A summer wander of Wing-N-Wing.

One of the joys of this summer was a road trip with Middlest to see my parents at their beautiful home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Their home is called "Wing-N-Wing", which alludes both to a sailing term (that is beyond my sailing knowledge, which, let's face it, is limited to "boat" and "sail"), and the wings that live on their property, attached to chickens and geese. 
 Sadly, it has been some years since I've managed to make the time to visit. Fortunately, my parents are better than I, so we have seen them!
Their home is so beautiful, what a setting! As it is right on the water, they keep kayaks and a sail boat for water sport. Middlest and Poppie headed out at first decent wind, Middlest piloting the boat, and Poppie on board, lying down, as his long body doesn't fit so well on the small Sunfish. Middlest is a decent sailor, (as all my children have turned out to be) thanks to lessons on the Chesapeake Bay in summers past. I am impressed with their sailing abilities, but I was also impressed that my Dad could still walk after lying prostrate on a boat.

Really? Does NOT look comfortable. Go Dad.

Also on the water, is an Osprey platform, on which an Osprey family have built their home. Several years ago, when my parents were somewhat new to the area, they received permission to put up a platform for the birds, and we were so excited when their platform was chosen by a pair! Now, there are many, many birds in their cove, and several platforms in the area nearby. So the air is full of their circling, and they are a constant voice from above.
 I think this is one of the "teen-aged" babies. I could not get any closer without them flying off the nest. You can see another platform in the background across the water. It, too, has a family.

Also, hanging out on the dock, or in the garden, or at the pool, or helping with a puzzle is my parent's new dog, Willa. I found Willa for them at my work, through a top-notch rescue called "Columbus Cocker Rescue". Willa has turned into an adorable, sweet, polite little dog. Petite and pretty, she is a wonderful addition to Wing-N-Wing.  

As I sat looking out at the water, watching my child and father disappear by boat, and then the Osprey disappear by wing, I looked back over my shoulder at the pretty house and decided to go for a little landlubber's walk with my camera while I waited for the sailors.

The water-facing back of the house.

 My mom is a brill designer, and manages to create engaging, layered spaces in which you want to spend time. The massive outdoor fireplace at the end of their long, wide back porch expands the outdoor season for dining, or card playing well into the fall. As it was properly July hot, we did not light the fire.

 I went to go see "the girls". My parent's beautiful, prize-winning flock of Border Leicesters.

For a brief moment, I missed our flock.
Brief.

Isn't this the sweetest old-lady-sheep face? 

 Sailors are still out in the cove a bit.

Back from my widow-walking, to look for other beautiful things.

My walk to the pool was accompanied by Willa. I brought home some of the bonariensis (purple flowers on antennae) and I hope mine reseed well at Cowfeathers. I cannot seem to get plumbago to grow, as my mother does.

 Flowers are a deep and abiding part of my mother's life. When I was a child, the fridge was likely to be full of flowers when you went to search for food. When I was in high school, she bought a florist's fridge, and we got our kitchen one back. But, everywhere in my mother's house there are thoughtful bits of pretty and life. This green chippy flower bucket is an antique back bucket, with leather straps, so you can put it on like a back pack when you go flower gathering, full of Queen Anne's Lace, white Phlox and white Caladiums.

 On another table is a gathering of Maidenhair Ferns. I can never get these to stay alive, but my mom always has a few around, looking happy. The school bell is another relic of my childhood. It was loud enough to call me to dinner- back from the woods, the creek, or from horseback in my wild forest-faerie childhood.

 I love towels on a line. It means happy summer swimming.

 Willa took me out to the Knot Garden, and a tour of the chicken houses.

And finally, the sailors are back, and the geese and Osprey have the cove back to themselves.