We have been in our house now for just over three months.  It definitely took longer to get the house rebuilt than I would have ever imagined, but we are very happy to be back in.  And for the most part, we are settled.  The inside is furnished and Peter is collecting tons of Chinese paintings to populate the walls.  We still have house projects left even though I had the naive notion that with this new house everything would be done and I wouldn't have to do any house projects for years (I am not a big fan of house projects!).

During the time it took to rebuild, nature has erased most, but not all, of the obvious signs that just three years ago, this area was ravaged by a swift, scalding wildfire.

And nature continues to thrive.  The fog still climbs over the mountains and creeps through the valleys as we can see from this view from our bedroom porch.

Parma Park, which is directly behind our house and was completely burned in the fire, has regrown to a lush park (well, lush in California standards).

There are still many charred trees that remind us that there was a recent fire.  But their charred branches still support life like Stephen, who I can only assume is using this tree as a vantage point to hunt.

It is amazing to look back three years ago and consider the destruction of the Tea Fire and to compare the decimation seen then to the present state of the area.  Nature has easily resurrected itself in the parks and open lots.  For us, returning to the pre-fire state took a little more blood, sweat, and tears, but it was well worth it.

Now all we have to do is complete those last few house projects........