Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 23, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 1^st Anniversary, Darryl and Wendy Watts!

We didn’t have anything to do with that celebration, but Cassie, Michel, Rowen, and Tim sent a gift and did a vid-chat with their college friends.

Since our last update, we can report the good news that ‘our’ co-ed team – the Witch Falls Wild – won their game last night with help from Cassie and Michael when they were drafted to be stand-in players to still have a full complement of players.  The bad news, though, is that the win was only the second of the season for the Wild; so they will not be playing in the Championship game this year.  We were busy with cheering for our team and Cassie and Michael, but multi-tasked the next-gen kids’ babysitting that included playground time; a swim; and some ice cream snacks.  After the game, we went home with Cassie and Michael; they got cleaned up and ready to go out; and we took care of the ongoing babysitting.  Cassie and Michael only went to the pub for about an hour; came home in time to help with getting the kids into their beds and off to sleep; and then we had a short chat break before they went to bed and we – the four teens left cuddling in the family room – got started on our co-ed sofa sleepovers.

While we weren’t up nearly as late as some of our favorite adults, we were up early this morning.  Tai chi by the river was awesome; breakfast and getting ready for church was an adventure; and we managed to get everything done and be at church with time to spare to return the kids to their parents.  Nap time wasn’t an option, but we had fun during the service; our Sunday school time was spent doing prep work for the holiday weekend service; and then we eventually came home with Mom and Dad where we had a quiet lunch for four while our best friends spent some time with their families at home or at the bakery.  We should also mention that while Sophia and Aaron weren’t with us last night; they were babysitting too and took care of some Bassett and Palmer next-gen kids while their parents went out to the pub after the game.

Naomi and Aiden got back together with us after lunch; we went along with a small group of cousins and friends for an afternoon canoe ride to the whirlpool and back – in-part because Dad needed to work in the office; and we could help by getting out of the way.  Let’s not comment on anything our parents might have also done with the bonus kid-free time!  The river paddling, whirlpool swim, and chat time with the kids and teens around us were all great, and then while some of those same kids and teens had plans for a buffet at the Inn dinner; we were on our own for a quieter meal and evening with Mom and Dad.  We helped Mom with the cooking and clean-up; she did a Magi lesson with us and we did some family business work in the office while Dad finished up his work; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time by nine-thirty because Mom wants us to get extra sleep ahead of the first day of football and cheer squad tryouts.  We do need to be ready for them, and that’s pretty much all of our personal news of the day, so let’s do a quick world news report; and then we’ll wrap this up and get some sleep.

The top two wars rolled on through the weekend with no changes for the better and never-ending western rhetoric that continues to be divorced from reality on the ground.  Economic consequences continue, and we took note of stories from Finland about how their economy and debt levels have been affected since the Ukraine war started and they chose to join NATO and destroy their relationships with Russia that has cost them a major chunk of their tourist trade and export market.  More migrant headaches are hitting Spain and southern Europe; that will continue to worsen as people become more desperate to gain access to basic food and other necessities like a safe place to live.

The insanity around whether ships are or aren’t getting through the Middle East straits continues; it is clear that some people are lying; and we’ll eventually know the truth because if a lot of ships are getting out of the area with loads of oil and other petroleum products; they’ll show up in ports around the world and supplies will stabilize.  If that doesn’t happen, then our leaders will be shown to be lying idiots.  You can guess which option Ethan and I will pick!  We should also add that Canada walked away from a new trade agreement that President Trump claimed just days ago was a done deal; both sides are blaming the other; and a tariff war is now beginning.  That will end badly for the people in both countries if not resolved; and our leaders better hope that Canada doesn’t decide to sell most of its oil to China or Japan as one of their very-real options for retaliation against our country that would really hurt.  The last thing we need is to start an economic war with one of our biggest and closest trading partners and allies; since many of our ‘friends’ must be wondering whether there is even any difference anymore between being an ally or enemy of the United States!

