Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 24th Birthday, Jillian!
Happy 10th Birthday, David Burroughs!
This has felt like a quiet day for us. It also felt like winter this morning as the temperature dropped to freezing overnight – something that felt tougher after the warmth we got to enjoy last week! Tai Chi was still by the river – if frosty; and then we had a hot breakfast that Ehlana and I cooked for our parents. We all helped with the clean-up while also taking turns getting ready for church; and then we had a good morning during the service and Sunday school. While we didn’t do more than offer best wishes for David and Jillian while at church; some of our cousins were involved in David’s birthday party; and most of us were at the Inn for the late buffet and Jillian’s birthday dinner. Ehlana and I had help from Naomi and Aiden as we handled kid control with the next-gen kids, so we were kept busy, but we also had fun; and enjoyed the food as much as everyone else. As always, that was the culinary highlight of our day. As for the overall best part of our day, while Ehlana is teasing me already about not reporting that my goodnight kiss with Naomi as that highlight; our afternoon adventures at the lab or archives were that for each of us. Ehlana had a big advancement and success in her research; and I finished a research project that compiled Magi knowledge from dozens of Magi through our history that lead toward something new. I’m not ready to reveal what that is yet or where I know it will lead us, but I am excited about those possibilities.
We needed to use some time phasing to get our work done this afternoon; and that’s why we didn’t do any work or even a Magi lesson after we came home from the Inn. We collected Silkie along the way while walking Naomi and Aiden to their homes – and yes, my goodnight kiss with Naomi was rather spectacular! We also got to have more time; since Ehlana walked Aiden over to his house while I stayed with Naomi – allowing us the extra time for that kiss.
While we didn’t do any work or lessons after dinner, bath or Jacuzzi time started early and now we’re planning on a comparatively-early bedtime once we have the computer checks and this update finished. We’re trying to speed that up too, so Ehlana has been blasting through the news checks even as I’ve been writing this update. The news cycles roll on, and two of the latest stories are about a ‘breakthrough’ on the federal government shut-down and a proposed two-thousand dollar ‘tariff dividend’ for what is being reported as ‘most’ eligible Americans. We welcome a solution to the shutdown – if only for the ‘real’ people that have been suffering without their regular incomes. The dividend proposal would surely be popular, but to us; it just sounds like a vote bribe ahead of the mid-term elections next year. We have an alternate suggestion for our leaders – don’t spend that money at all and avoid borrowing tens of billions of dollars more – unless that dividend waits until the federal books are balanced and the thirty-eight trillion dollars of national debt are repaid!
Yeah, that isn’t going to happen; so let’s move on. The Ukraine war isn’t getting accurate media attention in our country – unless the person looking for truth hunts for it; and the truth gets uglier every day. We see reports of major power outages across the country; and that is a serious problem as we all head into winter – not to mention that it is really tough to keep fresh or frozen foods in stores or homes without refrigeration. We can’t predict how long the Ukrainian army can continue to hold the front lines, but anecdotal stories are awful; and that is sure to get worse for the soldiers in winter conditions with no power and food security issues. On the Israeli forces front; they are threatening new attacks into Lebanon to go along with the horrors they inflict on the Palestinians. There hasn’t been anything beyond the rhetoric regarding Venezuela, but tensions remain high; and we can only hope that our leaders won’t make the wrong choice and start yet another war. Before we move on from that story, we want to point out to the idiot politician in Washington who suggested it might be a good idea to make Venezuela the fifty-first State that adding those tens of millions of new voters to the rolls after destroying their country might be a candidate for worst-ever ideas!
There are many other stories out there that we could include in this update, but instead of going with global politics or economics; let’s comment on a couple of smaller stories. One local tragedy in Louisville, Kentucky involved a cargo jet that crashed shortly after take-off, and our thoughts are with the pilots and civilians that were killed in the crash, but there is also a larger story because some of the freight carriers have grounded the MD-11 jets for safety inspections because the early reports are that one of the engines didn’t just catch fire at take-off – it fell off entirely and led to the crash. We really hope that this doesn’t turn out to be yet another major problem for the airline industry; since there are still ongoing consequences to the last major problem with Boeing – and that’s been years since the 737-Max accidents. For the second story, let’s go with a bit of silliness. There has been an ongoing story about a comet that has been visiting our solar system, and while the actual science is interesting, it is silly to think that we know everything and that there is no room for learning new things about comets that do not include theories like aliens or that the government is lying and it is coming straight at earth! We can also assure you that it isn’t a Magi-powered spacecraft returning from a mission that departed earth millennia ago to check up on us after seeding the universe with Magi colonies! ;^)
Maybe that last one is proof that we need the extra sleep; so that’s all for this report and we are heading off to dreamland soon.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
