Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - September 10, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’ve had a good day, but a long, busy one too; so we’re tired and will keep this update short.  The weather has been nice with the high ‘only’ near eighty this afternoon that worked out great for our after-school practices.  Tai Chi by the river was good too; we had fun with Mom and Dad at breakfast; and then our academic adventures were entertaining too.  Our last practices before the game tomorrow night went well; we brought Naomi and Aiden home with us for studying and dinner before we all went to the Inn for the first game night of the school year; and that was the entertainment highlight of the day too.  Ethan and Naomi won the junior title; and might do that fairly-often this year; since they are more fired-up than most of the rest of the teens and kids – including Aiden and me.  Mom teamed up with Miranda to defend the title they’ve held all summer; and they won too – though maybe that isn’t true because they have more-fun with their respective husbands.  After the gaming, Ethan and I took Silkie for a walk while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes; Silkie technically got more hugs and kisses than the rest of us shared; and then we came home and had a little chat with Mom and Dad in the office before heading upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time.  We’ve done that and feel better – as well as tired; so let’s get to the world news and call it a night.

While commodity prices are not reflecting reality, the top news today was oil prices jumping over one-hundred dollars a barrel again for the first time in months due to the spike in the Middle East attacks on oil tankers and other facilities.  There are also reports out today that ‘our’ military is not stopping all of the Iranian missiles as claimed because news is leaking out about damage to military bases and fighter jets despite the tens of millions of dollars being spent of the air defense missiles being fired against those attacks.  The Houthis in Yemen are taking the fight to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi backed government that has been controlling a part of Yemen; and they have captured entire cities and islands in the Strait that will give them more control over shipping into the Red Sea if they can hold those ports and islands.  The Houthis are also attacking into Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones; so those attacks into Yemen that started this flare-up are looking very ill-advised now!

As for the Ukraine war; the attacks continue all along the front lines and with the air attacks throughout Ukraine, but western media and leaders want to ignore all of that in favor of idiotic drone attack stories.  The top example of that for today is the drone that supposedly put the Ukrainian President’s jet in imminent danger as it was taking off from Moldova for Norway and the funeral he’s attending for the Norwegian King.  The stupid for that story is that the drone in question crashed one-hundred miles away from that airport – which means that it didn’t even crash in Moldova at all; and President Zelensky’s jet was never at risk of anything at all.  The European leaders won’t let facts get in the way of their drama, though, because Russia is bad; so everything is their fault even when nothing happens at all; and that crashed drone was more-likely a Ukrainian drone in the first place!

We can’t skip the dumb stories from home, and our top pick for the day is the five-thousand dollar bribe President Trump is offering to voters to elect Republicans in November.  It might be old-fashioned, but we think that our political leaders shouldn’t be able to even attempt that kind of bribery, but it certainly isn’t new; and we both home it doesn’t work and know that it doesn’t actually matter which side of the corrupted uni-party wins the majorities in the House and Senate.  The rest of President Trump’s claims about ending the not-a-war with Iran the day after the election and getting gas prices back to two dollars a gallon are equally ridiculous, but the entire political scene has become a joke to most of the rest of the world – including our alternate universe here at home!

That’s already a lot more than we were going to cover tonight, so that’s all; and we are going to head off to dreamland right now.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

The local news today was some rain and thunderstorms in the area; and the farmers were very happy even without a lot of rain; since every bit helps when they’ve needed to do a lot of watering through their sprinkler systems over the past few weeks!  Rain isn’t so much fun for our football players, but our cheer squad practice just moved indoors where we stayed nice and dry!  That wasn’t true for Ethan and his teammates, but they also need to be ready to play in fall weather – possibly on Friday night too; so they really need to practice in bad weather when they get the chance to do that.  We had fun with our first round of Day Two classes; the practices were good – even when damp; and then our four best friends came home with us for dinner, a study session, and a group Magi lesson with Mom.  We had fun with all of that; our friends took advantage of a rain break to run home when they could; and Ethan and I opted for bath or Jacuzzi time instead of more work in the office or in our digital archives or lab.  Yes, I can do some work on my computer, but that isn’t as much fun as working on my experiments in the lab; so I’m missing the time there tonight as we’re winding down toward nap time.

