from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 9:40 PM
subject Afghanistan: Harper tenait parfois MacKay dans l’ignorance; McGuinty rejects coalition with NDP, Tories
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive”
I survived the weekend with Rose. She was on a different plane: slightly ADD, pissy, annoyed, aggravated and intense. Me, I was in a bad mood since Friday, maybe before.
I survived brunch yesterday at the Delta with Jess and Jonas (71/2 months pregnant).
I survived Nathaniel’s 5-year birthday party today out in l’Île Perrot with cousins and inlaws.
I survived the start of the opening reception for the artists and organizers of VIVA at le bain St. Michel.
I survived my parents’ arrival. They are with us for a week.
I survived the sudden drop in temperature and cold, wet rain.
How was your weekend?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 10:55 PM
subject Afghanistan: Harper tenait parfois MacKay dans l’ignorance; Grits hold majority in P.E.I
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
I survived the first night of my parents’ visit. I survived another cold and somewhat rainy day, though I took the metro to work. I also, however, survived the Bixi ride home. My mom made supper, stuffed peppers. They were excited to pick Rose up as early as they could from daycare. Speaking of Rose, she woke up while we were watching Bottle shock (disjointed, uneven, plodding, with occasional moments of fun) and stayed up for almost an hour. I don’t know what is up with her lately: night terrors, hunger pains, ear aches, cough, excitement? She is much more calm and playful with my parents than with us.
We sold the Scandinavian couches! A girl saw the ad on kijiji and came to see them tonight and made a depost. She’ll collect them around the 15th, which is her moving date.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 10:55 PM
subject Afghanistan: Harper tenait parfois MacKay dans l’ignorance; Grits hold majority in P.E.I.
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
I survived the first night of my parents’ visit. I survived another cold and somewhat rainy day, though I took the metro to work. I also, however, survived the Bixi ride home. My mom made supper, stuffed peppers. They were excited to pick Rose up as early as they could from daycare. Speaking of Rose, she woke up while we were watching Bottle shock (disjointed, uneven, plodding, with occasional moments of fun) and stayed up for almost an hour. I don’t know what is up with her lately: night terrors, hunger pains, ear aches, cough, excitement? She is much more calm and playful with my parents than with us.
We sold the Scandinavian couches! A girl saw the ad on kijiji and came to see them tonight and made a depost. She’ll collect them around the 15th, which is her moving date.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 4:43 PM
subject Élections à T.-N.-L.: les conservateurs largement en avance; Federal government to spill energy drinks decision on Thursday
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
I survived the first night of VIVA!, including the opening remarks, the three performances by members of the Berlin-based collective known as Stammtisch, and the four or five beer. I stopped by the studio earlier to clean up my desk a little and drop of the manuscript of the Bovinities that Robert had sent me. I think I’ll do the layout old-school, actual cut and paste, analogue, even make the running fence on the actual printed pages. I have 2 weeks.
I signed up to do an impromptu performance at the festival on Friday night. It will be the unofficial launch of my candidacy to run for the Conservative Party in Papineau in 2015. I designed some buttons to give away. I need to work on a speech, I guess. Maybe get some nomination forms? Maybe I could collect real signatures from people that might live in the riding.
Off to work the bar at VIVA! tonight. I hope I get free supper, both my bank accounts are overdrawn. Good thing I get paid tonight at midnight.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 8:37 PM
subject Soins de santé des vétérans: Ottawa sévit; Will Conservatives make liberal cuts to the CBC?
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
I survived VIVA! I also survived my “Tableau Noir” intervention Friday night, where I publicly announced my intention to seek the candidature for the Conservative Party in Papineau. I even collected just over 50 signatures. Not a bad start, since I have almost 4 years to get the minimum 100. Of course, the president of the association wrote me and described the process in a little more detail, so a lot depends on if anyone else wants to run. Here is what Maxime wrote me:
Bonjour Chris,
Michel qui connait bien tous les détails des règles saurait probablement mieux répondre à la question, s’il ne l’a pas déjà fait, mais le processus de nomination du candidat se fait normalement par des investitures. Lorsque le processus est déclanché par le parti – à un temps variable précédent les élections – vous pouvez poser votre candidature. S’il y a plus d’un candidat, il y a ensuite un vote pour déterminer qui sera le représentant du parti entre les concurrents. Donc, l’essentiel est d’avoir des membres dans le compté qui pourront vous supporter au moment du vote pour l’investiture du parti dans Papineau. Ainsi, c’est par la vente de cartes de membres à des gens du compté que vous pourrez maximiser vos chances d’être candidat. Puisque l’élection est dans quatre ans, il faudrait bien sûr que la durée de leur carte soit valide jusqu’à ce moment.
