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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Cassie and Michael are in Thailand as we’re writing this early update and getting started on an all-weekend birthday celebration that we are sure will include lots of sun, fun on the beach and in the water, and other details that we will never hear about but might be the best parts of their days!  Okay, we might know more once we decide that we’re old-enough to read Cassie’s ‘adult’ journals in another decade or three, but we don’t need to let that get in the way of pretending that we know nothing about that sort of thing now! ;^)

As for our day, this update is early because we are about to go out to bike and play with our friends and then we are going to host a play night for some cousins and friends and a co-ed sleepover for our four best friends; so we are going to be busy for the rest of the day.  We had fun at school, and while it is a bit cooler this afternoon, the high is still a bit above fifty and that feels good by comparison; so we are going to enjoy the outdoor time while we can; since we are not likely to be done with winter quite yet.  While we’re thinking about the biking, we should mention that we are staying on the main trails when doing that, since the snow melt is happening fast, but making a mess of the dirt trails in the woods and they can also be on the icy side – as some of the kids and teens have found out this week in sometimes-painful ways.  We also prefer to stay a bit cleaner – and not only because Mom is not a big fan of mud in her house or laundry appliances!

Let’s stop there.  Our friends and cousins will be here soon and we still need to get our bikes out of the storage barn and grab some snacks and drinks to go, so we’ll do that; and you can read all about our adventures for the rest of the day with our next report!

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Birthday, Jonathan Bassett!

We didn’t have anything to do with Jonathan’s special day, but Sophia and Aaron went to his party; and were drafted to help with the work and keeping the kids entertained.  While they were doing that, they missed out on after-school biking with our friends that we chose to do thanks to a high that topped out in the mid-fifties this afternoon!  That’s been quite the change from double digits in the negative, so we had fun with that – and were a little less-jealous of Cassie and Michael as they’re wrapping up their visit to Laos and getting ready to fly to Thailand soon.  It is Friday there and they have a bit more work to do first, but then they will be moving on – and taking the weekend off for Cassie’s birthday adventures that will happen in and around Bangkok.

As for our day, Tai Chi was indoors; our academic adventures were a bit more-fun thanks to the nice weather and some bonus outdoor time; and then the biking was followed by studying, dinner, and a group Magi lesson that we did with Mom, Dad, Naomi, and Aiden before we all headed to the Inn for game night.  Thanks to that Bassett clan party, the turnout was a bit low; and that had nothing to do with why Ethan and Naomi won the junior title tonight!  Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne won the senior title; so both are in our family for the week!  We all had fun; Ethan and I took Silkie for a walk while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes; and Silkie got more bedtime hugs and kisses than the rest of us did combined.  Mom didn’t want Ethan and I to do any work after getting home again – and we are going to ignore why she had those same orders for Dad!  Bath or Jacuzzi time was allowed, so we moved on to do that; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.

As for the world news, politicians and media seem more-interested in the latest round of Epstein-related scandals that are coming up on a decade old, but we think that the worst news of the day is that our leaders allowed the New-START or START-2 treaty to expire overnight; and now we officially do not have any nuclear arms treaties for the first time in more than fifty years!  We can only presume that our leaders didn’t want to extend that deal or expand on it because they plan on building up their nuclear weapons capacity – and Russia, China, and other countries will need to come to that same conclusion and respond accordingly.  That is insane; and nobody should want to start up a new round of arms races and the fear that goes along with the risks of global-level destruction!  Ethan and I will not be distracted by the political sideshows while ignoring the truly-serious problems in the world, but it also sometimes feels like we’re unable to do anything to stop what is happening – even when we help out with all of the good we do through the family businesses and charities.

The end of the last nuclear arms treaty was far from the only story in the world, but there still isn’t any good news for Ukraine or the Middle East.  The rhetoric playing at peace talks is nonsense; since the ‘western’ demands basically boil down to having both Russia and Iran completely capitulate and allow the United States to rule and exploit their countries and the rest of the world too.  That isn’t peace – it is conquering, and while we wouldn’t suggest that western powers can’t continue to do that for longer than anyone can predict; we are sure that there will be wars over those resources if we keep going down this road!

That’s another depressing thought to end our update on, but we’ve had enough for tonight; and we’ll move on and try to come up with happier thoughts to take into dreamland.  That might be easier for Ethan, since he just needs to replay that victory kiss with Naomi after their game night win, but either way; that’s all for this report and we’re out of here starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 4, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

This has been a good day, but not newsworthy for our personal adventures.  Tai Chi was indoors; breakfast was standard school-day fare; and our academic adventures included a test, some classmate presentations, and the usual daily lessons and work.  Ethan and I worked at the lab or archives with our books or beakers doing mostly-boring jobs.  Okay, that would just be boring for most people including our friends while we have fun getting into the weeds of our projects.  We came home for a slightly-late dinner; worked in the office with Mom and Dad after the clean-up – including a Magi lesson with Mom; and now we’re ready to wrap up our day and get some sleep.

Along with the work tonight, we did a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael at the start of their Thursday in Savannakhet; we’re still jealous of the sun and hot weather, and it is even-warmer there than in Vientiane!  They are having more fun than we are even with all of the work, but we’ll cut them some slack on that this week; since Cassie’s birthday is just days away now!  They have all-weekend plans for that and we’ll cover that news eventually too, but that’s all we have for them tonight.

