Charlie Leonard
is the construction genius behind Ithaca Artisan apartments. All our buildings are his handiwork, most all from plans drawn up by Ann per his specifications. Charlie is capable of caring for most anything that goes awry in the apartments, and for the few things that prove beyond his experience, we have a network of professionals to rely upon for assistance. Currently all our routine maintenance, repairs, lawn mowing and snow plowing is handled “in house.” When we are not around to do the job, our sons (primarily Benjamin) step in to cover for us.
When not building or maintaining things for Ithaca Artisan and around home, Charlie is playing as hard as he works. His free time passion is running, and not just your hop skip and jump marathon, either. His shortest race distance is typically 32 miles, with 50 and 100 mile races more to his liking. These races take a lot of time, both to run and to train for. Race times are typically in the 24 to 36 hour range… depending on the hilliness and technicality of the course; to date he has two sub 24 hour 100 mile races under his belt. Training for these races takes the most time, however, and our times away from Ithaca are typically planned around Charlie’s race schedule.
When not running, Charlie has a small herd of Italian Chianina beef cattle, mostly crossbred with Angus and Herefords these days. Full blood Chi’s are a high powered lot and he has reached the point where he wants to enjoy his cows, not match wits with them endlessly. He harvests all the hay from our farm that we feed our cows and horses.
Ann Leonard
is Ithaca Artisan‘s property manager. When prospective tenants write Ithaca Artisan for the first time, it is Ann who answers their questions and sets appointments for viewing places. She handles the phone, email, website and paperwork, manages apartment turnovers, fetches supplies, and helps with the repairs, maintenance, and lawns. Ithaca Artisan’s gardens are her bailiwick.
As it is difficult to write about oneself in the third person without feeling just a wee bit self conscious, I switch here to first person.
I am passionate about horses, natural horsemanship and long distance riding (not necessarily in competition though… I leave that to Charlie.) I have four horses in our barn at present: Idaho, a 34 year old retired Morgan; Lady Jane, a 29 year old Morgan, also retired; Thunder, a mostly retired 28 year old Welsh cob; and Apollo, my 11 year old current riding horse, a blood bay Egyptian Arabian. I love cows, dogs and cats… actually, just about any furry critter (what else would you expect from the daughter of two veterinarians?)
Photography is another passion of mine that I do a lot and gradually my work is improving. I finally took the plunge and bought a high grade digital camera… this alone has really improved my results! Most all the photos on this website are mine. I hope to include more over time.
I am also a Reiki Master. My primary focus is Reiki for animals (surprised, surprise!) however I also provide Reiki sessions for people with very good success, including sessions for people with their animals. It is amazing the wonderful things that come from these “joint“ sessions, both for the animals and their people.
Nature and trails advocacy is very important to me as well, and is where I direct most of my volunteer efforts.
Apollo is pictured below, taking it easy in the pasture with his girlfriend Janie. Apollo has an incredible spirit, but it has taken three years and a lot of dedication to turn him into the fantastic riding partner he is now. He has gone from being a reactive, fearful accident waiting to happen to a champion with a happy, willing and endearing can-do attitude. It took a lot of learning on my part, and some day I hope to chronicle his story either as a book or on this website as "The Apollo Lessons." I fully believe I have learned more about life from my horse than he has from me.
Above: Ann at the top of Mount Jefferson, White Mountains, NH 2004
Besides being fond of hiking and backcountry camping, Charlie and I have also done short and long distance orienteering, a map and compass sport we have competed in around the world. Learn more about this year round activity at United States Orienteering Federation's website: http://www.us.orienteering.org/ and then try a local event... check the schedule by logging onto Central New York Orienteering's website: http://cnyo.us.orienteering Why stick to the beaten path when you can find your own way with map and compass?