J’espère avoir pu bien répondre à votre question.
Bonne journée.
My parents left this morning, shortly after I woke up. What a treat it was having them here! Femke slept over, they had a blast together. Sarah and Etienne came over this morning for breakfast to collect her. We had made tentative plans to do a Thanksgiving supper tonight but we are all wiped out. I fact, I can’t recount any further details at this time, I am developing a fever, either a 24-hour flu or a gastro. I’m shivering. I’m going to bed.
-chris
PS, also interested in the headline : “Tories ready to intervene in Air Canada work stoppage”.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 4:52 AM
subject Occupons Bay Street: le souvenir des violences du G20 est encore vif; Air Canada avoids work stoppage as strike suspended
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. I fell sick after VIVA ended, and have been feverish for the past three days. Yesterday I left work early in the afternoon to go see someone at a clinic but I arrived too late. I guess most clinics that accept walk-in patients only have room to do so until the early afternoon; the waiting room was full. I settled for a hefty bottle of Benylin, which seems to be helping. At least the fever is down.
I woke up around 3am this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so here I am, writing to you at this early hour. I needed to get up in bout an hour anyway to head out for the airport. I’m flying to Halifax today. The strike has been averted, in what seems to be becoming standard practice:
“October 13, 2011 –Air Canada and CUPE have received notice that the Minister of Labour, the Hon. Lisa Raitt, has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), under Section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code, to determine the rights and obligations of the employer, the union and the employees to continue the supply of services in the event of a strike. As a result of this CIRB referral, CUPE cannot commence a legal strike at least until this matter has been decided by the CIRB. The strike deadline originally scheduled for 00:01 am ET on Thursday, October 13, 2011 is effectively cancelled.
In addition, as a result of the rejection by the CUPE membership of two collective agreements, the Minister of Labour is asking the CIRB to determine if conditions unfavourable to a settlement exist and if so, to either impose a new collective agreement or a binding method of resolving the dispute.
We accordingly expect that this process will lead to a definitive resolution for our customers.
In the meantime, it remains business as usual at Air Canada and all flights will continue to operate as scheduled.
We thank you for your patience and loyalty during this time.”
Hmmm. “if conditions unfavourable to a settlement exist and if so, to either impose a new collective agreement or a binding method of resolving the dispute.” Isn’t this just another step in destroying collective bargaining? I know you are no fan of the labour movement, and boy does it show.
Off to have some cereal before heading out. I plan to take the metro and the 727 direct bus.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 10:48 PM
subject Des coupes de 226 millions au ministère des Anciens Combattants; Sex ring held ‘meet-and-greets’ in Windsor, Ont.: FBI
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
We worked all day at the Khyber: making spray-foam frames, spray-painting, measuring, preparing, painting, hanging Karl Marx, cleaning, moving things, mounting other things, making holes, etc. etc. I’m exhausted (how often have I said that to you?)
I missed the Sobey Art Award award ceremony the other night, if you haven’t heard already Young and Giroux won. Again, Atlantic artists shut out. I only have 2 years of eligibility left, and given my current state of production I don’t think I’ll ever even make the long list again.
I took the rental out to Timberlea for the night so I can spend some time with family before the Khyber madness starts again. Nocturne will go late. I better get some rest.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 12:25 PM
subject Cour suprême: le Barreau dénonce la recommandation d’un juge unilingue; Shania Twain stalker back in court
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive.
