Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 24, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

There has been some rain and thunderstorms today, but a fair bit of sun too with a high that hit ninety, but while most of our younger cousins enjoyed a play day; Ethan and I worked in the lab all day; and don’t have anything interesting to write about here for those adventures.  We do write about our work in the lab or archives reports and journals we keep in that section of the archives, so if you are really into science or old books; feel free to check out the details of our work there.  Tai Chi was by the river this morning and we enjoyed breakfast with Mom and Dad; we took our lunches with us and ate on our own timetables and separately; and came home in time to both help with making dinner and sharing that meal with Mom and Dad too.  While rain was an issue this evening, the co-ed ball practices went ahead; we went to the park to help with the next-gen kids; and came home early when the rain arrived in town again and the practices were ended early.  That gave us time to do some work and a Magi lesson in the office; we used some time phasing to get more done; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.

That brings us to the world news report.  Tonight we are going to start with more of those smaller stories again – news that isn’t getting a lot of attention in western media.  First up, Niger has officially withdrawn from the International Criminal Court – the third country to do that over the past ten years.  Ethan and I put some importance on that because we see it as proof that more countries around the world have lost confidence in international laws and governance – with good reasons for coming to that conclusion.  There was a report we saw about the canceling of an eighteen billion Euro war ship project in Germany, and that would be good news if we weren’t also sure that the German leaders will just spend that money on other military weapons.  We haven’t mentioned that the United Kingdom is in the process of changing Prime Ministers again – for the seventh time in ten years, but we aren’t holding out hope for an improvement; since the elites in London are mostly on the same side – and against the people they are supposed to represent and protect.

On the wars fronts, western leaders and media are cheering on the market prices for oil that continues to drop on political talk more than on actual reality.  Israel continues to kill and destroy in Lebanon and Gaza and Palestine and Syria; and we can only be sickened that the rest of the world leaders appear to be okay with that as long as the oil flows again.  Frank Herbert was obviously a genius; since the spice, Melange, and the stories of the Fremen and Dune could easily be interchanged with the Middle East deserts and oil – without the giant sandworms!

I took that thought on a fun tangent, but the situation in and around Iran is still serious; and the actual negotiations don’t seem to be going anywhere beyond opening the Strait of Hormuz being opened again – though even that seems to be uncertain and temporary.  As for Ukraine, while Russia continues slow advances along the frontlines; Ukrainian leaders and military are mostly attempting public relations wins and stunts.  For example today, a so-called State-sponsored group took over the largest Russian-Orthodox Cathedral in Odessa while western leaders and media don’t appear to have any problem with the forcible eradication of freedom of religion.  The hypocrisy is stunning – especially when all of the recent gun and knife attacks against Jewish and Christian communities and churches in those same western countries.  No, we aren’t surprised by that reality; and only want to report it now and then because Magi of the Light all believe that morality and truth mean nothing if not applied to everyone.  Silkie just gave me a look at that comment, but Ethan and I think that dogs and cats are people too; so we include them as part of everyone! ;^)

I am obviously getting too-tired to continue this update, so that’s all for tonight; and we are going to move on to dreamland starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 23, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Our top news of the day for our own lives is that we began semi-official summer jobs at the lab or archives.  Ethan and I spent most of the day doing that, but started the day with Tai Chi by the river and the post-camping breakfast followed by the campground clean-up.  Most of our friends were starting summer jobs today too – though not everyone needed to start this morning.  That is why we had most of the clean-up done by nine o’clock, though, and then Ethan and I headed to the lab and got busy with our books or beakers for the rest of the day.  Let’s also mention that Aiden has an official summer job this year at the bakery; and Naomi is going to do some work at the salon to spend time with her Mom and then work with Aunt Grace, Violet, and Mom as an office intern.  There isn’t anything significant to report from the work today, but we were happy to get back to serious work-play; and we have a lot we want to do while we can.

That brings us to some news we’ve saved until after the start of our summer break.  Cassie and Michael’s summer work trip is going to be in Canada; and they are taking their favorite six teens along for the work and adventures.  No, Brianna, you’re not included – though you will join the favorite teens club in another couple of years!  We’re very excited about seeing as much of Canada as we can from east to west coasts, but we’ll save up more details for when we actually head out after the holiday weekend.  Let’s add that our summer jobs are going to be away from the lab or elsewhere for our best friends while on that trip, but Ethan and I are going to do related field work; we’ll all help with Cassie and Michael’s work; and we’ll fit in some play time along the way.

