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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy First of September!

Yes, I’m in an odd mood tonight, but we’ve been going through the usual world news checks for a little while now; and a bit of silliness seems in order – as compared to the insanity reigning supreme with too many of our world leaders!  Let’s start with those stories; and then we’ll cover the happier local adventures that made our day so awesome!

It would be really great to have awesome news to report from around the world, but ‘positive’ stories are usually nothing more than Kabuki theatre with political leaders as the starring actors.  As examples for this update, President Trump is supposedly upsetting European leaders for inviting a Russian delegation to the G-20 meetings our country is hosting this week, but nothing will change with actual policies; the Russian sanctions and warring will continue; and that really does just make the inclusion nothing more than drama for the show.  Compare that to the meetings with the Shanghai Cooperative Organization summit where they actually make decisions, deals, and plans for the future that aren’t all about coming up with new ways to steal or bomb the way to power and wealth at the expense of everyone weaker; and it is no surprise that the majority of the ‘real’ people in the world would choose peace and prosperity over never-ending war and exploitation!  Continuing with the theatre stories, Iran’s leaders are claiming they are willing to return to the Memorandum of Understanding deal with the United States immediately as soon as President Trump agrees to do the same, but we all know that won’t happen because Iran will only do that if ‘we’ actually live up to our end of that deal and that isn’t going to happen.  For his part, President Trump continued the threats against Iran today, and they ranged from another repeat of ‘mowing the lawn’ to clear the Strait of Hormuz to a resumption of the ‘really big’ attacks that would just lead to more death and destruction on both sides.  The economic consequences are building up, and whenever the systems start to break; we’ll be ready to help here at home and wherever we can to mitigate the disasters.  While the theatre-politick rolls along, so do the genocides against the Palestinians and Lebanese people; there is still little shipping traffic in either of the Middle East straits; and more ships have been hit and damaged while attempting to make ‘unauthorized’ passages – and that includes two supertankers over the past day or so.  For right now, both sides of that war seem happy to wait and find out who can take the most pain before cracking – though there is always the risk of major escalation that can’t be ignored even if we can’t really prepare for the most-insane options.

Insanity is the word for what Ukrainian and western leaders are continuing to do the Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.  Western media is not the place to go for any truth on that war, since they mostly insist that Ukraine is winning and Russia’s demise is imminent – as they’ve insisted has been true for about four and a half years now.  Ethan and I recommend those leaders and reporters get some better history books and maps and take basic classes in finance and economics; since they are all completely delusional.  Yes, Ukrainian forces are fighting on to the last man – or woman; since they now want to conscript all of the women too, but while they do that; their country is being destroyed; their economy is now a fraction of what it was before the war started; and they need more than one-hundred billion dollars a year in support just to keep the basic government and social lights on!  They’ve built up huge debts that will never be repaid; millions of their people have fled to other countries – on both sides; and they are definitely not going to be prepared for surviving the winter without massive additional inflows of support.  At this point, they might not even be able to get much support at all; since their Black Sea ports are closed and half-destroyed; and any ship that tried to go there gets hit by Russian missiles and drones.  Russia is getting hit every day and taking damage too, but those are pinpricks by comparison and only helpful to Ukraine for the information war.  That, by the way, is another fact that gets ignored in the west – Russian media reports even the smallest attacks – if not always in detail; while Ukrainian leaders try to clamp down on all bad news happening in their country.  Yes, many of the reports still get out, but that is mostly because there is so much damage happening now that their social media police can’t keep up with all of the people defying the social media bans that have been brutally enforced in the past.  We really wish that they would concede defeat before they will eventually need to surrender, but as long as the powers in Ukraine keep getting rich; we don’t foresee any changes for the better.