On the world news front, oil is hovering around one-hundred dollars a barrel again thanks to the flare-up in the Middle East and attacks on oil tankers and other facilities, and while we have confidence in the market manipulators pushing and pulling on the prices; real shortages are becoming a bigger issue, and at some point; price doesn’t matter if there isn’t enough product to meet demand.  That’s especially-true when it comes to actually powering manufacturing and transportation; and even the military-industrial complex will have problems pumping out the weapons if they don’t have the input resources to build with!  There wasn’t any peace on the table in the Middle East anyway, so this latest escalation isn’t a surprise; and we can now report that there aren’t really any peace talks happening in the Ukraine war either because both sides are still talking past each other from the same lines that were drawn at the start of the conflict; so they are going to fight it out until one side wins and the other has to surrender.  Western European leaders are talking tougher than ever, but they really are delusional if they think that escalating to a direct war with Russia would lead to anything that the destruction of Europe again.  Yes, Russia could be destroyed too and tens of millions could die – and that’s why nobody with any reasonable level of sanity wouldn’t even think about starting that fight!

We’re going to stop there and stay happier – though we did take in all of the news as usual.  Getting the extra sleep while we can is good too; so we’re going to do that starting right now.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

The students at other schools might feel differently about starting next-levels – especially in high school, but we do not suddenly have extra status or anything else for the transition to Grade Ten!  I will start by confirming that Naomi impressed her boyfriend, and while he was appropriately dazzled; Ethan did manage to get through our first day of classes without any serious incapacity.  That didn’t keep us from teasing him; and it is not fair that he gets more of that than Aiden or any of our other friends do.  We did pay attention to the changes in our classmates and friends – especially for the friends we didn’t see a lot over the break, but we also want to mention that more of the next-gen kids are starting school today – including Sierra and her friends in Grade One and Ryan and his friends in Kindergarten.  That feels strange to us, but that can’t be as-strange as it was for Cassie and Michael when we started school while they were in high school!

Our Home Room teacher this year is Mrs. Anita Reynolds, and as is often the case; she also teaches our first period Math class on our Day One schedule.  Our classes in order today were Math, History, and Spanish this morning and then Music, Science, and Computers in the afternoon.  For Day Two we will have Geography, Art, and PhysEd in the morning and English, Accounting, and Sociology in the afternoon.  We know this is very different from other schools – especially the high schools that only have four classes per semester, but it works for us; and our high school students graduate ready to go into basically any college program out there.  I’m also going to mention a year early that Ethan and I will be taking some different optionals starting next year when we have more options as subjects like general science split up for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics – and that’s true for Math and other subjects along with more alternative optionals.  Naomi is doing that this year in Grade Eleven; and she’s tailoring her classes to be ready for the International Business program she’s going to take in college.  Let’s also cover the news that Zack, Eli, and their buddies are in Grade Eight – so Washington D.C. should be afraid and get ready for next May; Sebastian and Caleb are in Grade Seven; Brianna is in Grade Six; and Faith is in Grade Five.  We don’t really think about that five year gap between us and Faith very often, but that did cross our minds today when we had a little chat with our music teacher about another trip to Disney World and Florida for Naomi’s Grade Twelve year; since we would need the year and a half or so to revive the marching band and do the fundraising for the big trip.  That definitely relates to Faith because she’d be the one cousin who won’t be old-enough to go on that trip with the rest of us – and Brianna will need to learn an instrument early too so she can play in the bands in Grade Seven.  We’ll have to find a way to make that up to Faith, but Mrs. Robinson is willing to lead the marching band again; and we’ll start working on that next week.

We had fun with our classes and friends; Mother Nature gave us another sunny, hot day that might have been to help the parents with celebrating while we were away from home; and then Ethan and I were busy after school with the first school day football or cheer squad practices.  That workout was tougher for Ethan as the afternoon highs topped triple digits; and that’s also why we went for a cool-down swim with some cousins and friends after we got home and before we had dinner with Mom and Dad.  Ethan and I were on our own with them for that meal; and we’ve had a quiet evening too that included some homework, a Magi lesson, and some office work.  Ethan and I want to work out lab and archives time too, but not tonight; and that might need to wait for next week; since we already have a lot on the go this week.  Mom had us wrap up in the office at ten – after we’d gotten extra work done by using a time phase; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.  Compared to all of our hometown awesome; the world news is not full of happy thoughts and dreams come true, but we do want to cover a few stories; so let’s get to them now and then we’ll get some sleep.