Since we’ve gotten away from our news of the day, let’s cover the rest of our birthday story now.  The birthday dinner was great, but short for us as we needed to eat and run to our ball practices.  We ended up saving the cake for after the practices; moved straight into the campfire from there; and our entertainment around the fire included our own musical contributions with Naomi, Aiden, Sophia, and Aaron.  There were scary stories; lots of teen chat and co-ed cuddle time; and late-night fun that included a river swim and more hang out time around the tents.  We stayed up late; some of us had co-ed naps in our tents; and then we were up early for the Tai Chi workout by the river that we’ve already mentioned.  Ethan and I don’t usually write about our gifts, and we don’t want to do that tonight, but we do want to mention that we did not get any extreme gifts – though there were some gifts that were chosen with our upcoming trip in mind for helping us to stay entertained during long drives between work and sightseeing stops.

After our lab or archives work, we ended up meeting with Mom and Dad at the park for the Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner that went along with the Tuesday ball practices.  We caught some of both rounds of practices; came home with Mom and Dad after that; and we did not have any overnight plans with our friends.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us; we all did some work after that; and then Mom had us head upstairs by ten-thirty so that we could catch up on our sleep.  That works for us; so let’s finish this update with a quick world news report and then get to that nap time.

Instead of covering the war stories; we’re going to mention some of the other stories we see that are comparatively-small but illustrate the growing stresses around the world.  Since we’re going to be in Canada soon; let’s begin with a shooting in Montreal, Quebec that appears to be a religion-related attack on a Jewish Rabbi – the latest of a handful of incidents in Canada.  In that attack, a police officer was killed and another one was injured in the shootout with the suspect, but while that is terrible and our hearts go out to the families involved; we’re worried about the explosion of this kind of violence in a lot of countries.  We’ve seen similar stories across Europe; more in Africa; and we don’t even see a fraction of the problems in places where nobody is paying attention to what is happening for the poorest places in the world.  Europe is also dealing with a heat wave that is leading to heat-related deaths; and that could be worse this summer due to rising energy costs that make air conditioning unaffordable for the most-vulnerable people.

Finally, for tonight, we do need to at least include a bit of war news.  There are some good and bad signs out of the Middle East, so while we can hope that there will be actual improvements for the people in the region; the fighting continues in Lebanon and elsewhere; Israel is pushing to take more territory by force on multiple fronts; and they are gaining new haters both in the region and around the world that will be a problem for years and decades to come.  The Ukraine war continues to go badly for Ukraine, but they – and their western backers – continue to talk tough; threaten to expand the war; and threaten Russian allies like Belarus.  Russian leaders are beginning to talk about an inevitable conflict with NATO and the need to prepare for that to happen; so nobody on either side are looking for or expecting peace; and we can only hope that those leaders don’t go down that escalation path that could again decimate Europe or blow up the entire world.

I do not want to head off to dreamland on that note, but let’s stop there; and we’ll try to think happier thoughts between now and when we crash into nap mode.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 22, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 15^th Birthday to Us! ;^)

It would have been fun to start this update by reporting that I got my driver’s license today and Ethan didn’t, but nobody would believe that; and we both passed our tests with perfect scores – better than perfect if you include our eye tests that are actually super-human even without using our Magi talents to enhance what we can see normally.  We’ve both gone for our first drive too, but that wasn’t a big deal for either of us compared to the rest of our adventures so far today.

After taking our driver’s tests and going for short drives with Mom or Cassie respectively; we met up with our friends and cousins at the house; tents were already being set up by then; and we took care of that work before we all headed to Quarry Lake on our bikes.  There were lots of adults driving there with day camp gear and next-gen kids, but we had more fun with the biking; and the day camp and picnic lunch work was done by the time we arrived.  It was still late morning by then, so we had time to swim and play before lunch; we played on the water slides, rock walls, and zip lines before we ate; and then that meal was a blast of food fun that didn’t even get all that weird even with Zack and Eli trying to show off around our friends.  That could be because Miles and Joshua were on best behavior for Caroline and Jennifer, but then they’ve been doing better anyway; so they are learning that life is happier when girlfriends are not annoyed or angry! ;^)

We still had a couple of hours to play after lunch; there was more swimming and water play on Aqua Bikes and more slides time; and then we biked home again while the adults and next-gen kids drove home again after we all helped out with the clean-up.  This update is happening as we’re packing our gear for the camping and ahead of our barbeque birthday dinner.  That is going to be a major family-and-friends’ event, but it will need to be quick for us too; since we also still have our ball practices tonight.  We need to get back to all of that fun, so let’s wrap this up.

