Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 13, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Our day started early with seeing Dad and Anna Marie off to Crystal Springs; Tai Chi and breakfast with Mom was good; and then we all went to see Cassie and Michael away on their work trip.  Aiden and Naomi met up with us for that; we said our goodbyes; and then moved on to our school day while Cassie and Michael finished getting ready to go and headed west by mid-morning.  They’re in Denver tonight and will have a work day there tomorrow, but other than enjoying some sightseeing along the way and a couple of good meals; we don’t have any major news from their trip-so-far.

Here at home, we’ve had a good day.  There was bonus outdoor time at school thanks to the awesome weather; we biked and played with some cousins and friends after school; and then Mom came with us to the lab for a work evening there after we had dinner with her and the teens in the house took care of the clean-up from that meal.  Mom split her time between my lab and the archives – though she did some work on the lab computer systems too; we all had fun and got a lot done; and then we came home at around eleven o’clock.  I’ll take the blame for the timing, since I worked until finishing an experiment that took nearly seven hours including the time-phased parts of that work while Mom and Ethan stayed busy with their own projects until I was ready to come home.  Bath or Jacuzzi time was needed once at home, so we did a quick bedtime snack before splitting up again; and now Ethan and I are wrapping up a long day with the usual twin chat and computer checks.

As has been the case every day since the Iran war started, those stories topped the news cycle; and ‘our’ navy has apparently begun a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.  There are conflicting reports on what they are going to blockade and how, but it doesn’t really matter if they only stop ships bound for or returning from Iranian ports, since if they do that; Iran will just stop the rest of the ships from all other ports in the Persian Gulf in retaliation.  As mentioned, that is a dumb plan, but why should our leaders do anything smart when they’ve proven incapable of that?

Some top distractions include President Trump’s verbal sparring with Pope Leo over the war; and we can only shake our heads in disgust over his comments and a picture he posted of himself as a Jesus-like figure healing a sick man as if he now believes himself to be some kind of deity.  For a person who claims to be Christian and Catholic; our President appears to have a deep lack of understanding of his faith – and we had previously thought that he couldn’t take that kind of thing lower than he had on the Easter weekend when he ended one of his social media posts with ‘Praise Allah’ when he was supposed to be celebrating Jesus’ Resurrection!

In other news, Hungary has a new leader-elect; and that will mark a significant change to a pro-European government that will no longer block European Union efforts to fund and support the Ukraine war and sanctions against Russia.  It may take some time for the fallout from this to take effect, but we predict that this will prove to be very bad for the Hungarian people – just as the current policies are terrible for the rest of Europe for everything from economic policies to immigration and military plans.  As for the Ukraine war, Russia will be ending their Easter truce soon, but then Ukraine didn’t join in or agree to honor the offer; tried to take advantage of the break; and failed miserably while angering all Orthodox Christians in both countries and the region in general.  Russia will soon be able to begin another offensive soon as the ground dries up from the spring thaw; and the Ukrainian leaders should be worried about that instead of continuing to make terrible choices for their people.  We understand why they don’t want to surrender and make a peace deal after all of the death and destruction, but the alternative is much worse for them and they should salvage what they can of their country before it is too-late.  We are not predicting imminent collapse here – only pointing out that all alternatives are worse – including any options that expand the war to other countries or globally.

That’s enough for tonight.  It is getting late and we need some sleep; so this update is done and we’re heading off to dreamland right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 12, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Roger McEwan!

Happy 26^th Birthday, Gil Cane!

Our day wasn’t birthday-party rated fun, but we had a good day – even with all of the rain we got today.  Tai Chi by the river was still an option this morning because the rain didn’t start until after we were at church for the service and Sunday school; and that was more-fun with our friends – along with the breakfast we all shared with Mom and Dad for both the food and work.  Let’s also mention now that we had fun last night from the dinner that we helped to cook too to the group Magi lesson with Mom to the movies and co-ed cuddle time in the lounge to the co-ed nap time after we stayed up later than we should have after an already-long day.

