Oh dear, I think it will be long long time until anyone can call this house ‘home’ again.  It was quite a shock to return to Palm Desert and see our house in person.  I had seen some photographs sent to me via email but nothing can prepare you for viewing it yourself: opening the front door and being confronted by piles of ash and roof tiles on your living room floor, by blackened soot covering all vertical and horizontal surfaces, and the insistent smell of ash invading your nostrils.  Our contractor had already accomplished quite a bit of demolition in preparation for our remodel so it was hard to discern what was fire damage and what was not but I know we did not plan for a cabriolet-roof over the laundry room!

I spent 6 hours yesterday at the house with 6 fire investigators from the 3 different insurance companies involved, watching them trying to find out what exactly happened.  They’ve honed in on it being an electrical fire probably caused by a bathroom exhaust fan, but they don’t know for certain and they might never really know.  We’re a bit unclear on what happens next and how/who/when repairs might start but they will, sometime, and eventually we’ll have a home again.

For now I’m staying at my uncle & aunt’s house, just one street away, and will be here to do what I can.  I have walked a little bit since I’ve been back.  Obviously not like the Camino, but 4-6 miles or so.  It was triple-digit temperatures last week which meant getting up at 5am in order to enjoy a modicum of cool, walking by 6:15am and finishing the last few miles in the gym.  By 9am it was 90 degrees so all chores and errands had to be done early in the morning before I melted and scurried back to hide inside in the a/c.  But it’s cooler now and I’ve signed up for a club hike on Wednesday – when it forecast to rain! 🙂