Winters Early Breath – New Companion

“Snowflakes on a Faded Sunflower” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

The cold breath of winter is on the horizon…
The first falling snowflakes hint and enlighten…
Daylight fades into a stellar frosty evening…
Moonlight on white snow, silently listening…

Footprints magically appear in the snow…
Another evening spent in the cold city glow…
Sitting on sidewalks of concrete and garbage…
Frosty minded reminder of life, lies and carnage

Winter is the season to let old ghosts go…
Nourish your seeds and watch how they grow…
Soon your young mind will stretch into a tall tree…
Grow up to the sky and let your dreams live free…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

“New Companion” – Wilkinsburg, PA – So I got a Corgi… Meet Cooper… He likes apples, antlers, and sniffing around orchards… I have dreamed about getting a dog for quite a few years… Yet only managed to accumulate kitties… I couldn’t be happier to welcome this guy into my life…

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Seasons Melting

“Bumblebee on Wingstem” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

Sunset melts into mighty rivers…
Oceans evaporate in the steady wind…
Rivers flow into the fluctuating sea…
The rain will eventually set us free…

The rain will wash away our sins…
Falling like hail from the gray sky…
Cloudy days into sunshine blinding…
Found yet wandering… Lost reminding…

Remind us of the woodland trees…
Smell of leaves before the freeze…
Air is crisp and cold surrounds…
In the spring the weather rebounds…

In the spring our spirits will rise…
Flowers bloom and youth surprise…
Snow delays are but a splinter…
Spring into summer and fall into winter…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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Composition in Scraps – Primary

“Composition in Scraps – Primary” – Bricks from my garden… River stones from the alley… Dandelions and Buttercups… Blue Flag Iris… Bamboo… Red Twig Dogwood… Apple…

A collaboration of a few of the things I find beautiful… Mere scraps to most… But to me… To me these things all posses as much individual beauty as they do as one composition… They were collected for a reason… They were collected to define a season… They were collected to define me…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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Hyacinth Breeze – Naked Trees

“Hyacinth Breeze” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – Hyacinth stars burst forth in colors of Easter… Early spring has arrived…

Today is but a rain delay in the grand scheme of spring…
A rare opportunity I have to share the feelings I bring…
Last years decaying leaves now resemble faded shells…
The remaining Oak leaves ring like broken church bells…

Squirrels left the trees for the rotting open eaves…
Raccoon in the chimney just another pet-peeve…
Spring is of rain showers and summer is of the sun…
Then we fall to winters slumber and the year is done…

Meanwhile in reality I absorb the Hyacinth breeze…
Soul is rising high enough to clear the naked trees…
Way up here the air is clear and I feel a bit unsteady…
Soon the bulbs will whither back and summer will be ready…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 32 – Purslane

“Pink Purslane” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

7 Days till 2 Years – Waiting for a Season

Good morning… In the cold snow I write this post…
Winter winds are whipping about…
Although my body is cold…
My soul is warm…
My heart is in the right place…
Right here… Right now…
With you…
Dreaming of the Summer…
Warm skies and vibrant life…
Reds and yellows… Purple and Blue…
Honeysuckle and the smell of dew…
Life is good when I’m with you…

Life is Good…

“Yellow Purslane” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

Here in Pittsburgh, PA… The Purslane that grows… Although edible… Is actually considered a weed… The peppery tasting leaves are considered food by many… And although I don’t mind the taste… I personally would consider this plant “fodder” as opposed to food…

Given the fact that I have long considered this plant a weed… Imagine my surprise when I saw these beautifully flowering Purslane at the greenhouse last year… I had to have a few… Interestingly… The leaves of the large flowering variety have almost no taste… While our wild variety has a pretty intense flavor… The reasoning for this is they were not selected for taste… They were selected for flowers…

The flowers of this variety closely resemble those of “moss rose”… They are both in the Portulaca family… And they both share many of the same common names… Coincidence? I doubt…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science stuff…
The native variety – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
The fancy variety – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_grandiflora

New To writing and never had to cite sources before… These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…

This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… Although this website is free… I sell prints of my photography here – www.society6.com/chriscondello – or you can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com – Although it isn’t a requirement… It helps…

Remember to tip… My Bitcoin digital wallet address is – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj

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Ashes to Ashes – In God I Trust

“Ashes to Ashes” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Summer 2013

Set out across the winter landscape…
Among the skeletons of sleeping trees…
Gracefully striding in leaps and bounds…
Silent night among the sleepy sounds…

Steady mind for the journey ahead…
Better things to do than lay in bed…
The evening shadows creep and crawl…
Occasional bursts of white snowfall…

Grace the path to promised lands…
Take a breath and raise your hands…
Heaven is the land in front of our eyes…
Expect the unexpected occasional surprise…

To creep on up when you think your down…
Raindrop flood and we eventually drown…
These same drops make my garden grow…
Combine with sun to get a full rainbow…

“Dust to Dust” – Tennis Way – Wilkinsburg, PA – Fall 2013

Another week back to the steady grind…
Take a day off and see what you find…
Works not meant to consume our life…
Shouldn’t be the object of constant strife…

The days get shorter than the night is long…
A lack of birds means a lack of song…
Too many clothes to feel the cold air…
Not enough sunlight to really even care…

Waiting for spring so my gardens grow…
Flowers bloom and sunshine flows…
With our hands we draw and render…
Garden dreams and paradise splendor…

Heaven is a garden on physical land…
Sown in our minds but created by hand…
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust…
God and nature are the only things I trust…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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The Glimmer Between – We All Must Crawl

“Mandevilla” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

After winters endless slumber…
Spring awakens into summer…
Summer slowly fades to fall…
Before we walk we all must crawl…

Autumns visual palette of spice…
Product of a natural device…
Colors through an open window…
Clouds float by like fluffy pillows…

Autumn evenings distant scent…
Summer finally relents…
Sun rays shine an orange-red…
Seed pods start to split and spread…

The trees no longer glimmer green…
Hives gear up to feed their queen…
The leaves begin their steady fall…
Before we walk we all must crawl…

We all must fall…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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Sweet Autumn Clematis – Falls Call

“Sweet Autumn” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

Sweet Autumn Clematis… To me… Smells of Fall…
Chrysanthemums… Blue Asters… And Goldenrods call…
The leaves in the trees turn a faded shade of green…
Mystically… Magically… Powerfully serene…

Freshly fallen leaves smell of earth and spice…
Seasons come once a year… 80 times a life…
Enjoy the change of seasons… Life’s little prize…
The earth is a feast living right before your eyes…

“Sweet Autumn Clematis” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

Fall is a season where the sun loses to night…
An astrological fight that determines the light…
The sun always loses and retreats to the South…
And Winter breathes frost from her icy-cold mouth…

But until then… We will celebrate the fall…
A season that I see as a sign of Spring’s call…
The leaves will enjoy their long winter slumber…
Then transform into soil for next Spring and Summer…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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