Well hello there, long-lost blog-readers! I suppose I’m the one who is “long-lost”, but I’m hoping you’ll forgive me because I have a Real Blog Post for you today, complete with pictures!

I’m spending my summer working in Lake Arrowhead and living with Mom. I’ve been here for about 6 weeks now, and I’ll be here until early September. Work was a bit crazy at first, but now that I’m getting the hang of it, I have enough time and energy to write a little about my summer so far.

First, here is a picture of Mom’s house:

Mom's house in Cedar Glen.

Isn’t it cute? You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Mom lives on a dirt road, has 1 neighbor and her property faces National Forest. Just how she likes it.

Next, here’s a view from the back windows in the dining room:

View from the dining room.

It’s a very nice view, don’t you think? From here you can see all the deer and bears that come by.

My job is going pretty well. I’m a Supervisor for the first time and I’ve learned a LOT. It’s been tough at times, but I’ve already used the skills I’ve learned in other areas of my life.

Speaking of other things I do, last weekend was the first SCA event I have ever Autocratted. I first started planning for it back in January and it was great (and a little scary) to see it finally come to fruition. I think it went very well, and I have to admit that my recent work as a Supervisor gave me a lot of confidence on the day of the event.

Here are some pictures from Lyondemere Anniversary:

The Lyondemere pavilion.

I got an award at Court!

The Order of the Lion's Paw - Lyondemere's baronial service award.

Here I am, showing off my new award. This dress is new too – I wanted to look my best for my first event as Autocrat!

New dress, new award!

Mom was there too!

(Chris came too, but he was taking the pictures and therefore isn’t in any of them. Thanks for being photographer, Chris!)

Like I said, the event went really well. Whenever I started to get panicky, I reminded myself that most of the people there are friends of mine, and they’d help me out if I needed it. An unanticipated challenge was fighting off the flu a few days earlier, and having Bronchitis during the event. I didn’t feel too good, but it certainly was a memorable day!