Things are progressing as they should on the recovery front in this home of ours. As long as my husband remains on Coumadin, which should be until the third quadrant of December, he will feel constantly chilled, vulnerable to the cold. So that when we go out into the out-of-doors he must dress as he would for winter weather. We're not all that far off winter, granted, and at this point in fall the temperature has dropped, we frequently experience days of heavy wind gusts and the skies are often dripping with raggedy dark clouds. When the sun emerges, of course, everything changes.

But even in the house, and even though we have raised the maintained indoor temperature, he is easily chilled. That, and the still-lagging energy levels bedevil this man of action. But things are definitely progressing. Yesterday we enjoyed an uninterrupted half-hour walk on the street where the going is level, no additional up- and downhill challenges yet. It takes a half hour for that circuit to be completed. From various vantage points we can see the masts of deciduous and conifers beyond the streets, in the ravine, still creating a colourful spectacle.

Later yesterday, we ran a number of errands together. Although the seat belt hasn't proven to be a problem across his chest, he dutifully uses the 'teddy' given to him for the purpose of inserting between his chest and the seat belt, after hospital discharge. Given the sheer bulk of the jackets he now wears it seems hardly necessary, but better safe... We dropped by the veterinarian clinic for Jackie's special gastro formula kibble, and then the pet food store for Jillie's natural-sourced kibble. Then went briefly into a nearby supermarket to pick up a few additional food items, and finally to the local dollar store for kitchen items.

None of these activities now appear to present an obstacle as far as energy expenditure is concerned to my husband. He doesn't get about with his usual alacrity, takes his time slightly over what he is accustomed to, but otherwise everything is fairly normal. When I do the weekly grocery shopping he drives me to the supermarket, drives back home then picks me up in an hour. But stopping fairly briefly at a specialty fruit and vegetable store, he prefers to enter with me and look about and make selections together.

And last night, because it was a Saturday night, we danced to the music of the 50s and 60s, which has become a favoured habit with us. Not one Saturday night of dancing did we miss, not even the week after his open-heart surgery when we danced for several  minutes, because he insisted we do that because he wanted to and felt he could. Now, we dance to those tunes for an unstoppable half hour at a time. Things are progressing.