Sorry I haven<t written in so long. I survived the Khyber, helping with the installation of Stacy<s show, and working the bar during Nocturne, but my cold went from bad to worse. I took the day off work yesterday to finally see a doctor (3.5 hours at the walk-in clinic) and she prescribed antibiotics to to treat pneumonia, even though I probably only have bronchitis. I took today off, too. Am trying to take it easy, relax and drink lots of water and beat this thing. Yesterday I slept the whole afternoon, from 1-5:30, isn<t that crazy^ I am still coughing uncontrollably and get feverish from time to time. Last night I hit 38.8. I<m also trying to get some little projects done around the apartment, like laundry, getting out the winter clothes, re-organizing the entrance storage, re-organizing my old studio. The couches are gone, the girl came and picked them up on Sunday, so there is lots more room. I really want to open up a passageway between the bookshelves but probably shouldn<t tackle that today.
I spoke with Michel at length last night about strategies to getting the nomination to run as a Conservative candidate in Papineau. Looks like I<ll need to sell lots of memberships (the last campaign the candidate<s husband sold 100), and get volunteers. This could be very hard to do. He is still awaiting word from party headquarters to host a fund-raising cocktail. He wants a Minister to come, preferably James Moore.
I have to go, it is almost time to take my antibiotics and I need to take them with food.
-chris
PS sorry about the messed-up characters, Rose did something to the keyboard.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 8:28 PM
subject Un candidat à la Cour suprême s’excuse de ne pas parler français; East, West coasts win shipbuilding contracts, Quebec frozen out
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. The antibiotics appear to be working, but I am still coughing. I’m still taking Benylin and popping Ricolas, but the cough persists. I’m on the upswing though. I even went to work today, not that I accomplished a lot. It’s a slow week overall.
Tomorrow is the Master Class with Julie Ault at SKOL. Afterwards I’ll work the bar for jean-Maxime’s opening and then maybe even hit the opening at Clark. Claudine is off tonight at the MAC and 24-Gauche, so tomorrow night is my turn. It was fun to spend the whole evening with Rose, she was in a great mood and even ate well. Cauliflower, yellow pepper, egg, some pasta, cucumber and half a pear. She keeps calling a pear an apple, but I understand why, they do look similar, especially when I peel the apple.
I should be working on the layout of the Bovinities book tonight but I’m just worn out. Will finish watching the Virgin Suicides from bed, which I started last night. I was surprised at how much of the film I had forgotten.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 9:24 PM
subject Brian Topp n’exclut pas la réouverture du débat constitutionnel; Early childhood conditions help shape DNA: Research
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Though the Biaxin I have been taking all week doe not seem to be working. Last night, while working the bar at SKOL for Jean-Maxime’s opening, I came down with a fever and the coughing returned. Clo put Bag Balm on my chest and back and this seemed to help. I spent this morning at the clinic and went to have my chest X-rayed. And this evening I started a new antibiotic, Avelox.
Yesterday was the master class with Julie Ault, former member of Group Material in NY and the group’s chronicler. I bought her book, which makes for fascinating reading about the origins and tumultuous times with those politically-active artists.
I signed a petition against your proposed Omnibus Crime bill. I also read an article awhile back about how even legislators in Texas think the crime bill is moving in the wrong direction. Learn from Texas!
I’m starting to get another fever. I peaked at 39.2 degrees last night, and 38.6 this afternoon. Now I’m at 38.2. Claudine says I am obsessed with the thermometer.
Still can’t get motivated to work on the Bovinities. Will need to do some extra work with weekend on it.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 9:28 PM
subject Brian Topp n’exclut pas la réouverture du débat constitutionnel; Scouts Canada denies keeping secret files on suspected abusers
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. My temperature hit 39.4 just after lunch, but I had a nap when Rose went down and sweated through it. The cough is appearing less frequently, and overall I’m feeling a bit better. Hopefully this new antibiotic will wipe out whatever it is I have. The results of my lung Xrays won’t be available to me until sometime this week. How does that help, if I happened to have had something more severe, like pneumonia, or TB?
It was a nice family day, I was up with Rose, we had breakfast, we played and watched Elmo videos. She’s obsessed with Elmo. She only ever wants to see videos with Elmo in them. We went for a nice walk on the plaza and I made french toast for lunch.
In the afternoon we re-arranged our living room, it feels more spacious now and the couch is in better position to watch movies on the computer.
Clo had a spa evening with Sarah W. I took the opportunity to finally do some Bovinities placements, though I really think I need to do it the old-fashioned way, with actual paper. That way I can do some fence paintings across the pages as I had proposed to Robert. Not much time left, he needs to show his editor the manuscript with selected drawings sometime this week. I wish he had just picked the images he liked best; it is hard to find the best spaces between poems and text in which to place images.