On the world news front, peace talks are on-again – or they aren’t; and that could be said for pretty much every major conflict right now.  The ongoing destruction of Ukraine rolls on while politicians accomplish nothing; that’s true in different ways in a handful of Middle East countries; and stresses in Europe, here, and elsewhere continue to fester and grow; just waiting for the next spark to set off future fights.  We haven’t mentioned recent, renewed calls to place nuclear weapons in more European countries, but that’s because we can only hope that those leaders won’t be allowed to be that stupid.  That would likely lead to nuclear war, and with the last of the big nuclear treaties, the START-2 agreement, due to expire tomorrow without our leaders even trying to negotiate an extension or renewal; we’re already moving a step closer to that kind of conflict.

That’s a terrible note to wrap this up on, but we’re tired; and I don’t want to really get started on a rant that our leaders will never read or hear anyway – and would ignore if they did!  Cassie and Michael would never want to live in Washington, but President Cassie Stone does have a nice ring to it; and we – the people of the world – might have a chance with a Magi Master there to clean up the swamp! ;^)

Okay, that’s a happier note to end on; so we’re out of here and off to dreamland right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 3, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

This has been a good day, but very busy too, and we’re tired; so this is going to be a short update.  Tai Chi continues to be indoors while it remains below-freezing at night, and it didn’t warm up to much above freezing today; so we were happy to stay in when possible.  Our academic adventures weren’t newsworthy; our music highlights were our school band and teen praise team practices; and Ethan and I hosted dinner, a study session, and a group Magi lesson that Mom taught to us for our four best friends.  We missed the vid-chat with Cassie and Michael while at the church with the teen praise team, but they are doing great and are currently about half-way through their final day in Vientiane, Laos before they move on this evening to their only other stop in the country; Savannakhet.  We did do a bit of work in the office after our practice, but Mom set a time limit for that; and then sent us upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time.  That worked for me more than for Ethan, but our parents are generally-awesome and not too demanding of us; so we did as told – even though they didn’t stop working too!

That is why we’re nearly ready for nap time now instead of later – though time-phased work would have been an option for us.  We are ready to wrap this up, though, so let’s make the world news report quick too.  In a nutshell, nothing has changed today for any of the truly-important problems and conflicts in the world.  The political rhetoric is mostly noise without substance, and while there are always dangers involved with any saber-rattling; we can only hope that world leader stupidity will be countered by reality and risks of unacceptable consequences.

Yes, that is likely too-much to hope for with our current leaders in most western countries, but we really are going to head off to our beds now, so stay tuned for our next update while we head off to dreamland.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 82^nd Birthday, Grandma!

We warmed up to above forty today, but when we had the birthday vid-chat with our grandparents, Cassie and Michael, and the Carringtons at breakfast; that didn’t seem that great compared to the mid-eighties highs for both Laos and Phoenix!  Grandma and Grandpa had a fun day planned for the birthday celebrations with the other Proctor grandparents and their collective friends; so our day has been quiet by comparison.  That isn’t true for Cassie and Michael – though technically they slept through most of the play time in Arizona.  For the record, yes, our grandparents are slowing down now that they are in their eighties, but that is also relative to other seniors their age; since they can handle more than a lot of sixty-something people – even when they aren’t home with their favorite Magi Healers! ;^)

As for our day, it was still cold this morning, so Tai Chi was indoors; we had a semi-special breakfast while enjoying that birthday vid-chat; and then Ethan and I had a good school day followed by lab or archives play-work time after school and until we went home in time for dinner.  We took care of the clean-up; moved on to a Magi lesson and family business and charity work that included another vid-chat with Cassie and Michael at the start of their Tuesday; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time because the extra time-phased work hours have added up and this has been a very long day!

The world news report for today is a mix of domestic and foreign insanity.  The Ukraine war trilateral peace talks for the second round are being delayed – no surprise; and the temporary break in bombing appears to be over too; so the daily death and destruction continues – not that it really slowed down much anyway.  Everyone is still waiting for the resumption of the war with Iran, but the war hawks don’t seem to have any idea what comes next if they actually succeed with a regime change there – implying that this is really an attempt at regime destruction with no true plan for a better replacement government.  See Syria for a recent example of how that worked out; since the new government there led by a former most-wanted terrorist is definitely worse than the leaders they replaced!  Syria is still a battle zone too – as is Lebanon; and ‘our’ side is behind all of that destruction.  Turkey’s involvement doesn’t get included in that storyline for western countries despite the fact that they are part of NATO with one of the largest military forces in the group!  There is news about a new trade deal with India, and maybe that will be good for everyone involved, but it isn’t a bigger deal than the progress India is having with China, Russia, and the rest of the BRICS+ countries.

Here at home, in addition to claims of ownership of the western hemisphere and all resources within; there is ongoing, serious stress growing over the ICE and border patrol shootings in Minnesota; the government is more-interested in everything else other than the citizens they are supposed to represent; and free speech has only gotten better for the people currently in power and those who will agree with them while just as many people as ever are targeted for ‘wrong-speak’ crimes.  That last one isn’t restricted to our country, but then that just adds to the never-ending hypocrisy; since freedom is a core declaration used to justify everything we do to the countries that won’t accept our benevolent western shackles and exploitation!

That’s enough of a rant for tonight.  We need to rest up for our music practices day, so we’ll do that; and be back again tomorrow night with the latest report from those adventures and the rest of our usual daily updates.

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