DEAR PM vol.17
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 3, 2017, 10:58 PM
subject Motion anti-islamophobie aux Communes: des manifestations samedi à l’échelle du pays; Dutch love-child fathered by First Nations’ Canadian veteran finds lost identity, gets citizenship
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the week (sorry I didn’t write much), had my massage last night, and another Amigo Express rideshare back to Montreal tonight. The kids fought over the $3 Trolls keychains I got them, everyone degenerated into a fit, I threatened to not come back from Ottawa or at least not to bring back any more surprises, we all calmed down eventually, Clo went out to eat with her friend Celine, I cleaned the kitchen feeling bummed about this back and forth and wanting to withdraw from everything. I’m bailing on Skol and Nuit Blanche tomorrow night, I don’t want to do anything. Did I tell you about the kids’ visit to the museum on Wednesday? There was only time to see the Inuit gallery, which was great, and they were super well-behaved for their visit chez Mami et Papi. I picked Clo up after the ceremony at Rideau Hall at Chateau Laurier where she was out for drinks with a few guests and lauriates; it wasn’t as much a party as two years ago, last time she went. Anyway it’s my bedtime and I want to curl up with a new New Yorker. Are you planning to watch the Red Bull Crashed Ice tonight and tomorrow?
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 6, 2017, 1:10 PM
subject La parité au fédéral n’arrivera jamais, selon le quart des Canadiens; Ottawa police officer to be charged with manslaughter in death of Abdirahman Abdi
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend, and a birthday dinner party chez nous samedi soir. Had a little too much gin, wine and mushrooms which led to a mild hangover Sunday. I had a nap in the afternoon, which helped, then Rose and I went for a metro ride to the Provigo on Parc and then walked home; the fresh air helped as well. I bought Moana for the kids which they watched three times over the course of the weekend. I made Sol a magic fish hook he was so taken by the film. They love the soundtrack, too. Anyway, I also survived the bus ride to Ottawa and a morning of work, am taking the afternoon off to see a chiropractor. Have to go fill in the forms now before leaving.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 7, 2017, 12:40 PM
subject Niki Ashton sera candidate à la direction du NPD; Woman in police custody after baby left in bushes during -16C day in Calgary
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived my first appointment with a chiropractor yesterday. It was surprising and somewhat unsettling to hear and feel the vertebrae in my neck and back crack and pop, though it felt better afterwards and had a surprisingly quick improvement to my range of motion towards the left. It is pricey though: a half hour was $140. Going to go make copies of my receipts and get them in the mail post-haste. Since I was off early I went to the studio and worked for a good two hours before walking back to Greg and Julia’s, just missing the freezing rain. Will try to go again tonight, get as much use out of the next three weeks as I can.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 9, 2017, 12:54 PM
subject Des protecteurs d’Edward Snowden demandent l’aide du Canada; ‘All in God’s time’: The sun rose red on a day to die and, for the Amish, to forgive
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another couple days at work, and a good blitz last night in the studio. I’ve now finished 12 Tim Horton paintings on the paper I made from found Tim Horton cups. That number includes the first one I made in 2009 at the Lobe residency, and a couple from a few years back when I was sharing the studio with Stacy. I’ve got one, maybe two more to finish but I can’t seem to find any more records of other cards online, which is odd because he played for 22 seasons so there should be 22 cards, plus the all star cards. Anyway, I also survived a second visit to the chiropractor early this morning, some neck and spinal cracking and deep tissue massage, which cleared up my range of movement to the left but has now left my back a tad stiff and sore. I’m going back to have massage therapy tonight so hopefully that helps. Off to the airport this afternoon for a pick-up for work, will miss the protest in front of the NGC tonight. What is your take on the Jordan Peterson controversy? Should the NGC give him a platform or not?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 12, 2017, 10:07 PM
subject NPD: les quatre candidats mettent la table lors d’un premier débat; Faded, cracked and crumbling: The gravesites of many former prime ministers are in a sad state
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the protest (I came back from the airport in time, in fact I forgot about it and was in Chapters when Nicole texted me to remind me. It was cold, and after an hour my toes were numb.) I decided to take Friday off and found a rideshare for Thursday night, getting home after midnight but it was well worth it, the kids were really happy to see me Friday morning. I spent most of the day sorting my papers, receipts, culling junk from the shelf in the closet in the home studio, then preparing food for an impromptu dinner party with Sarah and Pascal and Karen and her boyfriend Tim. Survived the cold weekend, the kids watching Moana, Rose had a birthday party on Saturday and the rest of us gathered at SRoberts to help her build Ikea furniture in her new apartment. Today, since Rose needed new socks, we decided to make an event out of it and drove to Carrefour Laval and hung out in the mall all afternoon. Sol was patient as we waited our turn to rent one of those car-strollers, and he was enthralled with the Lego store and of course had to get something, though we negotiated down to a small kit. I’ve decided to take tomorrow off as well, help clean up the house and prepare some food for the week. We’re going to watch Selma now, the kids already asleep – DST didn’t really affect them too much.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 15, 2017, 4:03 PM