On that note, we’re going to stop; wrap this up; and head off to our beds.  Stay tuned, since our lives are going to get very busy and interesting as we get an early start to our school year – at least from a football and cheer squad perspective!  We don’t actually have any doubts about making the team or squad, but we will see whether our football team will look better or worse heading into our first game of the season; and we also wish the best for our friends who are hoping to make the football team for the first time this year.  We’ll keep you posted on all of that news and everything else we have going on in our lives, but for now; we’re out of here and off to get rested up and ready for all of that fun!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 22, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 13^th 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!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 21, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Tim Landry!

Cassie and Michael will be helping Tim out with his birthday celebration tonight, and he was at the Inn for the breakfast buffet before our back-to-school shopping trip to Crystal Springs, but that was the extend of our help with celebrating his special day – and that was really just a cameo moment while we were all at the Inn.  The top news for us – and for Naomi, Sophia, and Aaron – is that we each took a turn driving one way to or from Crystal Springs!  Yes, we have not really mentioned our limited driving time so far, and there has been some here and there, but this was something of a milestone for us; and we each had fun with our respective adventures in driving.  Ethan and Naomi took their turns driving our minivan; and I drove Cassie and Michael’s car one way while Sophia took a turn for the return trip with them.  Aiden didn’t really mind not being able to do that with us too, but he will be able to help out when we get to the kids’ Christmas shopping trip in December!

As for the rest of our adventures, dinner with Mom and our best friends last night was great; she did a long group Magi lesson with us; and then we had some live music play time; watched a movie; and even managed to get started on our co-ed sofa sleepovers early-enough to be back at full power this morning for the shopping and driving adventures.  As mentioned yesterday, we really had a hard time limit for the shopping, so we got serious about that right from the moment we got to our favorite mall.  We blasted through all of the usual stores to get clothes, shoes, and some basic supplies; had lunch by one o’clock; and then we went on to Wal-Mart for more supplies and some gifts for fall birthdays and other celebrations.  We needed to pick up fast food to go by four-thirty; the drive home was uneventful; and now Ethan and I are home to drop off our purchases; get ready for my ball game; and he’s packing an overnight bag because he’s going to be with Naomi for the night while I’m going to bring Aiden home with me after that game.  We have had an amazing day so far, and the weather is holding warm and sunny for the game; so we’re expecting to keep the fun going.  Those stories will have to wait for tomorrow night, though, and we’re going to skip most of the world news report too – mostly because we didn’t try very hard to keep up with the latest news in any depth today.

Maybe we’ll all be shocked when we do that sometime tomorrow, but we’re already very happy, so if we wait until tomorrow and actually get that kind of good-news shock; we’ll just enjoy the bonus.  Okay, that isn’t very likely, but those wars do have to end eventually; and today or tomorrow would be better for everyone than dragging out the horrors for months or years longer!

Instead of messing up a perfectly happy day with any of the bad news we did hear about today; let’s just save it all for tomorrow – or for whenever you flip to the next digital page in our archives in our near or distant future; and we’ll have those stories for you too with that next update!  For right now, one of us is off to play some baseball; and Ethan will likely end up on kid-control with a small gang of next-gen kids while I’m busy with my friends and teammates.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 20, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 22^nd Birthday, Geraldine Sheldon!

Happy 1^st Birthday, Abigail Rice!

We got in on a very short vid-chat with Abigail and her parents this morning at breakfast, but she was in high demand; so we had to share her with the rest of her family and friends from a distance; and left it up to her parents to make sure her day was special.  We did not see Geraldine, but while we’re thinking about her; let’s mention that her wedding to Scott Faulkner is coming up in September once the summer season is finished for the store and pub; so they are also busy getting ready for that big day along with everything else they have on the go while starting their new life together!  Since we don’t keep up with every collegian story, let’s also take this opportunity to mention that Scott graduated with his Master’s degree in electrical engineering and is starting his own business geared toward custom solutions for farms and rural communities to improve and modernize electrical systems.  Geraldine earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Lit and Journalism, and while she helps out at the pub and at Abby’s store now and then too; she wants to be an author and is focused on that.  She’s going to continue her education too, but decided to take extra time and do her Master’s degree program from home instead of spending a year away from Scott at Florida State.

