I estimate 99% of my indoor belongings were incinerated or damaged so much by the fire, and not too much of that was able to be professionally cleaned (mostly some clothes).

Just recently while moving my outdoor plants behind the retaining wall to keep them out of the way from the construction crew one of my mom’s ceramic pieces (signed by her with her name carved into the bottom) became another casualty of the process. It had a plant in it, so I thought it was best to leave it on the premises and leave it outside, but it still broke and the plant survived.

While it was a long shot, because of the four pieces it was left in, I was able to gather the three biggest pieces. I glued them not realizing a gap would be remaining in the bottom. I will no longer put plants in it, but I might come up with some kind of band-aid solution for the gap that remains (or not). This is the result. It’s still pleasant to look at, and I’m glad at least I have some of the things my mom painted and touched. She had her own kiln and used molds, of course, but she hand-glazed and hand-painted thousands of pieces like this one.

These are more or less the “before” pictures of the windmill trapped by overgrown foliage and way too much bamboo that has taken over the second tier of the garden.

Spending more time than I have since the fire itself, Shea and I bought new gardening tools to remove a ton of bamboo manually, pruning other bushes to free a bunch of plants. We determined the lemon tree was not completely dead. I watered plants and took a bunch of things home to neaten them up. I organized my gardening area and cleared lots of burned-out gardening supplies. I created a large pile of debris that is just not worth keeping. It’s amazing so many months later to not have touched so many things that have been outside all this time.

I’m overjoyed today after being so stressed out over the rebuild. It’s heartening to see my home look more like a house from the street and when I’m standing within the house. Most of the (first layer) roof is now installed. Not seeing the sky for the first time in months gives me huge comfort. I thought it was cute to see hills and tall trees from inside my house, but that got old fast. Now I feel like I can sense what having my home back will feel like as it’s so much easier to imagine a future there. Having this facade of a shelter did so much for my psyche today. We also noticed that the area where the fire first started has numerous replaced beams.

The largest remaining roof opening is the area where the remaining beams need some replacement. By and large, most of the existing trusses were able to be used. I am still having nightmares about fire and other tragedies, which have spiked in recent weeks, perhaps because of the stress of the election. Still, it’s nice to know that there is a substantive countdown in my near future beyond the one for this country and the world. The picture from outside the front gate is courtesy of wonderful neighbor Larry Miller who informed me of this huge step forward.

I recently re-read Barbra Streisand’s first book called “My Passion for Design,” which was particularly inspiring as I’m literally rebuilding my house that burned down. On her barn house she had a 14-foot water wheel installed, so I looked around at the various replacement water features I’m going to have in my backyard and found this fabulous fiberglass number which is even more beautiful in person than I could have imagined, and larger than I expected. I’m joking that rather than having a 14-FOOT water wheel, mine is 14 inches, but that’s fine. The sensation and pleasant sounds are the same. There are other inspirations she’s given me like avoiding some harsher colors and lighting and collecting cranberry glass.

While this model came with an electric plug, after my house fire experience which initiated from the general area where I had an electric fountain, I will replace all fountain electric plugs with solar power. I already have two fountains with this, and it was very inexpensive to purchase a separate power source with a solar panel to power them. It simplifies the wiring, and placement in the garden and doesn’t have any chance of causing a chain reaction that could cause an electrical short or sparks.

Hummingbirds are now regularly using the solar-powered artichoke-shaped fountain to stop fluttering, drink, and bathe. I happened to be sitting in the best spot when I took this footage.

New location for solar spinners, and new configuration:

This was almost dismissed as a weed, was at my real home, but Shea noticed it was a tomato plant. Now it’s about to turn red, which is exciting. It’s the first tomato I’ve actually helped grow, although there were several tomato plants producing when I first moved into my home from the previous owner.

Below you can see the two solar trees that I’m testing out. Their solar panels might have been covered for months by foliage or dirt.

We brought some plants from my home to the rental to work on repotting, etc. I’m using a donated Ethan Allen dining room table as my garden table, which I feel guilty about, but it is slightly warped and the chairs that came with it had some mold, so I discarded them without thinking months ago. In hindsight, they probably would have been worthwhile to re-upholster, but things were moving so quickly right after the fire and I made a lot of rash decisions.

Everything I do in this yard is to stage for my own home. I’m trying to enjoy the serenity of it even though I resent being here. I’d rather be at my house, but there is no electricity. At least at my house, there is some outdoor furniture that is comfortable to sit on and potable water from the hose. I don’t really need wifi since I have a mobile network, but it’s just not the same.

Even some of the new furniture I bought I now have some buyer’s remorse about. For example, the extra large recliner was a death trap. I can barely get out of it with all the strength in my legs. The dining room table I bought new looked perfect in the catalog, but what I could not see was that the tiny grooves on the top do nothing but collect crumbs and make the table impossible to wipe down. It’s like going backward to a tiled countertop after having quartz.

I did a lot more pruning of plants like the rosemary and the younger plum tree so I can see the old fountain and cleared the metal steps. Watering the plants will hopefully make a huge difference, especially because I have never seen the lemon tree so distressed before. I ended up taking the most stressed small plants back to the rental for some TLC.

I unplugged some of the outdoor items like an Alexa, outdoor lights and the large fountain. I’ll bring the two solar trees to the rental to see if they are working also. One of them flickered on, so that would be a nice win.

I’m still finding random melted metal pieces that I don’t recognize from the “before time,” which might be an artistic touch to the garden at some point. Maybe I’ll make one piece out of several melted pieces.

Here’s a sign that progress is being made: the steps outside of the side yard: