Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 13th Birthday, Ricky Taylor!
If Brianna was writing this update; she’d report that the top news of the day is that Zack and Eli are busy with Ricky’s birthday adventures and away from the rest of us for most of the day and overnight! We didn’t have anything to do with his special day; and have enjoyed the comparative-quiet around the rest of the town while those boys have been busy at Quarry Lake and the Taylor home!
As for our adventures, Naomi, Sophia, and I helped our team to win the game last night; made it into the championship game; and offered our condolences to our friends on the Sapphire Ice team because their loss also left them out of that holiday weekend match and we’ll be up against the Valleyview Vortex team. Ethan and I went on to have fun with our respective co-ed sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden; I’ll concede that Ethan and Naomi had a bit more fun; and let’s move on without details!
We all got together with Cassie and Michael for Tai Chi by the river in their back yard; split up for our own breakfast breaks; and then our day-so-far has included lots of chores and prep work for the holiday weekend mixed in with breaks to cheer for some of our favorite ball players. Our main break for that was around lunchtime and we multi-tasked the game watching with a picnic lunch. Brianna and Faith led their Rebels team to an easy win over the Pizzeria Patriots, but unlike our game last night; the Patriots will still be in the championship game too because it didn’t matter which team won today. Brianna wouldn’t agree, since she really wanted the undefeated season; and her enthusiasm and competitiveness will definitely still be a problem for the Patriots in that holiday weekend game! Leah, Hailey, and their Med Center Mist team kept the winning streak going for ‘our’ family teams; so it has been a pretty good weekend for our sports teams so far. There is one more ‘family’ game to go tonight, but we’re doing our update now because we’ll be busy for the rest of the day – including helping with next-gen kids at the park and at Cassie and Michael’s house with babysitting and a sleepover while some favorite parents go out to the pub after that game.
While we didn’t watch all of that noon game, we did get back to our chores through to now; and that work included finishing mowing lawns; gardening, and the rest of the usual outdoor clean-up work at multiple homes and cottages. The weather was perfect for that with lots of sun and not too-hot while still being summery; and we only took two quick swim breaks to cool off in the river along with all of the work. Now we’re done getting cleaned up; dinner is going to be on the fly because we need to be at the park soon and will drop off our overnight bags at Cassie and Michael’s house first; and then we’ll be on next-gen kid control and babysitting duties for the rest of the night. That’s all we have for now, but let’s cover a bit of world news and then we’ll save the rest of that for a full-weekend update tomorrow night.
There has been a lot of media attention on economics and markets over the past two days, and we’ve paid attention, but also expect that most of the stories are more theater to distract the masses. Sure, the big moves in market prices make for great stories, but every stock or commodity trade has a winner and a loser; and most of that action is a zero-sum game that is played by the rich and powerful. While that distraction is out there, less attention got paid in western media or with the leaders for more-important issues. Israel’s bombing of a Turkey-funded airbase in Syria could lead to conflict between Turkey and Israel; there have been more Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank as the genocides continue; and Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are continuing their fighting and attacks that include strikes on ships in the strait; on ports in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen; and for the Houthis, against Saudi oil facilities where they know that really hurts their enemy in the royal pocketbooks!
Elsewhere but related, President Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ against Iran is hitting roadblocks as China and Russia lead the way for countries refusing to join in on the economic destruction of Iran. Now we wait to see whether our leaders will make their threats a reality and actually escalate and impose new sanctions on every country that doesn’t do as ordered. We really don’t need to mention how stupid that choice would be; and we don’t doubt that our current leaders have the capacity to again prove that they are that insane! If our leaders keep going down this path of destruction, maybe the voters in Witch Falls and the Ridge River district should add a referendum to the November ballots and vote to become an independent country! That sounds ridiculous, but we did learn about the town in California that did that back during the gold rush while on that vacation for the second week of Cassie and Michael’s honeymoon; so we wouldn’t be the first town to try it!
If we actually went down that road, though, Ethan and I are also sure that we wouldn’t vote to rejoin the United States again just because we wouldn’t have the Fourth of July holiday anymore! ;^)
Moving along and wrapping this up; the Ukraine war continues to be a disaster for the Ukrainian people. Western media has been offering distraction stories about corruption scandals while ignoring the frontlines carnage for the Ukrainian soldiers; the devastating daily and nightly missile and drone attacks that are progressively destroying Ukraine’s ports, infrastructure, and economy; and the escalation in attacks on Russia are comparatively-minor for damage and are only risking retaliation from Russia beyond Ukraine. Yes, we are sure that is the intent of those attacks for at least some of those western leaders in on those decisions, but the same people of the world understand that poking a nuclear-power bear is eventually going to end badly for everyone. Unfortunately for everyone, those same western leaders will keep the delusion going right up to the moment they find out that it actually is possible to decisively lose a war!
We really need to go now; so that’s all for today!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
