Ehlana and Ethan:
The rest of our Tuesday was great from the Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner and ball practices at the park through the evening with Cassie and Michael with our four best friends that included ‘live’ music, a movie, and lots of chat time to our co-ed sleepovers that we got around to sometime after Cassie and Michael headed for their bed. Tai Chi by the river and breakfast were great too; and then we – the teens – were either off to the park for football or cheer squad workouts with our friends and past or future team mates. We had fun with that too, and then Ethan and I went to play-work at the lab or archives; we kept our personal fun going there for most of the afternoon; and then we went home in time to help Mom with making dinner and then enjoying that meal and visit with her where we learned very little about her trip to Crystal Springs that we’ll pretend was completely boring compared to our night at Cassie and Michael’s house! We met up with our best friends again at the church for the teen praise team practice to get ready for the holiday weekend church service; kept busy and had fun with that music play time for nearly two hours; and then we came home alone again with just a side trip to take Silkie for a walk and see Naomi and Aiden to their homes. We took a night off from sleepovers because we need to re-charge a bit to get ready for a busy rest of the week; so we also didn’t do more than a bit of work and a Magi lesson with Mom in the office; followed that up with bath or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.
As for the rest of the world, they can only wish to be as blessed as we are here! Along with the daily war stories, the heat wave in Europe is now being blamed for plunging crop yields across the region, and there is certainly some truth to that, but there is also no way that the leaders and media there will ever admit that policies have contributed to the problems that also include soaring energy costs; lack of fertilizers due to sanctions on Russia and the war in the Middle East; and the political battle that has been waged against farmers for decades now! Add in depleted ground water systems now; and winter could be looking grim for more parts of Europe than Ukraine. Incoming waves of new migrants will only exacerbate the growing list of challenges to daily life across the region.
On the war fronts, tensions are rising in the Middle East and Ukraine while ‘western’ politicians appear happy to watch it all burn to the ground. The United Arab Emirates have declared a halt to economic ties with Iran over missile strikes against maritime targets – probably meaning ships, but details are minimal, so if there actually was an attack from Iran; we have to wonder how important those targets were; since those leaders won’t even confirm whether those attacks happened in their territory or in international waters in the Persian Gulf. Let’s also not count out the possibilities of fake news or false flag attacks; since those options are there too – and our country and our allies are historically-famous for doing those kinds of things!
In Ukraine – or more specifically for this story, in the United Kingdom, they have been sent an official warning from Russia about helping Ukraine’s attacks on Russia with British-made and controlled drones stating that continued use of those drones will have direct consequences for the United Kingdom. No specifics were included, but Russia does have many options for direct or asymmetric retaliation; and we expect western leaders will ignore the warnings just as they always do until it is too-late to change course. It is crystal clear that Russia is fed up with what we all know is direct warfare against them when it comes to which countries actually control the drone and missile attacks from Ukraine; and we should all hope that Russia doesn’t completely take the gloves off and go after those countries directly.
We could say the same for that about Iran, and while ‘our’ side is playing political games with economics and blockades, those are still acts of war; and Iran could decide to resume the hot war and go back to bombing targets across the Middle East. Western leaders are counting on them not doing that because contrary to their never-ending rhetoric; Iran has not attacked first in the past, but responded to aggressions against them. If that changes; then we won’t even try to guess at what might happen next on the escalation ladder.
We’re going to stop there for the bad news; get happier again; and head off to dreamland. That will be a much-happier place to go – especially since we can’t change the big picture for what is coming in the coming months that will continue to be terrible for the people most-affected around the world. As always, we’ll keep up with all of that news along with covering our own amazing teen adventures here at home, so stay tuned; and we’ll get charged up overnight and ready for more fun by morning.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