Here at home, the weather was hot and sunny with a high that didn’t quite hit triple digits.  Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom and Dad were a great way to start our day; I had fun with my morning cheer squad practice; and Ethan had a tougher all-day workout with the football team – though you wouldn’t know that by looking at him right now because we’re cheating and adding in Magi fatigue healing as needed!  He needed that help between football and baseball practices; and we’re both glad to have finished the last baseball practices of the season.  We’re also ready for our championship games; and he’ll get to find out whether two big games in two days will be too much to also lead to two wins!  I’m really only joking about that; since both of the boys’ teams in their championship game on Saturday evening will have the same issue with players that also play on the football team.  While Ethan was busy all day at the school, Naomi and I spent part of our afternoon on some yard chores ahead of the holiday weekend; we spent the rest of our afternoon playing and swimming with younger cousins and some friends; and then we met up with the boys when they were done their workout.  We had time for a swim then too; headed to the park for the Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner that we enjoyed while the ‘early’ practices were going on; and then our own practices went until dusk before we wrapped up and headed for our homes.

While we are running out of summer, we didn’t do a co-ed sleepover or get in on any of the camping going on elsewhere with cousins and friends.  Ethan and I took Silkie for a walk while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes; had a visit with Mom and Dad in the office that included a Magi lesson with Mom; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time between that lesson and the bedtime twin chat and computing we’ve been keeping busy with for about a half hour now.  Ethan’s done more of that than I did, but he kept me in the telepathic loop; and I can only wish that he hadn’t while I want the information anyway – even when it is as bad as normal for what seems like years now!  Fortunately, we’ve already covered those stories, so we can stay happier and head off to dreamland with memories of a fun day and goodnight front porch kisses; so we are going to do that starting right now!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 31, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Our last day of August has been very busy; we’ve had fun; and don’t really have much personal news to offer for your entertainment!  We seem to be on the way to wrapping up our summer with hot and sunny weather, and today the high flirted with triple-digits – and did that without much humidity to add to the heat.  That was tougher for Ethan and his teammates because they practiced all day while our cheer squad workout wrapped up before noon, but despite his future librarian reputation, Ethan is very competitive on the field; encouraging to the other players; and continues to prove he’s the best player on the team too.  Our cheer squad workout included coming up with new routine ideas for the rest of the season and songs to set them to, and while we don’t plan on writing special lyrics for every song we choose; that is going to be an option for some special routines that could include the one we are considering for Halloween.  We have time to work on them; and mostly concentrated on what we want to do this Friday for our first away game of the season.  We’re playing at Maple Valley, so we want to do something fun for one of our closest rivalry teams and their fans; so stay tuned and we hope that we’ll have another fun story to share for that by sometime this weekend.

While Ethan was busy with the team all day, I had lunch with Mom, Naomi, and Sophia; moved on to work at the lab for the afternoon; and ended up staying into the evening because Ethan came over after his practice to work-play in the archives and wanted to do that for a least a few hours.  Mom saved our dinners for us while having that meal with Dad and without us; we got home at seven-thirty; multi-tasked the food fun with a chat with Mom; and then it was time for an early bath or Jacuzzi break for the teens in the house because Mom ordered an early night for us.  Ethan and I were okay with that, since we are tired; and now we’re going to wrap this up with a quick world news report and then get to the nap time that we really need tonight.

While the top two wars continue to get most of the political and media attention, and there has been another ‘hot’ flare-up between Iran and the United States with missile and drone exchanges; we want to cover some other stories that we know are important too.  The flash floods in Tibet and Nepal have been horrific; the confirmed death toll is now over nine-hundred; and there are still thousands of people missing from the villages and towns that have been devastated or even completely wiped out by the floods.  Mom and Cassie are doing what they can, but getting aid there is a challenge; and the recovery is going to be slow and might take years – especially when there will be time constraints heading into winter in the region.

On the rising world tensions front, there are reports now getting out about a military uprising or coup attempt in Niger that has apparently been put down after a group of soldiers attacked fellow soldiers at a key military air base near the Capital.  We won’t make more of this than it might turn out to be for the scale of the operation, but we will again point out that as people get desperate; the fights for resources will escalate – and that can happen in unanticipated places.

