August & Autumn 2024 – L E O N E T T I

Manual Labor-cation
What crazy consecutive crap weather. Landslides – not at our house thankfully but our pool did go over the sides. Condusive to working inside. Joe got the cantina pellet stove intalled and the living room and gym / yoga studio floors installed. I tried to be his monkey butler helper 🙄. I did rake leaves, trim the lavender and rosemary – not nearly a contribution in comparison.
October 2024

_{The formal living room floor in, couch and wood stove in place. Waiting for the staircase. Right now it is empty and looks perfect for a dance party.
October 2024}

_{Cozy cantina with the pellet stove. We also had Steve, Kris and Kaye with us over night and had the guestroom wood stoves lit. Homemade lentil soup, fresh bread and a lot of wine.}
_{High hygge}.
_{October 2024}

^{Our 36th Anniversary
⛰️ Hiked 3 hours up from Beatenberg at 1129 meters to Niederhorn 1963 meters and stayed at the Berghaus Niederhorn. You can 🚠 gondola up but what’s fun about that plus hiking 840 meters up makes the beer and fries taste better. Here 🍻 is to another 36 years together ❤️}
^{5 October 2024 | Niederhorn, Interlaken, Switzerland}

_{Luzern Oktoberfest 🇨🇭🍂🍻🍁 28 September 2024}

_{Autumn is coming and we are enjoying the last days of summer. Lula and I came down on 3 September in Louie the 500. The garden was a mess. We were only gone for a month. The soil is so rich that everything grows and grows. Watermelon and canteloupe. Tomatoes and eggplants. I keep a garden journal and have noted that 6 plants is way too much – and everything else I need to do / grow differently next year. I was stressed about all the food waste and wished I had paid attention to my mom’s canning but I was not interested. I have been educating myself on YouTube. Bought all the jars and lids and started. Eggplant sott’olio – a bit of a process but I think it will be excellent. Roasted heirloom tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano. Straight up roma tomatoes canned. Pear butter – because we have a pear tree. Pickled cabbage, onions, carrots and pepper – this wasn’t from my garden but I thought since I was in a canning groove and Av’ suggested it, I would makes some Brallo kraut. Juiced and froze water melon – water melon in my smoothies. The villa kitchen design is really perfect – I couldn’t be happier – all this canning has been proof of concept.}
_{And just enjoying the last days of the pool. Last official day of jumping in (it was freezing) 15 September 2024}

_{Those cuties – Jane & Zaven in Greece | September 2024}

_{Birthday Trek Weekend | Graubunden, Switzerland | 30 August – 1 September}

Louie the 500 | My birthday present to myself.

_{The post trek victory pose | Lula was pooped and not posing}

_{My birthday trek weekend!}
_{It is always tricky finding a place / hutte that takes dogs. I called Chamanna d’Es-cha (2594 meters) and they said we could bring Luli and I let them know that we would be arriving late Friday night…my birthday. We drove Louie, with the top off, and arrived at the trail head – we started to hike at 8.30 PM when it was just getting dark. Hiked for an hour and forty, in the dark, but thankfully could see the light of the hutte…also not realizing that there was a crazy drop off into nothingness. We arrived at the hutte around 10.00 PM and they saved dinner for us. We got settled into our little off site hutte and went to sleep. When we woke up we could see the crazy trail we arrived on. It was a glorious morning and we hiked farther up to 2900 and then all the way down. Drove to an amazing alpen lake – had a picnic and then on to the Berninahaus – our second night. Amazing hospitality – four course vegan meal. It was the perfect birthday weekend.}