What to do when recovering from open-heart surgery.

First, I have to say that my recovery progress is exceeding even my most optimistic expectations.  I must be within the top 95% of patients - to be 9 weeks into the recovery process and feeling like nothing ever happened!  You may wonder what it is that I have been able to do these last three weeks of my recovery.  The answer is surprisingly - quite a lot!

Picking Fruit.
This has been a good way to pass my time.  Picking fruit gets me out on walks.  It also gives me the opportunity to carry a little weight around and stretch my arms while picking fruit overhead.  So far I have been picking cherries, saskatoon berries, strawberries and the odd raspberry.  Apricots will be ripe this coming week, and like cherries and saskatoons there is a bumper crop on the neighbors' trees.

Preserving.
So far I have canned fruit and preserves, including: Cherry Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Cherry Lime Jam and plain old pitted cherries in a light syrup.  I have vacuum packed 5 lbs of cherries and 17.5lbs of saskatoons for the freezer.

Wine Making.
Currently there is 23 L of Strawberry/Cherry Wine brewing in the secondary fermentation stage.  Once I rack this batch into a second carboy (in five weeks) I will start on my Saskatoon Berry Wine (from the 17.5 lbs of fruit I picked- now in the freezer).

Gardening.
The garden is definitely behind this year.  It was planted the week after I got out of the hospital which in the case of the leafy greens and beets was a month behind schedule.  Not a big deal since everyone's garden in Lillooet is behind.  This has been a wet and cool summer (nearly 15'C below normal) and usually I would have picked the first ripe tomato by now.  Still we have been able to enjoy plenty of Arugula, Mixed Lettuce, Basil, Swiss Chard, fingerling Beets and one cucumber.  Radishes were a complete bust this year, riddled with maggots due to the late planting.

Besides all of this domestic work, I have been out hiking a bit and helped Tracey build an 7'x8' platform outside the shed (I held boards while she cut).  We were to go camping last weekend but the weather wasn't so nice.  I took my first bike ride today!  This weekend is the Lillooet Apricot Festival, and I will help Tracey build a pergola over the hot tub.  Possibly, we will get out on the canoe this week, and maybe... just maybe get out for a longer hike into the Alpine on the long weekend - maybe in Jasper?