Ehlana and Ethan:
Welcome to the family, Sophie Rice!
Congratulations, Sadie and Chris – it’s a girl!
Sophie was born yesterday, but we didn’t get that news until after our last update – and after the game last night in Varney. Mom and baby are both healthy and doing well; and we’ll also mention that Violet, Dillon, and their kids are now in Woodvale and headed there last night after work to meet Sophie – and Dawn’s boyfriend, David!
That was the family news highlight from yesterday – especially since we don’t want to write about Mom and Dad’s kid-free anniversary night! Okay, we’ll mention that they had a dinner party at the Inn and went to the pub for a few hours too, but those stories are available elsewhere in the archives; so we won’t share them second or third-hand here. We will report that our team won again last night by a score of fifty-four to twenty-three, and while our defense had some issues again; our offense coasted to the end of the game with four field goals after building a forty-two to thirteen lead. Ethan, Aiden, and Aaron shared the spotlight with two touchdowns each; Ethan gained the most offensive yards; and Aaron had a really good night for rushing yards and runs for first downs to go along with the points on the scoreboard. Sophia, Naomi, and I got back to Sophia’s house well-ahead of the boys; had Pizzeria pizza waiting for them once they did catch up with us; and then we don’t have a lot to report after that late-night snack break because four out of six of us fell asleep soon after we started a movie and co-ed cuddle time in Sophia’s game-play-family room. I won’t name names, but for the record; I was still awake at the end of that movie and turned the television off!
That brings us to the news for today – and there isn’t much of it for Ethan and me. We went outside for a chilly workout by the river after it cooled down to a bit below fifty by then; we had a hot breakfast with Sophia’s Mom; and then we split up for a fall chores or part-time jobs work day. Ethan and I worked at our house, two cottages, and Aiden’s house when he joined us for the afternoon work time. We had a decent day for the outdoor work with the high reaching the seventies and mostly-clear skies and sun; we got a lot done; and were tired by the time we wrapped up and joined Mom and Dad for a late dinner at home without any extra guests. Mom cooked that meal, so we handled the clean-up after enjoying the meal and chat time; and then we didn’t do much of anything before opting for an early bath or Jacuzzi break because we were tired by then. We didn’t make any play or sleepover plans with our friends tonight, so an early bedtime is an option; and we’re going to catch up on our sleep as soon as we wrap this up with the world news report.
Protests in Europe are not getting much media attention here, but could be a much-bigger story soon if the violence continues to grow and arrests of high school and college students are hitting the thousands already. The stories we’ve read about so far are mostly in France and Germany, but the anger is real and justified and spreading; so we have no idea how big this could get – or how harshly governments will try to deal with those protesters. Another new phase for the Ukraine war has added bridges as targets in Ukraine, and it is another case of retaliation; since the Ukraine military has been attacking bridges in Russia; and now there isn’t much left that isn’t a target on either side – though we will point out that Russia is not intentionally attacking children on beaches or in schools and daycares like the Ukrainian drone operators have been doing against Russian civilians. We do know that none of these infrastructure targets are legitimate during a war, but nobody seems to care about that anymore – just as they don’t do anything about genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Middle East.
Western media is not reporting on any of the bad stories out of Ukraine – or the Middle East. We do have other sources and the ability to read in multiple languages; so we know that Saudi Arabia continues to get hit with attacks on their energy infrastructure, and while stories are popping up about plans for a ‘massive’ Saudi attack on Yemen; we predict that will just make the situation in the Middle East worse; since that will just escalate and invite further attacks from the Houthis and the Iraqi militias while not likely doing much to stop the Houthi advances in Yemen.
There continue to be more stories about the attempted hijacking by the co-pilot of the FlyDubai jet, and we are not surprised to see Israeli politicians attempt to use the story for election propaganda. The problem we have is that the stories are getting more insane-sounding with each retelling. Are we really supposed to believe that an Israeli plumber saved the day by stopping the knife-wielding co-pilot and then pulling the plane out of a death spiral plunge toward the ground? For the future science nerds reading this in our future; let’s add in that this supposed rescue happened while that plumber would have needed to overcome a negative g-force during the plunge that likely hit negative-six and then deal with somewhere around four times earth’s gravity to pull the jet out of that dive while the jet’s rudder was also severely-damaged. Ethan and I have been told a story or two about jet incidents with our family that would be unbelievable to most people but still true, but this one pushes even our limits for what is possible or not!
We do really want to get the extra sleep tonight, so we’ll stop there; and add more if needed with our weekend wrap-up tomorrow night. Stay tuned for that while we get some sleep so we’ll be ready for our adventures on Sunday.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
