The Dreaded Christmas Newsletter


Tom has an acquaintance, Frank, who blogs huge amounts almost every day. He also stays gainfully employed. How does he do that?! Obviously we haven’t managed to maintain a daily (or even weekly) blog, but it’s Christmas once again, so we’ll let you all know what’s going on with us Evers.


Grace and Maria now the upper-classmen of Earl Grey Senior School and are trying decide where to go to High School. There are countless choices here in Toronto. They have four schools they can enter automatically: Riverdale Collegiate (regular/pre-university), Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute (pre-university plus Auto Repair and Baking classes), Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute (business oriented), and Malvern Collegiate Institute (to continue French immersion).

In addition, they can apply to almost any other school they want, including many with specialty programs. Maria really, really, really wants to go to Rosedale Heights School of the Arts. It’s only a block from our house, and has an excellent reputation. Grace is also interested in Rosedale, but right now she is leaning towards attending Monarch Park Collegiate in their International Baccalaureate program. This is a very challenging, internationally recognized diploma program. It’s a very exciting opportunity.


They still dance like Scots in the country, and scout like, well, Scouts. They have a new violin teacher whom they enjoy a lot. Whether they continue with violin will depend a lot on where they go to High School. Grace went to music camp in June, which she thoroughly enjoyed. This summer they flew to St. Louis to visit Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Wolfers, as well as their new cousins Allie and Andrew.


Tom still takes pictures all the time, sings Sacred Harp, and goes to lots of concerts. Anne and Tom had a blast seeing Gogol Bordello (ever heard of gypsy punk?) in February, and The Decemberists in November. We all enjoyed hours and hours of great (mostly Canadian) music at the Olympic Island Music Festival.

Anne still sings Sacred Harp, and supports the Arsenal Football Club (go Gunners!). This year she took a week’s vacation and saw 20 films at the Toronto International Film Festival. The hits: The King and the Clown (Korea), The Last King of Scotland, For Your Consideration, The Magic Flute (directed by Kenneth Branaugh) Paris, je t’aime, The Bubble (Israel), Penelope and


Monkey Warfare (Canadian). The misses: Bobby (very disappointing and I was really looking forward to it), Macbeth (Australian) and This is England (I almost walked out).

That’s it for this year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all us Evers in the Great White North.

Posted: Fri - December 15, 2006 at 09:08 PM          

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