Our third story is on the economic front.  The Shanghai Cooperative Organization summit is being held this week, and while President Trump and our leaders spend all of their time threatening the rest of the world; the SCO members are busy making deals and developing partnerships that will lead to minimizing the impact of American politics and policies on the rest of the world.  The leaders of China, India, and Russia are the most-influential members of the SCO, but Iran is a member too; and they are definitely making choices this week about how to handle the American threats over doing any business with Iran at all.  The SCO members also represent more than forty percent of the world population; so pushing them away – and possibly out of using the U.S. dollar at all – is truly insane; since our country will be in a lot of trouble if we no longer have the privilege of having the world’s reserve currency anymore.

While Asian countries are meeting and making their deals; President Trump continues to threaten Canada; and is now adding demands that Canadian companies that want to do business in America need to leave Canada and move their businesses to the United States!  He has also stated that Canada has absolutely nothing that ‘we’ need, and while maybe that is technically-true; our businesses and consumers would really hate all of the price increases that would come with cutting off all of those less-expensive resources ranging from oil, mining, and forestry products to electricity and manufactured goods.  For the record, Canada does have a trade surplus with our country, but we can also point out that the difference is entirely due to our purchases of oil and energy products while the rest of the manufacturing exchanges are fairly-even.  Blowing up that trade relationship is also insane, but that seems to be the norm for our leaders now for decades!

Finally, for tonight, in addition to the new attacks on Iran, President Trump posted an A.I. video of the total destruction of one of Iran’s primary oil export hubs; and there is no indication that there is any interest in an actual peace deal as Israel is allowed to continue the genocides of everyone they choose to hate and our own leaders only want more war – whether that’s with Iran, Russia, Cuba, or anywhere else in the world.  China is also, obviously, a top target, but we can only hope that at least a few sane people in our government can explain to the idiots that if we can’t beat Iran; we are not going to defeat China.

Okay, that’s more than enough bad news for the last day of August – or any other day.  Our week is only going to get busier for us as we speed along toward the holiday weekend, so stay tuned; and we’ll have the next of those stories for you next month – and tomorrow!

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

This might prove to be a disappointing update for us; since we’ve had a fairly-uneventful Sunday!  Okay, Naomi and I had a lot of fun with the girls at Faith’s camping night even without our favorite co-ed cuddle buddies, but after watching the first movie with us, Ethan and Aiden headed to their homes; and Ethan advised me that he took advantage of the chance for extra sleep while I stayed up late with the extra movie and riverside girl chat time before we eventually got some sleep for a few hours.  Naomi and I were busier this morning from Tai Chi by the river through breakfast and getting ready for church; and then we were busy with the service and Sunday school – especially with the final round of work we had to get ready for the holiday weekend service.  Ethan’s morning was quieter while sharing the early morning fun with Mom and Dad; Naomi made sure he had fun while we were at church, and then he came with us to the Everetts’ to help out with the camp clean-up before lunch.

Ethan and I were on our own for that meal with Mom and Dad, and while the weather was awesome with sun and a high in the mid-nineties, we’re running out of summer; and opted to work at the lab or archives all afternoon.  We loved the time with our books or beakers, but don’t have amazing news to offer from that work; and that’s normal most of the time for what we do when my breakthroughs are fleeting moments of awesome and nobody even notices the amazing work that Ethan does while enjoying the benefits that go along with the improved access to archives information.  We came home at around six-thirty; don’t want to write about what our parents did with at least part of their kid-free afternoon; and we enjoyed that meal with them too along with the chat time that included covering our plans for the coming week leading up to the holiday weekend.  Ethan and I took care of the clean-up; we did some work in the office that included some charity work aimed at disaster relief in several countries and prepping for problems we foresee elsewhere – including for some food security risks.  Mom had us wrap up by ten-thirty; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down fast toward bedtime.  That’s all we have for our own news, so let’s cover the world news; and then we’ll go and get some sleep.

