DECEMBER 2009

Dear Stephen,

Looks like I will miss the Canada Council artist project grant application this year. I had zero time today to work on it, it was just one of those days. I have a feeling I will be busy with baby, tavel and work all next year to really concentrate on a big art project. Especially a project that doesn’t even exist yet. I can’t even come up with the outlines of a project I think is worth working on. I think I am going to become an artist in secret. Or an “outsider artist”. Or maybe a non-practicing artist. Or a purely conceptual artist, or only one that daydreams a lot.

We had our Bonapaci course tonight, which went well. Lots of time spent on the breathing strategies as well as a little more details about the actual labour process. We’re feeling well-prepared. Next week will be more hands-on as we explore pressure points.

Gilles finished painting the bedroom, now I just have a few touchups to do and re-arrange the furniture. I am going to try to take Thursday-Friday off this week to finish things off at the apartment: shelves, books, electrical, etc. This weekend we will tackle the gold pigment wall in the baby room.

I ate at McGill hotdog for lunch. Bad idea.

Also got $ from the film shoot a couple weeks ago. $100 per day. Kinda sucks; it was about 18 hours total, so I was making per hour about what I was six years ago at the Khyber, just over $11/hour. Do you ever try to calculate your hourly wage?

I’m going to look for a dresser on Craigslist. Wish me luck.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 11:55 PM

subject L’Afghanistan aurait refusé le transfert de prisonniers; Ottawa to focus on ‘absolute’ pollution targets: Prentice

Dear Stephen,

My mom had to put Yaga down today. He had recently lost lots of weight and wasn’t gaining anything back, also regularly vomiting up his food. The vet couldn’t find anything specifically wrong with him, but expected a tumor to be found. My poor mom; this is two of my cats she has had to put down. In the end it isn’t that shocking, as Yaga would be twelve this February. Kuan, as you know, is his sister from the same litter, and she is doing fine. The little butterball eats more than her share of the food, and a part of what poor little Manu is left with, she throws up because of her sensitive stomach.

Clo was home sick from work yesterday. She has a runny nose, a cough, and headache. She stayed in bed and drank teas and juices all day. She felt a bit better today and went to work. I stayed home, trying to enforce my 3-day work week, even though things are a little crazy at work. I may go to four days for my next contract, but I don’t want to be a workaholic.

So for my day at home I’ve been doing little painting touchups and new electrical wiring. I hooked up lights and a dimmer in our bedroom. Also I dropped our car off at Canadian Tire to have them look at the tire that was leaking air. Can you believe that there are now service stations that charge a full dollar for air? Incredible.

Borrowed the rental van from work and went to look at a dresser we found on Craigslist. I’m passing my dresser—which I received from Claudine years ago—off to the little one. We tried to talk the guy down but he wouldn’t budge. $100 is not bad; it sells for $250 new.

How is China?

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 11:29 PM

subject Polytechnique: un drame qui a 20 ans; Events nationwide mark 20^th anniversary of Montreal massacre

Dear Stephen,

How was your trip to China? Guess what I’ve spent the past four days doing: working on the apartment! We’re almost done; I’ve made a desk, a few more shelves, hung some hooks, and we unpacked all our books. Just need to hang some pictures and put the plastic on the windows. Oh, and unpack the rest of the studio.

Friday night we went, however briefly, to Simon’s opening at françois’ apartment gallery, WLTWSAETLV (We Left The Warm Stable And Entered The latex Void). His exhibition consisted of a long row of bags of salt and vinegar chips, a strobe light, a thumping dance track repeated the phrase “party with your mom” and a Kindle open to a page from Freud about masturbation. There were tons of people; Simon is a very popular young man.

Saturday night there was group of events all happening at 4001 Berri; Claudine worked all day and into the evening. I hung out a bit and had a couple beer with with Peter at Dazibao while a big Collage Party was going on. I have to admit I wasn’t in a good mood; I haven’t been feeling very social.

We’re watching another Gilles Carles film. Last night it was Les Plouffe; the night before last it was Les Mâles, which was just downright weird. Tonight it is La vrai nature de Bernadette. I think I might go trim my beard before heading to bed; tomorrow a hectic work week begins.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 11:09 PM

subject L’hiver s’installe au Québec; MacKay dismisses diplomats’ concerns over Afghan detainee affair

Dear Stephen,

I renewed my Green Party membership by telephone last night. The NDP should be calling soon, as they are the only other Federal party I belong to who hasn’t solicited my renewal and/or donations. Your Conservative Party gave me the hardest time about donating, but I can’t go that far. Belonging to the party is one thing, but giving you more money to do less for the environment, I can’t swallow that. On that note, how does it feel to get the first Fossil Award, or whatever they call it, in Coppenhagen?