The politicians and media would like everyone to believe that a phone call between the American and Russian Presidents today was the top story – it was really only more theatre and nothing changed.  The distractions are preferable to them if it keeps their citizens from focusing on the horrors happening in the Middle East and Ukraine where thousands die every week with no end in sight.  The air strikes on Kiev resumed immediately after the three-day pause while ‘our’ envoys were in Russia and Ukraine; and no matter how badly western leaders want it; Russia is not going to agree to a ceasefire before a peace deal is agreed to and first demands are initiated – like a total Ukrainian army withdrawal that could end up being much-further than any earlier offers – as in as far as the Dnieper River.  We’re worried about the risk of Europe actively going to war with Russia instead of accepting defeat in Ukraine; and hope that doesn’t happen.  As has been the case for weeks now, the Straits in the Middle East either are or aren’t open, but the truth of that should come out imminently as those ships carrying tens of millions of barrels of oil from the region either will or won’t arrive at their destinations.  If we don’t start seeing large increases in those deliveries; then we know who has been telling the truth and who has been lying!  While we’re there, though, let’s also point out that the increased costs continue every day too – and that isn’t just the price of barrels of oil, but the big increases in transport costs that include more-expensive insurance and those tolls for the Straits that are – or aren’t – being paid for not-so-safe passage!  Some of those costs apply to all oil; since every barrel costs more whether pumped out of the ground in Texas or Iran – and those expenses eventually get paid by the consumers.  We could definitely be in the trillions of dollars in added economic costs six months into the war that weren’t there the day before ‘we’ attacked Iran!  That does affect our family business, because we can’t afford as much with the same dollars we have to spend on our charities; and we might start ending up with few dollars for those charities as profits are affected by the increased costs for our businesses.

We don’t need to get into that tonight and we’ve had enough for this update; so that’s all and we are out of here and off to nap time starting right now.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy Labor Day!

Happy 15^th Birthday, Miles!

This has been an amazing last day of the holiday weekend and summer!  The weather was still sunny, but a little bit cooler with the high topping out at ninety-three this afternoon.  The sun and warm were perfect for Tai Chi by the river this morning; we packed up our camp and gear after breakfast; and then it was time for the annual holiday shopping morning.  We – the girls – had more fun with that than the boys, but while I’m thinking about shopping, I’ll mention that Ethan and I already have our new computers that will get us through the final three years of high school; Mom picked them up last week; and it isn’t a big deal to us because they are standard school issue and not anywhere close to the tech we have in our own ‘work’ laptops.  We shopped until noon; met up with all of our available family and friends at the Inn for the first buffet of the day; and then we helped with next-gen kids during that meal and had a last visit of the weekend with Jayden before he headed for home with his parents.

We should mention that we have spent time with Jayden while he’s been here, but he’s done his own thing a lot too – especially while we were busy with football and baseball.  He also only did one of the camping nights with us and stayed at the cottage the rest of the time.  All of our weekend guests headed out after that buffet – though not immediately-after for everyone; since some packing and loading of vehicles needed to be done first for two sets of guests.  Ethan and I said goodbye to everyone, but then we were put to work on chores at multiple homes and cottages for the holiday weekend clean-up.  There was a time limit for that because we were also booked for Miles’ birthday buffet dinner at the Inn; so we got cleaned up and ready to be back at the Inn by six o’clock.

 

Miles has only had his birthday on the Labor Day Monday twice before now, and we were all a bit young for major parties the year we all turned three; and the last one was the year of the COVID pandemic; so this is really the first one he’s done on a holiday weekend with a bigger group of family and friends.  We had a lot of fun with the second chance at the buffets and all of the birthday entertainment, but Miles did not try to have a late party the night before we head back to school; so his party started and ended with that buffet.  Ethan and I came home from the Inn and didn’t need to roll home despite the jokes from some friends that were jealous that we got in on two buffet sittings!  Mom did a Magi lesson with us; bath or Jacuzzi time was early; and Mom did a bit of dress-up fun with me to pick out my back-to-school outfit before going back to work in the office with Dad while Ethan and I got started on our bedtime computer checks and twin chat fun.  That brings us up to now and we’re ready to wrap this up with the world news report and then get some sleep so we’ll be ready for our first, holiday-shortened school week of our Grade Ten school year!

Political distractions might have been the words of the day for this holiday.  We’ll start with President Trump, and while we’re sure that everyone tracks his Truth posts; we really think that he is childish to the extreme when he posts pictures like he did today.  Our least-favorite included the before and after maps of Iran with the second one in Trump’s image; the one where he renames New Mexico to New America – which is just stupid; and more pictures of American military destruction of islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

Germany gets next top billing for the stupid thanks to a weekend election that went the ‘wrong’ way for the ruling party; and now they’re scrambling to keep the party that came just three seats short of a majority from forming the regional government.  So much for democracy!  Germany also ordered a Russian consulate in Bonn to close by September 18^th; so Russia retaliated and they’ve ordered the closure of the German consulate in St. Petersburg.  It will always be stupid to make diplomacy tougher – especially when they need diplomacy the most.  Add in the nonsense with the Russian drone story.  It is no wonder to us that the German citizens are protesting at the polling booths!

