My Heart is Broken

 

RIP Buddy Boy

2007- 2025

Alfred Hitchcock all around me

I went to the River Oaks Theater with J&M, my daughter and her partner, last night.  We went to see The Lady Vanishes, a black-and-white movie released in 1938 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The cast was incredible, and the story was simple but cute. 

It was the last movie Hitchcock made in England before moving to the US.  His first US movie, and a big one, was Rebecca, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.

The Lady Vanishes was adapted from the book "The Wheel Spins," written by Ethel Lina White, a very popular English author at the time.  As an Agatha Christie fan, I think I'll check to see if the library has any of White's novels. 

Coincidentally, the River Oaks Theater opened in 1939 so this movie could have been one of its early showings.  

Just a week ago, I watched the Netflix program "Hitchcock" with Anthony Hopkins playing Alfred Hitchcock. I thought he was terrific, and the entire cast did a great job. 

The theater will show Vertigo next month, followed by Psycho in August.  J&M have monthly passes, so we have already purchased tickets for those two movies. 

Then last night I was movie surfing and saw that Netflix has quite a few of Hitchcock's movies available.  I might watch a few more. The Birds is still my favorite Hitchcock movie, but I didn't stop to see if it was being offered.  

More later ... 

I'm Settling in My New Apartment

I've made the move to the new apartment with only a few more things to pick up from my daughter's house - mostly plants.  That will require the heat to settle down first, so we're probably looking at December. LOL. 

Researching online, it looks like this complex was built around 1975.  It's quite a few years old, but it appears to be well-maintained.  We have numerous apartment complexes in and around Houston, and converting them into 55+ communities seems to be gaining popularity. I'm assuming this was an apartment conversion.  I don't think they had 55+ back in '75, but I may have been too young to notice at the time.  

This is a pretty big complex compared to the others I have lived in which is actually great because it gives Buddy and I lots of sidewalks to stretch our legs.  Each square section has its own little courtyard area.  They have been redoing the courtyards in cute ways, but while I wait for them to get to my section, I have lots of room for my plants where I can see them from my window.  We also have a fair number of squirrels and birds, so I did bring bird food with me. However, as I mentioned, it's too hot to spend much time outside arranging feeding platforms for the different bird species' requirements.  

I've met about half of my neighbors.  Two in particular are very nice and often sit outside in the evenings, which encourages me to sit out also.  I'll call them the Prom Queen and King as they both seem to be genuinely kind and friendly.  The Prom King has a medium-sized dog, which I have been around several times.  Last night, however, Prom Queen and I were sitting outside, and Prom King and his dog came along.  I reached out to pet the dog as I always do.  I have no sense of safety when it comes to dogs, so I hold myself totally responsible for the dog snapping at me.  He did break the skin, and I put Neosporin on it.  

Shortly afterwards, I took Buddy for a walk and stepped on a large screw, which, because I wear thick-soled shoes, only stuck in the plastic and did not go through.  That got me thinking that I couldn't remember the last tetanus shot I had gotten, so I found an Urgent Care that was still open and ran to get a tetanus shot.  Luckily, all apartments require up-to-date shots here, so I wasn't worried about anything more than "what can go wrong" type of thinking.  Anyway, picked up the antibiotics the doctor called in, and most likely all will be well.  

I felt like that was two warnings from the universe about being careful, so I'm going to start paying more attention to what I'm doing—or not doing—in the sense of my diabetic care.  So caution is my current middle name - no more cruising through yellow lights either.  

Other than that, I think I'm really going to like it.  I was late signing up for water aerobics, and the class was full for this week, so now I know to sign up early next week.  They offer a nice selection of activities, including a weekly bus that visits HEB, Walmart, a nearby Presbyterian church, and a special monthly outing.  Since I am still driving, although without air conditioning, bless my heart, I probably won't be using these bus trips. I am also going to sign up for some of the stretch and sit-type exercise classes. 

Buddy is happy.  He moves from bed to bed as he used to do and has gotten the hang of walking in the evenings and sitting by the front door when he needs to go out.  Bless his little toothless head. 

More later ...