Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 30, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The last day of April is going out with blast of rain; and Ehlana and I were happy to stay indoors most of the day and have a final work afternoon and evening at the lab or archives before we’ll be taking a break through until after we get home from our trip to Washington.  We were able to have Tai Chi by the river with Mom and Dad because the rain didn’t arrive until this afternoon, but then we didn’t go outside very much while at school; and we had to deal with the rain for the walk home and then on to the lab after that.  Mom sent picnic dinners for us so that we could stay at the lab; we put in a full-day of work thanks to the time phasing; and now we’re tired and ready to crash and nap soon.

The news for today had a lot of focus on discussing President Trump’s first one-hundred days; it is all nonsense and distraction that means nothing; and we continue to note that no serious issues have been resolved and all major conflicts roll on with the killing and destruction continuing.  We really don’t want to get into any of that tonight, so we won’t; and maybe we’ll save up for our week in the Capital; since it is sure to be very scary to be right there and surrounded by all of those politicians and their cling-ons!

We really need to start saving up power to be ready for all of that – and not so that we can clean up that city while there!  Stay tuned, since our reports are sure to be entertaining for the coming week and change, but that’s all for tonight; and we are totally out of here!

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 29, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The weather was cooler today but still nice with a high nearing the mid-sixties, but we still spent most of our day indoors between school, band practice, and then our evening at the lab play-working with our books or beakers.  We got a lot done; put in a few too-many time-phased hours; and now we’re both hitting the wall and in serious need of sleep and a full re-charge.

That’s why we’re skipping the rest of our unusual commentary tonight – though you can guess that the news continues to be bad with no sign of peace or true diplomacy to be found anywhere.  The distraction story of the day was about a sixty-million-dollar fighter jet sliding off of one of our aircraft carriers, but never fear – we have the military-industrial complex ready and happy to build a replacement for it at whatever the new price will be by the time it gets built!  Let’s all wrap this up by pondering how many ships will need to pass safely through the Red Sea before that replacement jet bill is paid! ;^)

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 28, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 23^rd Birthday, Emma Sheldon!

Congratulations, Stephanie and Jake – it’s a boy!

Samuel Stone was born this morning, so that’s our top story of the day.  Mom has met Samuel already, but we didn’t try to add more to the crowd for his family; and we’ll get around to meeting him soon-enough.  Cassie and Michael are missing out on that fun while on their trip, but they have done a vid-chat to meet their new nephew virtually; and they are very happy for Jake, Stephanie, and their kids.

Our day has been uneventful by comparison.  Tai Chi was by the river; we had a standard school day breakfast with Mom and Dad; and then our academic adventures included prepping for our trip to Washington.  We’re also getting tested and wrapping up some projects related to our civics lessons that are tied into other subjects; so we’re looking forward to being done with those modules and moving on!

It warmed up to near-eighty today, but we had some showers too; so Ehlana and I went to work-play at the lab.  We probably would have done that anyway because we have work that we want to get done before being away next week; and that’s why we took picnic dinners and worked into the evening – along with some time-phased hours.

We’re happy with what we got done tonight, but we’re also tired, and since coming home; we’re pretty much just had a quick visit with Mom and Dad and then we came upstairs to get ready for bed and deal with our usual nightly computer checks.  There has been some different news, so for one example, there was a major power blackout in Spain, Portugal, and France with upwards of half of Spain going dark.  The problem is still being investigated, but it appears to be a grid crash that could take days or longer to get the entire system re-booted.  This is something to pay attention to because our power grids around the country have similar vulnerabilities to what might be a natural phenomenon – maybe a solar storm; and that kind of incident could happen to us too.  Okay, not to us here at home, but only because our grid can be detached from the regional grid so we wouldn’t get caught up in a cascade event like that one.

Moving along, Russia announced a unilateral truce for three days over their Victory Day on May Ninth for the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War Two, but the last one for Easter didn’t go well; so we’re not expecting better this time.  The peace talks really seem to be dead now; since each side has only been hardening their positions instead of looking for true compromises.  That trend holds for the Middle East and the newer spat between India and Pakistan, and while the tariff war continues to cause havoc for trade and financial markets; that could blow up into real conflicts too if any of the countries involved decide that they have nothing to lose if they’re being destroyed economically anyway.

Most of that is bad news and we really wish we could offer better, but sometimes it seems as though we have the market cornered on happiness here in our little town!

