Tuesday, September 30, 2008

An interruption to the schedule

Last night's meeting of my film group was cancelled.

The film group of which I'm a part has been meeting on the last Monday evening of each month for more than ten years - I've lost count of the exact amount of time. In all that time this is only the second occasion that I can remember a meeting being cancelled, so you can understand why I feel a bit disconcerted.

The film group is a bit like a book group. Each month we choose two or three current release films we think might be interesting to see, we see them individually, or occasionally two or three of the group might go to the film together, and then we meet to discuss them. We rotate the meetings among us, although more recently they tend to be held where some members of the group find it easiest to attend, and whoever is host provides simple snacks and wine.

Even though some group members are well-informed about film, and all of us are deeply interested, the meetings are very casual, unstructured, and permissive of personal reminiscence and free association. Absolutely unthreatening.

When the group started, I was friendly with only one of the other group members. But over time, these women (for they are all women) have become one of the fixed elements of my life. No-one probes or intrudes, but we've now shared many changes in our lives. Originally we had eight regular members - though 'regular' needs qualification. Most of the members travel frequently, so 'regular' means they attend if they're in Sydney. For all this time there's also been another irregular, intermittent attender who comes only once or twice a year - we're an accepting lot. We've had one death, and one member left discretely after a deep political disagreement. So we now have only six of us. We're so used to each other that every time a suggestion is made to boost our numbers we become distinctly uncomfortable and do nothing.

But I suspect having to cancel last night's meeting because only two of us were available might prompt us to action. We'll see.

So I stayed home and watched TV and knitted. Despite the several projects I have partly completed, and my resolution to complete them, I've started a new project. I'm knitting a gift for a friend's newly arrived baby. The baby is large, and warm weather is coming, so finishing the jacket is imperative (that's the rationalisation!)

EZ's surplice
EZ's Baby Surplice Jacket
Elizabeth Zimmermann
Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2007
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zara

1 comment:

Meghan said...

Hi Lyn! Thanks for your comment--I hadn't thought about the 50s kitchen connection (I was mostly just thinking about where I'd get good lighting) but you are very right! That must be why I like the look of that backdrop. I love the colors in this baby sweater, by the way. Very lovely. all my best!