Quality Sofa Time With Roxie

Roodle is one of Roxie’s many names. The dog has more aliases than a secret agent.

roxie-in-the-afghan-on-the-sofa.jpgIt’s me and Roxie on the sofa right now. She’s asleep curled up in an afghan.

In the morning when Stef calls she’ll ask, “How’s Roodle?”

Roodle is one of Roxie’s many names. The dog has more aliases than a secret agent.

“She’s little,” I’ll say. Then, after a long pause, “And tiny.” It’s like our secret handshake.

Roxie has changed. Helaine and I talked about it tonight.

yawning-roxie-on-the-afghan.jpgShe’s bigger. Roxie is now around 12 pounds and the vet says she’s a teenager and mostly full grown.

She has never had people food–never. She has no idea what’s going on when we sit down at the table and doesn’t care.

Roxie’s coat is dark, shiny and soft. That makes her tougher to photograph when lighting isn’t optimal. She is slender without being Kate Moss. We think she’s quite attractive.

As a puppy she showed constant energy. She was a pinball bouncing around the house. Now she’s a little more reserved.

smiling-roodle.jpgShe has a few interesting traits. She really enjoys chasing her toys&#185. She’ll grab one and bring it back to me so I can throw it again… but she will not let it go. You can see she’s conflicted. There’s nothing she can do. She wants me to have it to throw, but this instinct is so strong.

Same thing happens when we put her leash on. She mouths our hands. She isn’t trying to hurt us–which she could easily do. Again, it’s an instinct beyond her control.

Roxie is very sweet. Unlike Helaine and Stef she doesn’t mind having her photo taken or posted online. She has taught me a lot about animal photography. For this reason alone I’ll miss her.

&#185 – All of Roxie’s toys have been named: Michael Lohan and Richard Gere are two.

Roxie And Me On A Quiet Saturday

Roxie is still a puppy. She needs to run around even though she shouldn’t

roxie-in-her-collar.jpg

Stef is at the mall. Helaine is at the market. It is raining&#185. It’s just Roxie and me at home.

Since her surgery we’ve had to keep a close eye on Roxie. No jumping. No running. No biting around her sutures. Mostly that responsibility has fallen on Helaine and Stef. Today it’s my turn.

Roxie is still a puppy. She needs to run around even though she shouldn’t. Thankfully she stayed calm and rested first in the crook of my arm then in my lap as I worked on the computer.

richard-gere.jpgNow we’ve moved to the foyer where she’s playing with a few toys. She has one with strands of rope poking out of a golf ball sized sphere. Helaine and Stef think it looks like a famous actor and have taken to calling it Richard Gere. Sorry Richard. This isn’t your most flattering portrayal.

Roxie’s post-op ‘lampshade collar’ has been taken off. i feel awful when she needs it.

Last night at work Tracey (Tallulah’s mom) lent me an inflatable collar which serves the same purpose but in a much less invasive way. It’s at the ready should Roxie go after the stitches.

We’re planning on taking Roxie to the Juvenile Diabetes walk tomorrow. I think she’ll enjoy it. I know we’ll enjoy having her there.

&#185 – Since I said it would rain today, in fact made a big deal of it the past few days, I’m ecstatic it’s raining. Accuracy has become more important than personal comfort.

The Hoax

We went to the movie theater yesterday to see The Hoax; the new Richard Gere movie based on Clifford Irving’s retelling of his amazing Howard Hughes hoax. Judging by the numbers at BoxOfficeMojo, not many others went. The Hoax was #16 for the second week.

The Hoax is playing locally at Cine4 in North Haven. An independently owned and operated theater, we enjoy going there, in spite of its somewhat worn interior.

The parking lot is painted with faded lines denoting the spaces. I mention this because cars were parked in a somewhat free spirited fashion. I actually saw a few cars which were blocked, front and rear, by other cars!

The Hoax tells the story of Clifford Irving, an author down on his luck. He’s already spent the money from a ‘sure thing’ novel which suddenly gets axed. Desperate, he hatches a plot to write Howard Hughes autobiography.

Of course, Hughes was a recluse – speaking to no one. And, he was in the midst of troubling civil litigation, giving him extra incentive to stay out-of-sight. Who could possibly deny Irving’s book was bonafide? Certainly not Hughes!

I remembered a good part of this story. Those were turbulent times and the whole Irving/Hughes affair became a big deal in the press.

Toward the end, Irving (who also wrote the book on which this movie is based) implies he was actually set up by Hughes… a victim of opportunity.

Irving also implies Watergate might have been brought on by Richard Nixon’s paranoia over what Howard Hughes might have had on him – details which were released to Clifford Irving.

It was a little tough to buy those two factors. I suppose they could be true. My thought is, they were added by Irving to make him seem a little more sympathetic.

Richard Gere and Alfred Molina were effortlessly wonderful as Irving and Dick Suskind, his friend/researcher/collaborator. It is nice to see fine actors, like Molina, who aren’t pretty, get meaty roles.

The movie featured a strong supporting cast, including Eli Wallach, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harding. If Helaine hadn’t told me which part was played by Stanley Tucci, I would have missed him.

My guess is, you’re probably too late to see this in the theater. It’s definitely a worthwhile rental… an opportunity that seems to come closer and closer to the theatrical release.