The church service and Sunday school were good; Ethan and I went home with Mom and Dad while our friends moved on with their own families; we had a snack lunch; and then we headed to the lab or archives to work-play with our books or beakers.  That was fun too; we got a lot done with the help of time phasing; and then we came home in time to go to the late buffet with Mom, Dad, and quite a few members of our family and friends ahead of Dad’s week in the city and Cassie and Michael’s work trip.  Naomi and Aiden were with us for that meal; we all helped with next-gen kids; and then Ethan and I came home with Mom and Dad and pretty much headed upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time and plans for heading to our beds early.  We need to be up early to see Dad off to Crystal Springs and maybe check in with Cassie and Michael one more time before they leave too; so we’re going to wrap this up and get started on the nap time soon.

On the world news front, we don’t get to report a major breakthrough for peace in the world – the talks in Pakistan apparently failed; and President Trump has announced that ‘we’ are going to enforce a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and seize any ships that try to enter or leave the strait or pay the tolls that Iran has been getting for the ships they have allowed to pass – including ships already out on the ‘high seas’ and en-route to their destinations.  Iran has countered with promises to fight back against any naval forces that attempt to do that in or near the strait and Persian Gulf; and they will consider any of those acts a violation of the two-week ceasefire.  This is an insane choice by our leaders, but let’s attempt to analyze the logic of the idea.  Our fearless leader apparently believes that the way to end a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is to impose a blockade on the same seaway!  That would only take the current transit level down to zero; put naval forces at risk should they attempt to take control of the strait and gulf; and put even more pressure on the world economy and supply chains.  It will not force Iran into any concessions; so there is no benefit at all to the tactic with a lot of downside potential.

Since that is the top story that will have the most impact in the coming days; we’ll stop with it and wait to see what happens as our navy attempts to enforce the political dictates.  While we wait for that, it is time to catch up on our sleep now; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 11, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 29^th Birthday, Caleb Palmer!

We’re leaving it up to Caleb’s family and friends to help him with having an awesome day; and haven’t even seen him today while busy with our own adventures.

Our play time and sleepover with Cassie and Michael was amazing from the biking to a grilled dinner; the evening music, video gaming, and movies; and through to the co-ed nap time with our four best friends.  After all of that fun and the nap time, we started today with Tai Chi by the river and a hot breakfast; our friends all moved on to their own work or chores plans after the teens in the house cleaned up after breakfast; and then Ethan and I took care of our own chores at home, the cottage, and Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Since we haven’t mentioned them lately, our grandparents are still in the sunnier south and didn’t come home for the early Easter, but they are going to be home in a couple of weeks.  It took us until around one o’clock to get our chores done; we had a quick snack lunch, and then we met up with some friends and cousins for a bike ride on the trails.  That was fun – especially when we added in a Pizzeria pizza slices stop when we got hungry; and now we’re split up again from our best friends while they pack overnight bags before coming to stay here with us for the second co-ed sleepover of the night.

Ethan and I are hosting our best friends for the rest of the day.  We also need to get to the kitchen to help with making dinner, but wanted to get this update written while we were getting the lounge ready for our guests.  Now we’re ready to get back to the fun with Mom, Dad, and our friends; so let’s wrap this up with just one bit of world news from the Iran war and the peace talks in Pakistan.

The good news is that the peace talks continue, but the stories being reported are erratic and unreliable as to whether any true progress is happening.  There is news that Israeli attacks continue in Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters continue to attempt defense and retaliation.  The ceasefire seems to be holding in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, but the threats continue on both sides for resuming the war if the peace talks fail.  There are other stories about mines in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf that include having ‘our’ Navy use minesweepers, but that’s new; since we’ve previously been told that no mines were deployed at all.  Maybe that’s a story that was hidden to keep oil prices controlled as much as possible, but if that is true; then even a peace deal could require weeks of added delays to re-open the Strait.

