any other ancient wonder of the world!  We came home at ten-thirty; bath or Jacuzzi time followed a quick visit with Mom and Dad because they were done their work by then too; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.

That brings us to the world news of the day, and while the fighting and air strikes continue in Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East; we’re going to cover other stories tonight.  First up is financial news, and while there is some media attention; rising interest rates are going to be a problem for the world economy – especially when debt levels are so high in most developed countries.  Yes, that will include problems for governments, but we’re including all debt in that statement; since all interest payments pull resources from everyone that can’t be used elsewhere.  We won’t bore future Magi with too many details, but rates are up significantly pretty much around the world; and every one-percent increase adds trillions of dollars to the total interest expenses.  Yes, it takes time for those increased to work through the system, but that happens faster than most people realize, since a large percentage of total debt is shorter-term while yet more is longer-term, but renewed and refinanced regularly.  Our point is that not only will governments need to borrow more money to cover expenses, but many businesses will become unprofitable as high debt loads and higher debt-servicing costs explode; and personal – or ‘household’ – debt cost will bankrupt people just as it did during the last economic and housing market crash.  Add this to the growing economic crises in the world; and we continue down a very ugly and dangerous path that our leaders continue to ignore at best and are intentionally-working toward at worst.

Moving on, President Trump really loves the spotlight, and recent stories include his ‘verious seriously considering’ an export ban on diesel fuel because he is unaware of the reality that attempting to control national prices while world prices skyrocket has never worked for long and would be another economic disaster for the world economy.  Considering his comments about the Ukraine war being responsible for high diesel prices due to the destruction of Russia’s refining capacity; that’s even-dumber; since the United States is the world’s largest exporter of diesel fuel and quite a bit ahead of Russia for that title.  We will predict that he won’t blame himself if he does order that export ban and then prices rise even-faster than they have this year since the start of the war with Iran!  If that isn’t enough, we are also being told that President Trump is going to really focus on ‘our’ northern border security, which is likely bad news for Canada as well as for Greenland.  We are not suggesting that there are not risks to the north of our country, but will claim that those risks could be lessened quickly if we’d simply stop making enemies with pretty much everything we do around the world!  Let’s also add that no sane military leader would choose to attempt a naval invasion through the arctic passages of northern Canada and Greenland in the age of satellites; since their fleets would be sitting ducks along all of those routes.  Spending billions of dollars to build defenses against that sort of thing would just be a waste of resources.

That does bring us to one Middle East story that caught our attention – about eight American Marines that were injured earlier in September during an Iranian anti-ship missile strike.  Details are not being provided, but we know it wasn’t an American naval ship that was hit; so we can only speculate as to why our Marines would have been on a civilian ship in the Strait of Hormuz.  It might be even more-interesting if Iranian intelligence knew about them and that was why the ship was targeted and hit, but then it could have also been in retaliation for something the Marines did before being attacked.  We’ll likely never know, but if we’re starting to use Trojan ships and similar tactics; that is a very bad precedent to set for our enemies – or anyone else in the world.  No, that isn’t new, and we’ve even had recent examples from the Ukraine war including the drone attacks out of modular housing transport trailers and using transport trailers to disguise missile launchers.  We really hope that doesn’t become a standard war tactic; since then nothing could be trusted to be safe anymore – and we already have enough to worry about with everything else going on in the world.

That’s enough for tonight.  Ethan and I have had a good, happy, and productive day; and now we’re going to go and get some sleep so we’ll be ready for an even-busier day tomorrow.

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