As for our news of the day-so-far, it has mostly been a repeat from the first few days of the week.  We did our workouts with football or cheer squad hopefuls; Ethan and I spent the rest of the day until now playing with our books or beakers at the lab or archives; and now we’re getting ready to host our four best friends for the rest of the day from dinner through a co-ed sleepover.  They are staying with us ahead of our back-to-school shopping trip, and while we’re excited about that – or at least the girls are; that is also going to be a faster trip than normal because Naomi, Sophia, and I have a ball game tomorrow night that we need to be there for to hopefully help with the win to ensure our spot in the championship game on the holiday weekend.  Ethan and I need to go and help Mom with the cooking for that dinner; so let’s wrap this up with the world news report.

The wars news includes more attacks on both sides for Russia and Ukraine with far-more devastation happening to Ukraine now that they basically have no air defenses left.  In the Middle East, Israel added new attacks on Syrian targets because they aren’t happy-enough with the genocide in Gaza, the horrors they’re inflicting on the West Bank, or the attempts to burn southern Lebanon to the ground.  They aren’t done with Iran either – they’re just leaving that fight to the Americans for now!  That, by the way, would likely change if President Trump doesn’t ‘finish the job’ for Israel; and they really don’t care how many people they kill to achieve their ultimate goal of a Greater Israel.

Related to both wars, the growing food crises around the world are gaining more attention, and while we wrote about lost crops in Europe being blamed solely on the heat wave; the Russian port blockades on Ukraine are risking the loss of their most-exported crops; stories are making the rounds that Turkey is retaliating on behalf of Ukraine and blockading Russian ships from leaving the Black Sea with oil or grain; and if that continues; there will be many parts of the world running out of food by later this fall and definitely into the winter.  That is another disaster waiting to happen!

There are some new stress signs for the economy and the financial markets in general, but our top story there is about our national debt passing the forty-trillion dollar milestone.  That number is so insane than most people don’t even try to think about what that should mean for our country, and while our politicians play games with the numbers; it is all a house of cards that inevitably will fall.  That reality can take longer than anyone can imagine, though, so there is no point in making predictions.  We also really do not want to experience any of the scenarios that go along with those crashes; since major wars are often the result when a massive amount of perceived wealth evaporates.

Finally, for today, let’s talk about the A.I. compute boom.  After the big announcement for the NVDIA half-trillion dollar financing deal for building more of the massive data centers, stories are popping up about how much of a bust this bubble could become.  In a nutshell, the actual A.I. companies like Anthropic lose tens of billions of dollars every year; they get all of the funding from companies like NVDIA that they turn around and spend on infrastructure that they buy from those same companies; and their products may never produce enough value to ever earn the revenues needed to keep that circle of life afloat.  Add in the fact that around half of the major corporate cloud storage services are purchased by those same A.I. companies and that those cloud companies also invest heavily to keep those revenues and profits coming in; and we can definitely foresee another tech crash in our collective future.  We could spend some quality time writing about what A.I. actually can and can’t do too, but as with any computer program; the data that comes out of those programs can only be as-good as what the humans creating it could imagine and actually make work!  We wouldn’t dream of trying to scare any future readers, but for all of the A.I. enthusiasts, before you get too invested in the concept of computers that think like humans; imagine that future computer thinking exactly like President Trump or other ‘favorite’ political or powerful world leaders and then envision what that kind of computer would do if handed the ability to control everything!

On that scary note; that’s all we have for today.  Stay tuned, since our fun level is going to go up from here and through the weekend – starting with a fun evening with Mom and our best friends!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 19, 2026

 

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!