Just to keep folks up to date:

Thanks to all my friends for their kind thoughts. Here's an update. All but two rooms of our house will be gutted - new insulation, new walls, new floors, new appliances. All the furniture that had fabric will be trashed. The computer is half gone - melted actually - luckily I have my laptop. Tandy's antiques are in Michigan being refurbished as well as many of my more rare books. I probably lost several hundred books but miraculously my guitars and banjos came through without a scratch. The lesson is not to put books on shelves but to store them in instrument cases. The house is utterly depressing - just black walls, soot and ash everywhere - its heart breaking. I still can't get over Maeve.

Let's hope things go right from now on.