For tonight; we’re going to cover some stories that aren’t getting much attention in western media or with their leaders, but showcase stark differences in the directions that countries are going as they chart the course for their respective futures.  In Iceland, while the vote was close; the majority voted against re-starting talks to join the European Union.  The last round for those talks ended thirteen years ago; and we applaud the people of Iceland for staying out of the mess that the European Union is becoming as their leaders destroy the economies and societies they purport to represent.  On the other side of that coin, Armenia is rapidly moving away from links with Russia toward the European Union; and their leaders are well on the way to destroying their country by doing that; since Russia was the only reason their country and people weren’t already torn apart.  That is all but inevitable now, but apparently their leaders can’t look at what has happened to Ukraine and other countries that have been promised the world and ended up destroyed; and want to share that same fate!

That, by the way, was on full display this weekend in Ukraine as reports come out about the cumulative destruction that has, apparently, included the destruction of around ninety percent of food warehouses; major attacks on ammunition storage facilities – including one that the Ukrainian military put in a residential area.  In that case, the secondary explosions from the ammo destroyed and damaged a lot of homes in the area; killed dozens of civilians in those homes; and an unreported number of injuries.  It is sickening to watch and read about all of those horrors; and inexcusable for the Ukrainian and western leaders to keep the war going at the expense of an entire nation and its people.

Finally, for today, stories about nuclear war made the rounds again this weekend, and all we have to write about for that is this – don’t do it!  Anyone pushing for any kind of nuclear war is insane; and we should not have any leaders anywhere in the world allowed to rule if they actually believe that using nukes to bully their way into getting whatever they want!  We are not an evolving society or species if we’re considering a return to a civilization where the people with the most power and resources can use and abuse everyone else in the world.

That’s all we’re going to cover tonight, since at least one of us really needs some extra sleep after a very long weekend.  Stay tuned; since our last week of summer is going to be awesome! ;^)

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 10^th Birthday, Faith!

Before we get to the birthday adventures stories-so-far; let’s cover the football news of the weekend!  Our rematch against Hillcrest was a definitive statement that we are still the team to beat this season.  The fifty-five to sixteen score was obvious-enough, but then that was true throughout the game from start to finish.  Miles is happiest about that for his debut as Quarterback, and he played well-enough with only a few mistakes; so he has reason to be proud – though his ego is a bit larger than life!  Ethan, on the other hand, is so modest that it’s amazing that anyone noticed just how well he played last night.  Yes, he earned three of the seven touchdowns for our team and gained a lot of yards running after the catches, but he intentionally shares the credit with his teammates – especially the guys on the offensive and defensive lines.  They deserve that credit; and they really appreciate Ethan for pointing that out very publicly.  As for the team scoring, Aaron had two running touchdowns; Aiden had one passing touchdown; and we coasted to the win in the fourth quarter.  Miles had two turnovers that led to ten of Hillcrest’s sixteen points, but that really just emphasized that while their defense is still pretty good; their offense did not have a good night.

While our favorite boys were having fun out on the field; we had fun with our cheer squad adventures on the sidelines and during half-time.  The weather was perfect for a summer evening; so we could also throw in all of the tricks we have without needing to hold back due to rain or wet conditions.  We’ll never be able to compete for skills with the big high school or college squads that have the talent and numbers for the best tricks, but we still do pretty well; and I’ll modestly mention that Naomi, Sophia, and I lead the way for the most-difficult gymnastics.  Our halftime routine was a hit with the crowd, and that was entirely because Naomi, Sophia, and I put together a Raiders’ version of ‘Golden’ with our own lyrics and vocals to go along with the physical routine that included martial arts inspired dance and some very cool, if minor, aerials and throws.

