Ski Update

If you are going skiing, you should have received an e-mail from me (Andrea) 2 days ago. I have not heard back from everyone yet and I need the information requested. So if you haven't received the e-mail and you are still wanting to go skiing or if you told me you were and have now changed your mind, please e-mail me immediately (agordon-smith@shaw.ca). The details about the prices, etc. can still be found here.

Following is a copy of the letter I sent out with the names removed.

Hello Everyone,

Skiing/boarding time is coming up fast. Please read this e-mail very carefully to make sure you (and I) have all the information you need. First of all, I just wanted to say that this has become much, much bigger than originally anticipated. When I have organized this in the past we have had a very small group made up mostly of friends and acquaintances. However, this year, as Anchor Academy is not organizing skiing, I am it. And I am just a person whose kids like to ski. I am not paid to do this and there is no advantage to me in any way except that my kids get to ski. So I hope that we can pull this off as smoothly as possible. Mary Sue Nichols has agreed to organize the finances. This means that all cheques should be made payable to her. However, I know that some of you have to request them from your school and they are already made out to me - no worries, Mary Sue and I will work that all out. I must admit that I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all this responsibility. I hope you will all be gentle with me! Please e-mail me to confirm receipt of this e-mail and the accuracy of my information. I don't have a lot of time to be trying to get in touch with people so I hope you will all cooperate so I can make sure there are no disappointments.

Some people phoned me about details. I requested that they e-mail me to confirm their intentions and to check out the website (www.northokanaganhomelearners.blogspot.com) for the details. Some of these people I never heard from again. Please check the following lists carefully to make sure you and/or your children are on it in the confirmed category. If you are in the unconfirmed category it means that I heard from you by e-mail once to ask for details but you never got back to me to let me know you were going to do it. Just e-mail me to confirm if you wish to be involved with the ski program. If you know of people who wish to be on this list and are not, please forward this e-mail and have them get in touch with me as soon as possible and we will work it out. It is not too late for someone to sign up. By the 20th we had more than enough to run a full program so it is no problem to continue to add people. And drop-ins are also welcome.

Forms: I really, really wish I could e-mail all of the forms to everyone. But I can't. The forms they sent to me were infected with a virus and so were useless. They ended up snail mailing me forms. I will be photocopying them tomorrow and then you can come to my house to fill them out. I live at 9005 Rendell Dr in Coldstream. That is off of Aberdeen Rd. I am at the very end of the road in the big white house down a long driveway. Please call before you come to make sure I am home (503-5416). I will not be mailing out any forms and I am unable to scan and e-mail them to you, too. It is going to have to be in person. I don't hand in any of these forms until January 10 so if you live out of town, you can make arrangements with me to come early and fill them out before lessons start. (arrangements means e-mailing or calling me with your details and we will correspond until we have it all worked out - PLEASE no one plan on showing up the day of without contacting me first) And if you live around here, please don't count on registering at the hill or we will have to be up there by 6am.... Some of you have e-mailed me simply requesting me to send you forms. Consider this your official notice that I will not be doing that and I hope you are clear on what you do need to do to take advantage of this opportunity. If not, e-mail me again and we will work it out. If there are alot of you from out of town, maybe one or two of you could volunteer to help me to distribute and collect the forms on that first morning, January 10.

Our lessons are at 9am. I know that is early. Sorry to all you homeschoolers who like to sleep in. I tried for earlier, I really did. That means that we have to be up there by 8am to get your gear and lift pass. I will be there by 7:45. Come to the basement of the main building - the one with the office in it and the cafeteria. I will be downstairs in the lunch room. Come and check in with me. When EVERYONE is there and accounted for, I can get our passes. They won't give them to me ahead of time. And it makes it complicated to get passes after they have finished printing them and handing it out and makes all the money figuring that much more complicated. This keeps us from having to pay for those who don't show up for whatever reason. So please, please, please be kind to me and remember that I am not on salary with any school and be there on time (by 8am) - even early would be great. If you can't show up for whatever reason, please phone me if possible. This makes my life so much simpler. Call before 7am on the day of. You can even leave a message in the middle of the night. I don't have a phone in my bedroom so you won't be waking anyone up. I understand that you might not know how sick your kids are until that morning. Just call me if you can.

Please check the following list for accuracy. Do I have it right what you are doing? skiing? boarding? ages of your kids? What level are they? Complete beginners? Some experience but still beginners? Intermediate? Advanced? Check the silver star website if you need a better definition of these levels. The list is in alphabetical order, last name first.

Looking forward to meeting all of you and enjoying some ski time up at Silver Star.

Most sincerely,

Andrea Clarke

503-5416

okanagan symphony concert for children

Here's some information that was sent to me.