I’m off to have a shower and wash my fever off me. You ever have trouble shaking a virus?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 8:09 PM
subject Sables bitumineux: plainte contre l’Union européenne; Public safety groups want some weapons prohibited before the long-gun registry is scrapped
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. And feel on the road to recovery as well. Don’t know if it is the new antibiotics, drinking more liquids, resting more or what, but I feel better. The cough is almost infrequent now. I still worry about Rose’s cough, and hope she doesn’t advance to anything more serious than a cold. She was on and off, hot and cold today, lots of mood swings. Fine for our first walk to the Pharmacy and market, good for breakfast and lunch, but then a couple freak outs around short naps, then super-enthusiastic when Anne and Laurent visited, and good for a walk back to the market with them, good for playtime, then a beast again around supper. A lot of her downtime we attribute to Elmo withdrawal. Even though the sporadic viewings throughout the day probably don’t amount to more than an hour and a half, we feel this growing addiction must be nipped in the bud. So her not eating supper freak out involved her lolling around the base of the computer moaning “Elmo, Elmo”. Theatrical enough to almost make me want to record it for her and show her the footage in ten years, I’m sure she will be mortified.
Going to pick a Netflix film and try to get to bed early. Last night I watched the Cohen Brothers’ version of True Grit. It was pretty good, but I think I prefer the original.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 10:38 PM
subject Registre des armes à feu: un projet de loi déposé demain; Stepmom of Pickton victim tried to break into farm years before killer arrested
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived my first day back at work since last Wednesday (!) and seem now fully in control of this virus / cold / flu / whatever it was. Coughs are more sporadic and less forceful. Was able to work at my desk on pithy emails and finicky adjustments to plans and models all day.
No energy to do more than make my chili (will slow-cook all night) and wash dishes and read. The time spent with Rose after work is too brief and often antagonistic around suppertime.
Took tonight to read and relax. Stood in my former studio surveying what remains to be done to get the room in working order and felt powerless to act.
Stopped by the Occupy Montreal tent city a couple times today, first from the metro and second time during lunch with Stacy. It is quite impressive: they have a kitchen, library, medical centre and media centre amongst the hundreds of tents and tarps. I wonder how long they will hold out? Do you think the movement is growing or stagnant, due to lack of clear goals? James said that he read somewhere that any family making $50-grand per year were in the 1% globally. That just makes me want to do more. Sometimes I don’t think the art world is where I want to be, but I lack the courage to try to do something that will really help humankind. Do you ever feel this way, powerless in the face of so much poverty, sickness and inequality?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 8:58 PM
subject Nouveau VG: l’opposition critique le choix d’un unilingue anglophone; Murdered women’s sister-in-law says police ignored her missing persons report
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a second day of work and an after-work >team-building> exercise of drinking beer at l’Assommoir on Notre-Dame. James and Iliana left after the first round and a half, leaving Stacy, Jon and I to argue over the merits (or lack thereof) of Edward Burtinsky. Then I hurried home as Clo has choir practice on Tuesdays. Skyped with my folks, Rose ate a second supper and went to bed so easily, what an angel. She still wanted to see Elmo but I refused. I wonder if the Elmo doll my parents borrowed from their neighbours, who sings and plays guitar, counts?
Now I’m washing laundry and slowly, oh-so-slowly getting some things organized in my old studio. I suspect I will have a shower shortly and head to bed soon after that. What do you do in the evenings if you are at home with the kids?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 11:22 PM
subject Sommet du Commonwealth: Harper arrive en Australie; Two dead in Ottawa mall shooting
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived working three days in a row. Tonight after supper Stacy came over and helped me load a rather heavy and large and awkward trunk and a tall and bulky plastic shelving unit into my car and we drove to the studio. Worked on some Bovinities and came home to scan them. Now it is late and I am stressing about what to eat tomorrow for lunch. Maybe it will be a bought lunch day. Or maybe it will be chili again, even though we had it for supper tonight and lunch yesterday. Today James brought in borscht to share with everyone. So tasty with a dollop of sour cream. What’s your favourite soup? If you have soup in Australia let me know. Also I signed a petition calling for an end to some commonwealth countries treating homosexuality as a crime. You should speak up as well. Did you hear Rick Mercer’s rant about teen suicide?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 8:46 PM
subject Le Québec aura trois sièges de plus aux Communes; Plane crashes at Vancouver airport
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Survived a fourth day in a row at work. Lots of emails and negotiating. Got a call from the clinic with results from my X-ray. I had / have pneumonia in my left lung. So I guess I am surviving pneumonia. I have three more days of antibiotics and then must go for another Xray in 4 weeks, to ensure it has gone away.