subject Budget: Ottawa pourrait s’engager sur les services de garde; The ‘perfect dupe’: How a plot for a patsy to take the fall for a drug operation collapsed into farce
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the bus drive to Ottawa, the day at work and then another inner-city bus ride to west of Westborough to visit with Brodie and his family at friends of theirs; they are visiting from Vancouver for march break, and of course Brodie was consulting at NGC for the Stan Douglas piece going into the contemporary Canadian install. I missed the bus home in the middle of the snowstorm and took an Uber home. Then I was up at 5 to drive Greg and Julia to the airport for their Whistler vacation. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep when I got back, bundled up warm for the walk to work, survived work, now debating what to do next: find a gift for the kids, get some groceries, go the gym, the studio, skiing or the opening at Axeneo7. What would you do?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 21, 2017, 12:45 PM
subject Bilinguisme dans les aéroports: le NPD exige une étude approfondie; ‘Yuck!’ Hungry offenders bartering sausages as prisons try to cut costs with new menu, ombudsman says
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend, which was short yet sweet, sunny and warm, and involved hosting a baby shower for SRoberts all day Sunday. I survived the morning bus ride to Ottawa yesterday, and then work, and then last night was going to go skiing but accidently drank half a bottle of wine before supper and so ran out of time. Continued binge-watching Hotel Beau Sejour on Netflix, then watching videos of the kids as I miss them already. I fear it may be a long week; at least we are installing works in the CPI galleries so the days go by somewhat quickly.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 22, 2017, 4:35 PM
subject Trudeau condamne le «lâche attentat» de Londres; Mystery of pilotless plane remains unsolved as single engine Cessna crashes onto shore of Lake Superior
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another night binge-watching Netflix. Finished Hotel Beausejour and finished the evening off with some comedic The Office. Work is going well, I’ve been hanging photos in the next show in the CPI, Canadian photography 1960-2000, which has been fun. At least I feel busy, and somewhat useful. It takes the edge off of the repetitiveness, the routine and the slow ticking minutes away from my family. I am so counting down the days to the opening of the CIG (Canadian and Indigenous Galleries) and the summer at home. Home with my kids and Clo. Just home.
Anyway, I’m scheduled to come back to the gallery for between 6-7 to unload a crate from a truck. May go to the studio afterwards but if it is still cold may skip it again, and go tomorrow.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 23, 2017, 4:14 PM
subject Transport collectif: Trudeau justifie l’abolition du crédit d’impôt; Montreal-area homicide victim told police she felt she was in danger: reports
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the cold yesterday, then the brief overtime, coming in to unload one crate. Lucky I came back when I did, after eating some fish tacos at el Furniture nearby, because my phone was not sending or receiving messages. It is acting glitchy lately. Is this planned obsolescence? Is it a coincidence that Rogers offered me a new iPhone 7 recently, as my current contract is up this July I believe. I am off shortly for a massage treatment (I have been trying to do 5 minutes of neck stretches per day which is actually hard to do, or make time for). I haven’t been following the budget that much but a couple things have caught my (wandering Facebook) eye: The lack of inclusion of the ARR, or Artist Resale Right, which is a bummer, and it appears, again, as per usual, inadequate funding for First Nations. Mostly have been engaged with the Dana Schutz controversy of her painting in the current Whitney (read: Whitey) Biennale, the one of Emmett Till in his open casket. Today I saw a touching letter from Schutz that turned out to be a hoax. Darn you Internet and your Fake News! Am very much looking forward to going home early tomorrow, I miss my kids. I fear that they are growing up so fast during each week I am away from them and I don’t have the time to catch up properly on the weekends. Only three more months. Twelve more weeks.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 27, 2017, 4:23 PM
subject Ottawa veut légaliser le pot dès juillet 2018; Ontario-based relief group linked to Hamas heads to court to get off Canada’s terrorist list