The top world news of the day continues to focus on the Middle East, and while the idiocies being spouted by our leaders continue to move markets and get media attention; the fighting and bombing in Lebanon continues; tensions on the ground remain high; and nothing substantive has changed for the actual peace talks when they can’t even get past the first item on the memorandum list!  The good cop, bad cop diplomacy game is getting very old too, and it does not work to talk peace out of one side of your mouth while spouting off threats of imminent destruction out of the other side.  Add in all of the forces working to undermine any peace; and we don’t expect anything to change other than through the rotation of the same sequences of lunacy that led us here and into yet another never-ending war.

We need to stop there and get going; so that’s all for today.  Stay tuned; and we’ll have the rest of our birthday adventures stories for you tomorrow night.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 21, 2026

 

Ehlana, Aiden, Naomi, and Ethan:

Happy Father’s Day to all of our favorite Dads!

Happy 12^th Anniversary, Tory and Kyle Denninger!

We have a lot to cover tonight; so let’s get to it starting with the rest of our story from yesterday.  While we helped out with the dinner at Sophia’s house, Zack and his team held out for a seven-to-six win thanks to two final-inning outs that ended a comeback attempt by the Rangers.  The dinner that Sophia and her parents hosted was awesome; and we even had some joint-family connections because Cassie and Michael were there with their nieces and nephews.  Ethan and I were not drafted for the clean-up because he needed to be at the park for his ballgame; so all of the teens involved in playing or cheering for our team were set free – along with all of the younger kids and their assigned support adults while others took care of the work.  We all had fun at Ethan’s game, but it also wasn’t very competitive as the Locusts cruised to a twelve-to-seven win over the Sting.  That score only looked better than the game play was because the Locusts held back during the final three innings instead of running it up on their classmates and friends on the Sting team.  The co-ed sleepover at Sophia’s house was great too; we stayed up too-late again with movies, co-ed cuddling, and teen chat time; so we only napped for around four hours again last night – early this morning.

We were all still up early for Tai Chi by the river; the teens in the house took care of the Father’s Day breakfast that included bonus Bassett clan guests; and Ethan and I missed out on the breakfast that Cassie and Michael hosted for their parents, Jake, Stephanie, and their kids.  We should get used to that sort of thing; since we will need to take turns sharing our own family from now on – and they’ll need to share us now and then too!  The breakfast clean-up was teen-led too; we all managed to get ready and over to the church on time; and then we all enjoyed Pastor Martha’s annual short service gift to the all of the fathers in our congregation.

Aunt Leanne and Aunt Grace hosted the family-and-friends’ barbeque lunch, and we were drafted to help with the work before that meal and then with kid control after we ate.  The meal needed to be indoors because it started to rain by noon; so we also kept the younger kids entertained in the sunroom while getting those kids fed too.  Zack led an afternoon video gaming competition after lunch while there were thunderstorms in the area; we went out to play when we could between blasts of rain and after the bad weather cleared out for the rest of the day; and then we split up when everyone wanted to get ready for the late buffet dinner at the Inn.  Naomi and Aiden used that time to also pack overnight bags for their co-ed sleepover here; and they stopped in on the way to the Inn to drop their gear off and then head out to dinner with us.  The Father’s Day celebration was in full swing for everyone at the Inn; and most of our favorite Dads were there with us.  We couldn’t sit with all of our parents at one table, so Ethan and Naomi ended up with their parents while Aiden and I were with his family, Leah, and her parents.  We all had fun; there were many cameo moments with other favorite people; and then we came home for the night with Mom and Dad.

Mom did a group Magi lesson with us while Dad took care of a bit of work he needed to get done for Monday after his week in Crystal Springs; Ethan and Aiden opted for showers while Naomi and I took turns in my Jacuzzi; and now we’re watching movies and winding down in the lounge with co-ed cuddle time and our usual computer checks.  We should mention that Sophia and Aaron were invited, but opted for their own plans for tonight.  We’re okay with that – and with starting our fifteenth birthday soon with our respective, favorite co-ed cuddle buddies!