We’re ready to get back to feeling happy, so that’s all for this report; and we’re off to nap time now.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 27, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Christopher Palmer!

We wished Christopher the best and had a family gift for him when we saw him at church this morning, but didn’t join in on any of the birthday fun with his family and friends for the rest of the day.  Our day started with indoor Tai Chi due to some showers; we had a hot breakfast; and then church and Sunday school were fun as we moved on to the post-Easter lesson plans that will take us through to summer.  While the rain moved out of the area and it warmed up this afternoon, Ehlana and I decided to go and play-work at the lab or archives for the afternoon instead of playing with our friends.  We got a lot done – including the extra time-phased hours we put into our books or beakers.  We were late getting home, but Mom held dinner for all of us; and we enjoyed the food and then took care of the clean-up before doing a Magi lesson and a bit of work in the office with Mom and Dad before we were sent upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time.

We’re cleaned up and ready for bed now; so all we have left is a world and political news update.  The peace talks seem to be a total fail for Ukraine; that war is heating up again; and the war hawks are out in force and happily trying to blow up the entire world!  We’re really tired of the never-ending talk with no action; and that goes for everything from petty political infighting to all big and small acts of violence.  The new flashpoint that is still hot between India and Pakistan needs to be talked down before someone does something stupid and irrevocable. Little of even the talk surrounding Middle East issues is leading anywhere but to war; and the tariff tiff with China isn’t going well for anyone and risks much worse.

That’s all really grim, so let’s just wrap this up and go get some sleep.  Maybe the world will be a happier place by morning!

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 26, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Congratulations, Roger and Lisa Jennings – you’re married!

Happy 6^th Birthday, Bryn Jennings!

Before we get to our own news of the day, let’s mention that Cassie and Michael are getting teased about not being here for Lisa’s wedding; with the joke being that Michael intentionally booked their current trip so that he wouldn’t have to personally witness a former girlfriend’s ceremony!  That might be funnier if Lisa had gotten married first, but why let facts get in the way of the joke – not to mention that Lisa and Roger each did have other boyfriends or girlfriends at the church and reception.  For the kids in town, they weirder news from the wedding might be Bryn’s birthday, since she went to the wedding and reception for her Jennings’ cousin along with her family; so she couldn’t have a major birthday party too – though she did at least have a few friends to hang out with at the reception – or at least that’s what we’ve heard; since we weren’t there for either the ceremony or reception.  We are happy for Lisa and Roger; and hope that they have a happy, amazing life together!

As for our news of the day, we are boring by comparison.  Tai Chi by the river with extra exercise buddies and the breakfast for eight that followed were great, but then our friends moved on from there to their own work and chores plans; and Ehlana and I got to work on a long list of chores at multiple houses and cottages – including Cassie and Michael’s house, Grandma and Grandpa’s place, and several cottages.  Mom and Dad needed to take a break to attend the wedding ceremony – mostly because Dad works with basically every family and is also at least casual friends with most of his same-generation parents; but also because Lisa and Roger were high school friends of Cassie’s and spent time at our house – if not nearly as often as Rowen and Tim.  Ehlana and I kept working, though, and ended up needing most of the day to get everything done – even with a bit of ‘cheating’ for the indoor chores!  Grandma and Grandpa have lawn mowing services for their place – as do the cottages, but other outdoor work is still up to the owners; and most of our lawn work happened at Cassie and Michael’s house – and ours.  We had a lunch break and some pauses as we moved between houses, but worked fairly-hard; so we’re also tired tonight.  We didn’t get done until after six o’clock, so we had a late dinner with Mom and Dad; and didn’t have any overnight plans with friends – partly because of the wedding and some babysitting that Sophia and Aaron had booked and partly because we needed to share Naomi and Aiden with their families!

Mom and Dad liked hanging out with us for a while, but we aren’t staying up late.  We had a visit in the office while doing a bit of work; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time for the teens in the house.  Now we’re winding down toward nap time; and don’t really want to get into any serious news again tonight.  We should mention that there was a trade-off for all of the work today where we did get to have a lot of fun, but even writing about the biking, barbeque dinner, and fun with our best friends last night doesn’t seem as-important and catching up on our sleep.  As always, it was the love and happiness we got to share with favorite people that mattered the most, while the ‘what’ we did was just an awesome bonus!

Okay, that’s all we’re going to include for this update.  We still have one more day to go for this weekend, and we want to be ready for those next adventures big and small; so we’re out of here and off to dreamland right now.

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