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend, and the drive back to Ottawa this morning. It was a busy weekend: Friday I had left work early to catch a rideshare and surprise the kids after school / daycare. They were pleasantly surprised (and didn’t even ask me for a “real” surprise, i.e. toys). We planned a hasty dinner party Friday night with our usual gang of friends, the kids were up late (Sol until 11!), we drank too much wine (good for sex but not good for hangover). Saturday Clo had to work so I took the kids and Rose’s friend Oona to le Centre des Lapins Crétins. We stayed for six hours as they ran around thoroughly enjoying themselves. Oona stayed overnight, the kids were out like lights by 9:30 or 10. Clo and I watched Arrival, which was much better than I expected and now I want to read the book. Yesterday after a coffee visit with Pascal, Sarah and her friend Andrew from NS (he lived for 4 years in Lunenburg so of course met my grandmother), we went to MEC to get summer bathing sun suits for the kids. After supper and and early bedtime for the kids I watched a film called Amir on Netflix, a hidden gem of a film. Sol peed the bed and was quite angry with himself, he has been going to bed without pullups the past few nights and this was the first accident. It was hard seeing him like that, I hope it doesn`t discolour his weekend. Anyway, I have the car this week as I am clearing our my Ottawa studio, dragging my junk back to Montreal, including skis as Eidelweis is in the end of season schedule and there is no more night skiing. The question I now ask myself is: should I leave my Everyday Goalie gear here in Ottawa for a spring or early summer video shoot on Parliament Hill?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 28, 2017, 5:15 PM
subject La sénatrice conservatrice Lynn Beyak refuse de démissionner; Senator Don Meredith will honour ethics committee invite to appear, lawyer says
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another day of work. Today started on the Garry Neill Kennedy “Figure Paintings”. The first time I worked on this piece was in 1999 at the AGNS. I was still a NSCAD student. We plotted out the figures with graph paper and measurements and rulers; this time around, we are projecting the text on the wall and I am going over with tape directly. Can’t decide if I should go to the studio or just stay in and watch the hockey game. I managed to leave my car at Greg and Julia’s because she can leave her car on the street during the day, so I plan to stop at Chapters and hopefully get that book by Ted Chiang, Story of your life, which the film Arrival was based on. Last night I watched 12 years a slave, what a punch in the gut that is. What a racist history we have yet to fully face. Like that twat of a senator is a good example: tries to find the “good intentions” in the Indigenous residential schools (even though they were always part of the government’s plan to eradicate the “Indian” in the Aboriginals), and then when called on it refuses to back down, even going so far as to say she knows enough on the subject. WTF! We won’t know enough and collectively heal and make reparations for many years and generations to come. Lynn Beyak still has lots of homework to do.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 29, 2017, 4:38 PM
subject Membres: guerre de chiffres entre les candidats à la direction du PCC; For $1.45M in B.C: A renovated home, five acres of land … and about 340 vintage vehicles
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another day of Figure Paintings. It’s advancing well; by the end of the day I had completed all of Figure 3, including the background grey. Mind you, it’s the only Figure completed, but tomorrow we should easily be able to finish 1 and 2 and probably 5. Figure 4 and Figure 2 background probably won’t get finished until Friday. There are only some minor tiny touch-ups, and the strategy of adding a low tack tape over the black shadow works like a charm. Adam had invited me to supper with Garry tonight but I’ve already made plans to eat out with Nicole and catch Lion at the Bytown Cinema. Last night I organized and packed up all the stuff in my studio, prepping for moving it all out tomorrow night. And then Friday I drive back to Montreal (leaving #everydaygoalie gear in the basement; I will do some spring performances), and then a big party weekend, and then next week the countdown to my much-anticipated summer of unemployment continues with 11 more weeks to go. Hooray!
OOps! I forgot to renew my PC membership! Now I can’t vote for the new leader! -chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mar 30, 2017, 4:43 PM
subject Bourse du carbone: Kevin O’Leary couperait les vivres au Québec; Judge rejects McCain heiress’ attempt to delay annulment case because of upcoming album release
Dear Justin,
I am still alive. I survived another day of work on Figure Paintings, Figures 1 through 3 are completed (barring minor touch-ups) and Figures 4 and 5 are all ready for the background, American grey 9U. The whole work will be completed by tomorrow. Last night I survived Lion, a harrowing film about a young Hindu boy who gets lost on a train that takes him 1600km to Calcutta, where he lives on the streets before going into a juvenile detention centre and then adopted and moves to Australia. He uses Google Earth to retrace his steps and finds his village and mother and sister, 25 years later. How heart-breaking it must be to lose a child, to not know where they are. Something like 80,000 children go missing every year in India, can you believe it? Off now to get birthday gifts for Rose’s friends, then clearing out the studio. Oh, ran into Pavitra at the gallery today, she is in a show opening tonight at the Korean Cultural Centre, located in the same building as the Canada Council. Don’t imagine I’ll see you there?
-chris
DEAR PM 