Naomi wants me to mention that she’d be okay with separate co-ed sleepovers for us on birthdays and other holidays, and I know that will happen eventually, but not yet – and let’s add that she’d be okay with that plan on all non-celebration days too! ;^)

That does bring us up to now; so let’s deal with some world news and then we’ll wrap this up and get back to focusing on the movies and cuddle time.  Starting with the Ukraine war tonight, the top news is about European leaders committing to sending more missiles and drones and weapons to Ukraine; Russian leaders are responding with escalations along the front lines and more missile and drone attacks across Ukraine; and too many leaders on both sides are calling for more war and even expanding it beyond Ukraine while most of the people affected just want it to stop.  As for the Middle East and the Iran war, while the peace talks seem to be nothing more than political theatre in Geneva; the fighting continues in Lebanon and that ceasefire never even got started because Israel is only focused on taking territory and killing anyone that tries to stop them.  President Trump obviously can’t or won’t stop them; so all of the politics and diplomacy over the past month might just have been yet another ploy to distract while ‘our’ side continues to take what they want in smaller chunks for as long as they can until they can’t do that anymore.

That strategy has worked for decades now, so we aren’t expecting that to change anytime soon, but the anger and hatred that is growing in the rest of the world against ‘western’ countries is very real; and could eventually end badly for ‘our’ side.  That sounds dramatic, but it is only fair that we should add that the Ascension of the Light is coming; our leaders probably won’t blow up the world before that happens; and we will be doing our very best to help the rest of the world to be as happy as we are after that so that we won’t need all of those nasty militaries and weapons of any kind anymore!

I like that thought to end with, and maybe you’re even reading this far-enough into our future that there is no war in your now!  As for our current reality, we’re going to move on; enjoy the pre and early birthday co-ed cuddle and movie time; and then have a nap so we’ll be ready for all of our birthday adventures tomorrow.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 20, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Let’s begin with the baseball news of the weekend that we have so far.  Our Glacier team earned a close win over Valleyview (Polar) Vortex; and the ten-to-eight score only ended that way thanks to our two-run tiebreak in the final inning.  We have two family games booked today, but Zack, Eli, Sebastian, Caleb, and the Bakery Brigade are still playing their game against the Rawhide Rangers; and Ethan’s game doesn’t start until seven o’clock.  We caught two innings of Zack’s game, but we’ve spent most of the day doing chores; so the best parts of our day are still ahead of us!

That was true for our Friday after the journal update.  The fun included biking the trails, swimming in the river, setting up a major campground in our back yard, a family-and-friends’ barbeque dinner, the ball game, and the outdoor movies and camping adventures.  Ethan and I had a blast with all of that; we even managed co-ed camping naps in our tents thanks to some younger cousins taking on the next-gen junior campers in their tents; and we all stayed up too late after the movies, late swims, and teen chat time.  We did help with the youngest kids when needed, but they all slept through the four hours of sleep we actually managed to get before we got up for Tai Chi by the river.

Rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast for tonight, so along with getting ready for the day and feeding our gang of campers; we needed to pack up the tents and gear; and then get started on our usual weekend chores.  Ethan and Aiden did more of the harder chores while Naomi and I mowed lawns at all of our homes; we stopped for a mini-subs and salads lunch; and only one cool-down swim that we fit in with that visit to the park for the baseball action.  Now we’re home to pack overnight bags and get cleaned up before heading over to Sophia’s house.  She’s hosting our group of six best friends for dinner and a co-ed sleepover after the ball game this evening, and since her parents are also hosting that dinner for family and friends; we’re booked to help out with the cooking and set-up.  We really need to get over there soon; so let’s wrap this up and save the rest of our own stories for our Sunday wrap-up.

Ethan and I do need to mention the continuing top world news story – the non-peace in the Middle East and the failing peace talks that still aren’t really happening in Geneva.  We don’t expect any ‘real’ changes in the region, and while reports claimed another ceasefire in Lebanon; Israel didn’t actually stop bombing or continuing their ground offensive to take more territory in southern Lebanon.  Iran’s military is responding by declaring the Strait of Hormuz is closed again; and their political leaders are pointing out that an end to the fighting in Lebanon is at the top of the list for the Memorandum of Understanding – and pointing out that the United States agreed to make that happen.  If Israel won’t stop the fighting; so the peace talks are dead on arrival if we can’t earn any trust from Iran on even basic parts of the agreement.

We’ll save the rest of the world news for tomorrow night too, so stay tuned for that; and we’ll get back to the first full day of our summer vacation!

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