Rose-Marie is staying overnight so we prepared the guest room. She’ll be by shortly. My old studio is a disaster presently, the floor piled with junk, chairs, shoes, and things to give away. I’d like to get some work accomplished in there this weekend, or maybe tomorrow afternoon.
Did you hear that Rafi made a song based on Jack Layton’s Letter to a Nation? It’s hard to say if it really works as a song or not; it’s a weird blend of Rafi affability, kids accompanying him, and poetic words, but as a song? Hard to find a way for “optimistic” to roll off the tongue.
Here is an odd news story:
VANCOUVER — At least eight people were onboard a plane that crashed at the Vancouver International Airport on Thursday afternoon.
According to emergency services, the small plane crashed at 4:30 p.m. after overshooting the runway in Richmond, B.C.
The plane is on fire. All roads in the area are closed and transit has been rerouted.
“The plane is on fire”? Since when is news present tense?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 10:24 PM
subject Les dirigeants nord-américains se réuniront à Hawaï le mois prochain; Commonwealth leaders refuse to publish key report’s findings
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Unfortunately, Mathieu Lefèvre is not. As you might have heard, he was run over by a flatbed truck in Brooklyn last week and killed. There was a Montréal memorial for him this afternoon which I attended with Stacy, who had helped me with errands all afternoon (taking the carpet back to our storage from SKOL, loading the new dresser we bought from Renaissance into our apartment. We are keeping it on the balcony for the next couple nights to ensure there are no bedbugs). At the memorial I met Mathieu’s mother, who is surprisingly composed and pragmatic about the whole situation. As she said, at 60 you begin to plan for your own death, but not that of your 30-year old son. They are starting a memorial fund of some sort but want help from the arts community, as his parents’ are not artists. I think a “first solo show” fund, maybe through SKOL or one of the arts funding agencies, would be a good idea. What do you think?
Watched The end of America tonight, based on the book by the same title by Naomi Wolfe. She makes a compelling argument that the Patriot Act and other erosion of public freedoms follows the same dictatorial patterns that Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia faced. Scary! Lucky here in Canada we don’t spy on our citizens, make unwarranted arrests, deport suspects to countries where torture is practiced, limit freedom of movement, speech or the press. We’re totally democratic, “the true north, strong and free”!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 9:19 PM
subject Robert Chisholm, 8e candidat dans la course à la direction du NPD; Doctors refuse to authorize pot use, leaving patients in pain
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Claudine’s grandfather George, however, is not. He passed away this evening. Claudine had driven up with her sister to be with him at the end. It was a bit sudden; he had a choking fit and went into a partial coma. Rose-Marie and Gilles had driven up earlier int he day. Earlier, we had a visit from Roxanne and Colette and a friend from Brazil. We had brunch (French Toast, my new brunch specialty) and the girls played, sometimes together. Rose and I went for three walks today: first to the market, then just up and down the street, then finally to the Pharmaprix for some Halloween crap. We were asked to bring her in costume to daycare tomorrow, so now I just need to find some cat ears and a tail for her. Our plan is to dress her in black and add a little black nose and whiskers in makeup.
Stacy came over for supper. I had made a beef stew in the crock pot all afternoon. He mostly wanted to hang out and play with Rose.
I plan to wear an outfit inherited from my grandfather to work tomorrow. My costume will essentially be me dressing as my grandfather. I just can’t get into the Halloween spirit this year. Did I tell you already that I am participating in Movember? I will be growing a mustache to raise awareness of men’s health. I may also try to get myself a checkup as well. I can’t remember the last checkup I had. Can you get a full physical at a walk-in clinic? Can they check your prostate and colon? Have you had yours checked out lately? Do you know that there are more incidents of prostate cancer than breast cancer?
-chris
DEAR PM 