Thanks to the win, the party that Ethan hosted for the team was more-fun; it is scary to see how much food an entire football team can consume; and we will not comment on the bill for the Pizzeria that Mom and Dad paid for those stacks of pizza!  The campfire was great too; and that included a Naomi and the non-Holiday Harmonies doing an encore version of that Golden song along with the rest of our musical contributions to the fun.  Our guests headed for their homes or elsewhere by one o’clock; and then we had some clean-up work to do before we could get around to our co-ed sofa sleepover in the lounge with our four best friends.  That brings us up to today, but before we got to the start of Faith’s birthday adventures at Quarry Lake, we started the day with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom and Dad.  Okay, we actually started out with a round of Magi-powered fatigue healing for all of us because we were still tired after the game and late night, but that was fun too!  After the quiet start to our day, Sophia and Aaron and Aiden all moved on to help their own families at their homes or the bakery; Naomi stayed and worked on chores with Ethan and me; and we kept busy with that until we needed to switch to loading up vehicles for the trip to Quarry Lake.  We were out there and had our day camp set up by eleven-thirty; and then the fun was on as we helped out with junior kid control; led some of the activities for ‘our’ group that included the rock wall and zip line; water slides and swims; and play time on Aqua Bikes and paddle boats.  We were in charge of a group for lunch too; so we were on the go non-stop pretty much from arrival to departure by late-afternoon.

Faith’s party rolled on once we got back to the Everetts’ home, and we had more work to do – including helping with setting up tents for Faith’s girls-only camping night.  There were other volunteers for cooking dinner, but we had next-gen kids to take care of during that meal; and then we helped with the clean-up while the back yard fun included games, swimming, and canoe rides.  That brings us up to now; and Ethan and I are taking a quick break at home to get cleaned up and ready for the rest of our night.  Outdoor movies will start at dusk for Faith’s party, and Naomi and I have agreed to stay and camp with the girls – mostly to help with the next-gen girls that want to do that with Faith and her friends.  Ethan will miss the co-ed nap time with Naomi, but will love the earlier bedtime and getting more sleep that we’ll get tonight!  That’s also all we have for now and we need to get back to the party soon; so here’s a quick world news report and then we’re out of here and back to the birthday celebration.

We do not want to get into the war stories today; since that news continues to be bad every day.  There are other reports ranging from the stupid to the unbelievable.  For the former, President Trump has declared that Lake Ontario is now Lake America in ‘retaliation’ for trade threats made by the Premiere of Ontario – the equivalent of a State Governor.  We’re sure that change will be as-popular as the Gulf of America has been for the people crazy enough to think that this kind of playground nonsense is important!  For the official journal record, no, Ethan and I never claimed ownership of the playground; and there has never been a Fort Proctor that needed defending from all enemies foreign, alien, or domestic! ;^)

The other story we’ll cover tonight is President Trump’s announcement that he’s doubled America’s oil reserves with a deal to ‘control’ sixty-five billion barrels of Venezuelan oil!  We have absolutely no doubt that the Venezuelan people will not at all mind the total exploitation of their resources and stand by and do nothing – and yes, that is extreme sarcasm!  Along with all of the inevitable geo-political problems; let’s also add that the oil reserves in question will also be among the most-expensive in the world to access; so that will not be a deal at all if it costs more to get out of the ground than it can be sold for on the market!  When we start making those cost calculations; let’s make sure we include how much money we’re spending on the combined military forces needed to ‘protect’ those resources that we believe should be ours despite the fact that they are inconveniently located in another, not-really-sovereign country!

We really do need to run, but I can’t resist just one meme story that we find very funny.  President Trump may have started an unintended consequence with his claim of the Strait of Hormuz being an American territory; since the jokes are already going viral of Iranian and Omani women claiming American citizenship for their babies born in that new territory!  All Iranian pregnant women should definitely flock to the coastline to give birth so they can get in on that deal – and we couldn’t possibly have any problems in another eighteen or twenty years when those Iranian-American citizens will be old-enough to vote!

That is a fun, silly wrap-up to this update, so we’re out of here and back to the birthday fun for and with Faith and her cousins and friends!

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