Jennifer Bliman picks up the French Horn that she keeps here at her mom’s house in Westlake Village. She's been staying here since the Mountain Fire swept through Camarillo last Wednesday, destroying her home as it did so.
This is one of four French horns that she owns and the professional musician had stored them here out of convenience.
"I haven't actually played since everything happened just because I was so upset," she told KCLU. "Every French horn was at my parents house. I teach in the Westlake Village area and I've just been leaving them at my parents house."
But that was the action that saved her precious French horns from being lost for good when her own Camarillo home burned down in the Mountain Fire last week. She didn't manage to save their piano, or her trumpets or her husband's bagpipes.
"Pretty much every other instrument that I own is gone. But the ones that really matter, they are here. So, I mean, that's something," she said.
"I wrote a bunch of music out by hand because they don't make it for the French horn. And I used to do these shows in a lounge at a bowling alley, and I would tell the audience, 'I better not have a fire'. Yep," she said.
She hasn’t been back to the place her home once stood. But – she’s philosophical. She and her husband, their two children and their dog – are all safe and staying with family after being evacuated and then losing their home within the space of a few hours last Wednesday.
"I've seen the pictures, so I know what it looks like. But going there is a completely different experience, and I don't think I want that," said Bliman. "I'm wearing a lot of my childhood clothing because I left the clothing that I don't really care for so much at my parents house. I'm glad it still fits."
The house she says she loved, but it was also filled with family mementos, books and pictures and chattels with historical and sentimental value.
"Our library was like Beauty and the Beast movie, with a sliding ladder and books everywhere," she said. "Not just the books. My grandparents things were on all those shelves. I made sections for my husband's dad. I made a section for my grandparents, and I can't believe how partial I am to my clothing and my kid's clothing," she said.
Firefighters may not have been able to save their home but did save their car and some items.
"The firemen saved them. They found the keys in the house and they loaded some things from the library and a portrait of my kids that was by the front door. My husband likes Star Trek and they grabbed some Star Trek stuff that was in the library. And then they even grabbed some Thanksgiving decor!" she said. "When you see this stuff, it means so much more. We have a sign that was given to us from our wedding and it has our name and 'established 2018' and it was saved. And you can see a burn spot on it."
She’s also had to explain it to her children – her 4-year-old daughter – who lost her favorite Hello Kitty stuffy and the community rallied to replace it.
"It hit her pretty much right away. 'I lost my toys' and started crying and I was really surprised. I was like, she gets it. So I made a post on Facebook. A lady came by and she dropped it off and my daughter was right there. My daughter ran over to it, gave it a hug, and I think she thought it was the original one. And the lady had tears in her eyes. And it was it was really sweet," she said.
But – after her own father passed away in September and now losing her family home – she says the Holidays are going to be a bit different this year.
"We're going to have the smallest one we've ever had. You know, I just feel like everything's taken away," she said.
"I try to like, be positive. Things are actually going pretty well," she said - trying to be hopeful. "I mean, it's not, but, you know, like, we're able to be at my parents house. Other people that had this happen. And it's got to be so much worse."