Finally, President Trump offered news of fleets of empty tankers heading for the United States to be filled up with our oil and liquid natural gas for the rest of the world.  We see some serious problems with that plan, since we do not have that kind of excess capacity to replace ten or fifteen million barrels per day of oil to export.  Even if we use the Strategic Petroleum Reserves; the drawdown capacity is only around two million barrels per day.  The legality of using those reserves for export won’t matter, but we do have to wonder about the stupidity of using them for anything other than true emergencies.  Let’s hope that we don’t have any disasters here at home; since our leaders apparently only care about their own power and wealth while happily risking catastrophe for the rest of us.

Okay, that’s enough for today and we really need to go and help Mom now; so that’s all for today.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Anniversary, Carolyn and Jeff Morris!

We hope that Carolyn and Jeff have a happy day, but they aren’t home because they did a family-and-friends’ breakfast and then headed out on an anniversary vacation.

Our day-so-far has been good, and the top local story is the heavy morning fog we had that delayed buses and led to a fairly-quiet school day as first classes ended up being in-class work time while we waited for the ‘country kids’ to arrive.  The rest of our day was normal without any major news or excitement; and now we’re getting ready to go biking with our friends and packing overnight bags to spend the night with Cassie, Michael, and our four best friends.

We haven’t written about Cassie and Michael’s next trip, but they are heading out again on Monday for a work tour of the northern States.  They’ll head west first and then work their way east along the Canadian Border States and then they’ll head home again in time for the Memorial Day weekend.  That’s why we’re going to be with them tonight and they’ll spend time with cousins and next-gen kids over the weekend.

Ethan and I need to get going soon; so the world news can mostly wait for our next report or three; since it may be a while before we learn anything real about the Iran war peace talks that are supposed to start in Pakistan tomorrow.  There haven’t been any changes to the positions on either side – at least publicly; so we do not know whether anything positive will happen this weekend at all – especially when ‘our’ side has a documented history of using diplomacy as a ploy to hide military attack plans.  We also want to mention that Iran announced two conditions that need to be met before they’ll even sit down for the talks tomorrow – a complete ceasefire in Lebanon and a release of all Iranian assets currently being frozen by the United States and other countries.  That alone could be the end of the talks before they start, but we’ll let you know how that goes when we find out what happens.

We really need to get going, so that’s all for today; and we’re going to get out there and live the adventures that we’ll write about tomorrow starting right now.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 23^rd Birthday, Patrick Emerson!

Happy 21^st Birthday, Micah Byrd!

We are happy to report that the weather forecast was off again today, and while we’re getting some rain tonight; it stayed warm and mostly-sunny for most of the day.  That’s why we got to have extra outdoor time at school; we skipped the lab play time plan in favor of biking the trails with our friends; and then we’ve been at the Inn for game night after a barbeque dinner with Mom, Dad, Naomi, and Aiden.  Dad had some work to do in the office, so after we got home, we did some charity work and a Magi lesson with Mom for three time-phased hours.  Now we’re winding down toward nap time and it is getting late, so while we’ve had a good day, there isn’t much news to offer; and sharing the adventures with our family and friends is what is most-important for all of us.

As for the world news update, let’s start with a Ukraine war update.  The top story today is that President Putin has ordered a ceasefire for the Orthodox Easter weekend, and while we don’t know whether Ukraine will stop fighting too; that is good news for the people of Ukraine – even if it only lasts for a few days.  As for the Middle East war, Israel is still bombing and invading Lebanon despite growing world outrage; there have been more Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank; and the Israeli politicians are not talking peace at all.  The rest of the ceasefire agreement between Iran and America remains tentative; and we don’t know why peace talks are still booked for Saturday in Pakistan when each side is declaring very different proposals for an actual peace deal.  Our side is basically demanding complete surrender; and Iran’s plan includes lifting of all sanctions, reparations, and more demands that President Trump will never agree to because that would be political suicide.

There isn’t anything we need to add tonight; since we’ll all be waiting to see whether the ceasefire holds through the weekend and if the peace talks lead to any serious solutions.  Stay tuned for those stories; and we’ll go and get some sleep starting right now.

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