Just came back from our second Bonapace pre-natal class. We focused a lot on massage, ‘douloureux’ which focuses on pressure points, and ‘non-douloureux’,  to relax muscles. It was a good exercise as Clo’s hips are bothering her; she even limps now when walking, and is having trouble sleeping. I think she is working too much and is putting too much pressure on herself. But aside from that, we both feel pretty good about the upcoming delivery. It is just seven weeks away!

Listened to the last six minutes of the Habs-Sens match, which the Canadiens won 4-1; wow, their third straight. Have things turned around for them, even before the highly-anticipated return of Markov? Only time will tell.

Off to bed, and more massage practice.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 11:58 PM

subject McKay réfute le rapport sur le gouverneur afghan; Divisions slow discussion progress in Copenhagen

Dear Stephen,

Are you in Copenhagen yet? Ready to accept all those Fossil awards? I have a feeling those things don’t bother you, but it is a bit odd that your environmental policy isn’t even supported by a majority of Canadians.

I’m sorry I haven’t written in awhile, the lead-up to the DHC Christmas party was hectic, and the party itself was wild. I had too many of James’ strong martinis and danced all night, blacking out and barely making it home. I only hope I didn’t embarrass myself too much. I think I might have made out with a coworker or two, but then again maybe I dreamed it. In any case, what do they expect when spouses aren’t invited? I was a mess on Friday, moving the car for snow-removal purposes at 7am still drunk, then working a bit in the afternoon but nowhere near effectively. Of course I had planned to have the day off anyway and only went in because I accidentally took the truck keys home with me. I missed a dinner party with Kent, Anne and Eric because I could barely focus my eyes. Ate tomato soup and Premium Plus crackers and watched The Wrestler.

Felt better on Saturday. We put plastic up on the windows in the apartment. Had a dinner party with Bernard, Clo’s co-worker, and his partner Jean in their gorgeous re-modeled apartment in the Plateau. Caro and Francois came, as did Annie, another Oboro coworker.

Sunday was a day of visits. Elie had spent the night at our place and had breakfast with us. Then our Doula Esme arrived and we had a great visit and discussion. Then Clo’s friend Celine came over. I put the crib that Jack and Aurelia lent us together and organized the baby room a bit. made salmon for supper and while watching I heart Huckabees Sarah picked me up to help her unload her new love seat into her apartment. originally I was going to go with her to St. Lazare, where she bought it from someone sneakily posting in the Montreal section of Craigslist, but luckily I was spared that inconvenience when it became clear that the seller had a boyfriend and father on hand to help load. Still, I had to remove both her front doors to get the couch in. I did get a Star Wars bedsheets out of the deal, something the seller used to wrap the sofa. Speaking of which, I have one for sale, know of anyone who might be interested? Here is the Craigslist ad:

IKEA Love seat, model Lillberg (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/S39859057), birch with white cushions, $125. Great condition; selling due to move. Call 514-295-3048 to arrange viewing / pickup.
I had someone interested but she couldn’t arrange pickup and so has let it pass.

Also, Jack and Auralia gave us a bunch of their cloth diapers! It will cut down on the amount we were asking my parents to get for us, though they are a bit worn and having some new ones would be nice. I like the Applecheeks brand, they are made here in Montreal. Did you use cloth or disposable diapers with your kids? Have I already asked you? As the birthing day fast approaches I find I am more and more interested in the details of and experiences of other people. Did you have hospital births? Was there a lot of intervention or was it more natural? We are fairly dead-set against epidurals or any interventions, really. On that note, I should go practice some of the Bonapace massage techniques before bed. Our third and final class is tomorrow night; we miss the last because we will be on vacation. Hard to believe it is almost the end of the year! I haven’t bought my secret Santa gifts for the 2 families yet. I picked Gilles for the Famille Hubert draw and Tamara for the Lloyd’s. Time to check the lists.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 11:07 PM

subject Torture: les conservateurs boycottent le comité parlementaire; A parliamentary reset could clear way for throne speech, budget before Olympics

Dear Stephen,

Wow, how do you feel about Canada falling victim to a prank by the infamous Yes Men? Have you had words with your spokesman for immediately (and without any proof) blaming Stephen Guilbeault? And why does everyone from Jim Prentice to Dimitri Soudas refer to the rather sophisticated prank as “childish”? It clearly points out how meaningless your emissions-cutting strategies are. Anyway, we are just back from Bonapace course and now plan on watching a little bit of Orgasmic Birth.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:11 AM

subject Détenus maltraités: la Croix-Rouge avait prévenu Ottawa; Massive U.S. snowstorm hits Atlantic Canada

Dear Stephen,

Had a fun Famille Hubert Christmas gift exchange yesterday at Jo and Philippe’s place. Played with Nataniel a lot while his little brother Dorion smiled and giggled and cooed; he’s a pretty happy baby.

