Why I will never say “Happy Thanksgiving!”

(via gocomics.com)

The good news is that I recently learned that the historical bit about the U.S. Army deliberately giving the tribes on the trail of tears contaminated blankets is a myth.

The bad news is that our Thanksgiving is also a myth, which I believe most people know but celebrate anyway. Let’s face it, if the new arrivals and the long-established Indian People of the Americas had really made nice to each other in early days, everything here would be a hell of a lot different.

The cartoon at the top of this page is the only way I can let myself acknowledge what this day is. Humor may not be the meaning of life, but it sure as hell helps us through it.

(via good ole GoComics.Com)

LYMI, LB

Life in a World of Overwhelming Stress

(via boomermagazine.com https://www.boomermagazine.com/danger-will-robinson-a-memoir/)

Uh-oh…my home computer, an Asus gaming laptop, just messaged me that I need to reboot because of changes made to its system by Microsoft. The same message also alerted me to the fact that Asus’ proprietary sysmanager, AKA “My Asus” is up to date and doesn’t need to change.

At the same time those messages arrived I received an email from Facebook saying they were changing their terms and conditions of use, which to me means, “Danger! Danger!”

For reasons beyond my current capacity to understand, rebooting at this junction seems terrifying to me now. What to do, what to do…?

Oh, wait, wait, it’s not over yet. I just asked Co-Pilot to create an image I could use to close this short post. Here’s its reply:

Stressfully yours,
LB

LB: Live! From Paradise – “Speaking of the Not-So-Good”

(The Intro above is from this column's previous web incarnation)

by Larry Brody

Last week’s column differed a bit from the original one written in 2010, in that I deliberately omitted the last couple of paragraphs.

I did that because in the course of transferring it over to WordPress I discovered that I just plain couldn’t face the words there, which were about the fact that because of my heart surgery and the need for special care, Gwen and I were reluctantly planning to leave Paradise and relocate closer to family in Washington State.

We were, of course, taking the dogs with us, but there would be no room for Huck the Spotless Appaloosa, so the end of the column was an inquiry for someone to come on over and take him home to continue the care and love we’d given him since he was a colt.

In my mind, I relived the events of that time and was overwhelmed by the feelings I’d had, and since those feelings were deep, deep sorrow I didn’t want to inflict on my writers as well as myself I just XXXXed them out of the column. Yep, I exercised my right as the writer of my life to make that whole part not happen.

Except, of course, it did.

My heart is fine these days, but I still have trouble with the emotions (Men!, right?), so although there are nine or ten columns to go to complete the original run I’m going to stop now, while my brain is more balanced than it would be if I continued. The day may come when I can face the good-byes we had to make, and if it does, I may be able to post the finale.

Or not. Who the hell knows?

Bottom Line: Today is the last post of Live! From Paradise! for at least awhile. I apologize to those I’ve let down and thank all of you who have followed Gwen the Beautiful and me and our menagerie through the Ozarkian (yes, I made that word up) period of our lives. It’s been a joy and a privilege to bring the daily wonders of our time at Cloud Creek Ranch to you.

And, as a TV producer I once worked with once said, I look forward to dancing if not this dance then another equally wonderful one with all of you again.

And now, on with the rest of the show! In other words, yes, Larry Brody’s Blog is continuing because I…

LOVEYOUMEANIT

LB