From the Okanagan Symphony – For Immediate Release
December 2007
Dear Teachers, Parents and Music Educators,
After over a decade of success, the Okanagan Symphony Educational School Concert Series is still going strong. This April, the series will celebrate its 12th year running. This programme has educated and inspired young minds for many years and has allowed children a glimpse into the wonderful world of classical music. As this program grows more and more each year, we are anticipating a most successful year ahead.
We are very excited to have Rosemary Thomson as our new director and conductor this season. Rosemary demonstrated her tremendous abilities at last year’s school concert series and dazzled all attending with her love of music and children. For the upcoming season, Rosemary has selected a new and exciting programme entitled "A Day in the Country". This programme features selections from Elgar’s Bavarian Dance, "Spring" from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Mahler’s Blumine, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, River/Water from the Moldau by Smetana and more! We are delighted to invite young and talented local musicians Colleen and Alisha Venables to perform in the Four Seasons this year.
Over the years, we have seen a steady rate increase in venue bookings, musician fees, and transportation fees. Our ticket prices have remained the same through it all. This year, we are increasing the ticket price from $5.00 to $6.00. Supportive funding is available from the Cherniavsky "Mr. Music" Fund administered by BC’s ArtStarts in Schools. For more information, please contact the agency directly at: http://www.artstarts.com/funding/cherniavsky.html.
The essential complementary study guide will be available for incorporation into your curriculum shortly. Those schools that are interested and those that have already indicated interest in attending should now complete the registration form with full payment to confirm attendance and to guarantee seating. Receipts will be available upon request.
Thank you all for your interest and great reviews of last year’s concert, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back for the Okanagan Symphony school concert series of the 2007-08 season!
Crystal Doughty
Program Coordinator
Okanagan Symphony
Tel: 250-868-2469, email: education.oso@shaw.ca

Next Meeting

Hi Gang,

I have a request. I am not usually able to make our meetings because I have dance that night, but I have a free night coming up - Dec. 27. I think that is off your 2 week cycle, but I am hoping that everyone is OK with meeting on that night instead of the 20th. I would really, really, really, really like to connect with everyone and so I really hope that all of you can come out that night. It would mean a lot to me.

Ski Program

Edited to add: Lessons are at 9am..... sorry, I tried for a later time, I really did....

Edited to add: First problem - Michelle is no longer able to help with dealing with the money. Is anyone else interested? I am not sure if I am up for organizing it all by myself. Numbers are not my strength and I found that part very stressful.

I have received the package from Silver Star and here are this year's prices. They have quoted only one price regardless of age this year and please note the change for parents. Prices are per time - so x5 if you are attending all 5 times:

Lesson: $10
Lift/lesson: $17
Lift/lesson/Rental skiing: $22
Lift/lesson/rental boarding: $27

Cross Country
Lesson $10
Lesson/Track $12
Lesson/track/rental $14

Parents MUST be helping to obtain these rates:

Lift $25
Rental skiing $10
Rental boarding $13
Track ticket $12
Rental track $2

I notice that although the parent rates are higher than in the past, they no longer have to pay for a lesson so it works out to be about the same.

I will require confirmation of attendance by December 20. I will collect forms and money by January 3. Please e-mail me ASAP if you are interested: agordon-smith@shaw.ca. And please pass on this information to anyone who might be interested.

As always, you do not have to go all 5 times - whatever works for your family is fine. However, if you are only planning on doing a few times, if you require lessons (are a beginner) I would highly recommend attending the first few times as the class advances fairly quickly and in the past, it has been difficult for those that have missed the first time or two.

Thanks! Andrea

I have booked ski/board lesson program for North Okanagan Home Learners for January 10, 17, 24, 31 and Feb 7. Right now the arrangement depends on us having enough numbers for the lessons (5 per level). If we don't, then we will have to see if others scheduled for that day will allow some of our students to join them. If you are interested, please e-mail me (agordon-smith@shaw.ca) and I will send you the forms. Michelle is going to be handling the money end of things (thank you Michelle). We will be collecting money and forms by January 3, 2008. If you are requisitioning a cheque from SD, that can be arranged. Visa won't work as all payments will be made to Michelle and then she pays the mountain each week. I will be e-mailing NOCHE as well to see if they would like to join us.

Andrea

Skating Times

Sherry Bootsma has kindly arranged 2 skating times between now and the end of the year:

December 12, 10:30 til 11:30 (Wednesday)
December 21, 1:30 til 2:30 (Friday)

At the outdoor skating rink.

Last Minute Swim

I forgot to say at the meeting last night but Rhiannon has been anxious to go for a swim so we are going today (Friday, December 7) to the 1 - 4pm swim. We'd be glad of some friends to swim with!

Meeting Reminder

Hello everyone,

Our next meeting is this Thursday, December 6, 7pm, downstairs at Bean to Cup. It will be good to connect with everyone again. See you then!

Winter Solstice

Is anyone interested in coming out all this way to celebrate Winter Solstice? If some people car-pooled it wouldn't be so bad - would it?

LOL - when I was growing up in Armstrong Falkland seemed like the edge of the world. Now that I live here I think of it as the centre of the world.

If we keep getting snow then we have good tobagganing down our driveway. Which may mean not being able to drive up it.

Or does anyone else feel like hosting a solstice get-together??

Just putting it out there..........