Finished off work on Friday and have been slowly planning the week ahead. We head out for Coaticook and the Family Lloyd Christmas tomorrow morning, but first we will spend a couple days in Bury with the Roberts sisters and Old Greg. In fact Rebecca and Greg came over to our place for breakfast yesterday, as they had already arrived from Brooklyn to celebrate Hanukkah.

What else can we celebrate? Certainly not the results from Copenhagen. Perhaps the return of Markov who gave some life to the Habs last night, helping to end their five-game losing streak.

Clo and I are looking for strollers. What a tough choice, there are a gazillion different models on the market. I received some good news at work the other day: they provide a generous gift to employees having a baby, which should hopefully cover the cost of the stroller.

And speaking of costs, we plunged a little deeper in dept today as we decided to go for the bog 100% tax-write off computer purchase, and we bought an iMac. Hopefully this will help us with out taxes this year; I’m still about $4-grand in the hole from last year. Will we ever achieve Freedom 2012?

Merry Christmas and all that if I don’t get a chance to write you beforehand. I don’t think we have Internet at either of the cabins we are staying at.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

date Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 8:30 PM

subject Les noms des soldats tués sont connus; Soldiers prepare to send four fallen comrades, slain journalist back to Canada

Dear Stephen,

You’ll never guess what happened to us during our Christmas vacation. Early in the morning on day three – Wednesday December 23 – Claudine’s waters broke. So off we went to the hospital in Sherbrooke, leaving behind our cross-country skis, food, friends and Xmas gifts. Indeed it was her water, so off we went straight away to Hôpital Saint-Luc in Montréal. Once admitted we spent most of our time trying to relax and stave off labour, trying to give the baby as much time as possible to keep cooking in the oven. At 35 weeks and 2 days, each hour in the womb can help. It was while watching Julia & Julie on Clo’s computer in our hospital room on Christmas Eve that the contractions hit 5 minutes and Clo had dilated 1cm. We were transferred to a delivery room and Clo had a nice long bath and we continued our Bonapace massage techniques through the night. Claudine was a real contraction champion; she found herself a meditative place, and then zen-like worked through the night with nary a complaint, barely stirring, more quiet than a mouse. She even slept a bit in between contractions. By 6am she had gone to 7.5cm, we called our Doula Esme, and thus commenced the later stages of labour. Clo took some of the laughing gas to help her to not bear down, and by 8:30am she had hit the magic number 10cm. Pushing lasted barely 45 minutes: our baby daughter Rose Imelda Jillian Hubert-Lloyd was born at 9:08am on December 25, 2009. We’ve been on Cloud 9 – and living at the hospital – ever since. She was, and still is, small: 4lbs 13oz at birth. After a couple more nights in our previous hospital room we were discharged and took up residence in a “welcome room”, a small space reserved for breast-feeding moms of babies in the neonatal ward. We might be getting the boot from that room tomorrow and will have to come home, as there are other moms in the queue, and Clo is only breast-feeding twice per day, though pulling milk every three hours. Rose finds feeding fatiguing; she often falls asleep after only 1 breast, though lately she’s been at it 20 minutes or more. Still, the important thing is that she gains weight, and for that she needs to eat more, hence the regular feeding hours through a tube to the stomach. We’re excited and nervous and want to have her home.

So how was your Christmas?

I didn’t think I’d get a chance to write you before the year ended, but we have been spending more time away from the hospital in the afternoons, time we can spend getting to know our new computer. We bought an iMac just before heading on vacation, something we needed but also is 100% tax-deductible for 2009. Should help. Do you think I can claim Rose as a dependant for 2009 or will I have to wait until 2010?

Clo and I are having grilled cheese and leftovers at home before heading back to the hospital. I find it hard to be away from rose for to long, even if I all I mostly do is watch her, change her diapers once in awhile, or clean her belly-button. The other day I gave her the first bath; what fun!

Do you remember vividly the births of your children? How did everything go? Now that I have experienced birth as a parent I am much more interested in everyone else’s story.

So anyway, have a Happy New Year. Next time I write you I will be starting year 10 of the Dear PM project. Don’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream.

-chris