Finally, for tonight, while we could cover a lot of other stories; we’ll write about part two of the so-called peace talks with the American envoys moving from Moscow to Kiev where they accomplished nothing beyond a media circus where the Ukrainian leaders insisted that they are winning the war; they won’t be giving up any territory; and they are happy to work out a ceasefire with Russia that everyone knows is not going to happen.  As we expected, the whole trip was more political theatre; and the war will continue on its regular schedule and the people on the ground will pay the price.

We’re sure that there will be all new political idiocy by tomorrow, so we can cover those stories tomorrow night, but that’s all for today; and we’re going to head off to dreamland so we’ll be ready for our first day of Grade Ten!  Stay tuned; since we are going to have a lot of fun – and I can hardly wait to see Naomi leave Ethan speechless as she normally does with her first day of school awesomeness!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's journals - September 6, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 6^th Birthday, Colin Sinclair!

Happy 26^th Birthday, Hu Lee!

We are not going to make a big deal out of our championship games last night, but Ethan and I each helped our teams to wins; we had fun with our teammates; and then we moved on to the campfire and camping night in our back yard with a gang of cousins and friends.  Naomi and the Holiday Harmonies provided most of the musical entertainment that the teens and some adults danced to; some of the boys took care of the scary stories that were next-gen-kids friendly; and then we eventually got the younger kids off to sleep in our tents; stayed up too-late with a late swim and teen chat time by the river; and eventually had naps until we needed to get up for Tai Chi by the river.

Ethan and I were busy this morning from that workout, and we had time constraints because we needed to be at the park early for the set-up for the church service.  We still managed to help with the younger kids; get most of our camper gang fed; and got ready for the day and to the park on-time.  The rest of the teen praise team and teens helping with the skits and readings were there to help with the set-up; the service was amazing and we loved sharing our music with the thousands of people that showed up for the service – including an amazing number of campers from the area campgrounds.  Pastor John’s message was beautiful and heartfelt; we wrapped up with three praise songs; and then we needed to stay behind to pack up our gear and help to return it to homes or the church.

We missed out on most of the family lunch and the start of the co-ed game, but we caught up eventually; and joined in on the fun.  ‘Our’ team was not playing in the big game, but we cheered for Palmer’s Pride over Sheldon’s Stampede.  It was a good game even with the usual co-ed entertainment that added a bit of comedy to go with the baseball action; and Palmer’s won.  Thanks to the continuing awesome weather, the play time that followed included the game booths, frozen treats, and swim time in the river – which is why we’re here at home getting cleaned up and changed before heading back to the park for dinner and the family dance.  We’ll be hosting a second camping night after the dance; so this was our best time for writing this update too.  That also is all of our own news, but we should add that we weren’t in on either of the bid-chats that others had for those birthdays while busy elsewhere.  Cassie and Michael led the chat with Lee and May; Adam and Leanne did the same for the call with Colin and his parents and sister; and we hope that they have an awesome day too.  We need to get back to the park; so let’s wrap this up with the world news as we know it so far today.

There is no sign of peace in the Middle East while the switch for that is still supposedly turned toward Ukraine and Russia.  Oil tankers and other ships are being targeted and hit in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz by both sides; retaliations happen daily; and the risks of escalation are high.  The costs to global shipping capacity must be rising too; and we do not know how many ships have been lost either to be repaired or from being sunk or damaged beyond repair.  That will eventually be a problem; since there has to be some limit where the system will have problems when there aren’t enough ships to handle the transportation needs and then there will be supply chain delays that could become devastating – especially when it comes to food shipments.  In this case, we mean that for all of the ships being hit in the Black Sea and elsewhere because of the Ukraine war.  Add in all of the recent government piracy; and the entire situation is a mess.

While media reports of ceasefires in Ukraine continue to get air time, Russia’s pause in airstrikes on Kiev really just leaves them with lots of other targets to hit instead; and the fighting on the front lines rolls on and continues to look dire for the Ukrainian forces as their forces are being surrounded in multiple locations.  We also want to mention a story we’ve seen about just how many Ukrainian locomotives have been damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks.  Five hundred train engines must already be enough to seriously-disrupt the last transportation system left in the country for mass transit and large-scale cargo hauling; and the entire system could eventually collapse if Russia keeps targeting the trains to shut down supply lines to the front lines.

Okay, we are out of time; so that’s all for today.  Stay tuned; and we’ll have a holiday weekend wrap-up report for you sometime tomorrow night.

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