A little bit of this and a little bit of that

I'm taking even more photographs than ever. After two years with my new camera, I finally read the manual and I am finding that I can zoom in closer than I thought possible.That's particularly useful for shy subjects like the man in the moon and humming birds. However, there is definitely a learning curve. I can get better results if I set everything manually but it's been trial and error with plenty of missed shots.
I am thrilled that the dogwoods are beginning to change colors. They are one of the earliest trees which change where I live. Then the maple trees and lastly the oaks with lots of others in between. So far the dogwoods are the only ones that are showing very much fall color.I love this time of year, before the first hard frost, when the flowers are still abundant but changing leaves and cooler air give me a new lease on life. The birds are starting to change too. They puff out to that full look they get when the weather is cooling off. They also seem to be braver, taking longer to fly off when the sense my presence.
I used to write in a paper journal every morning but for some reason I stopped doing that. I almost never write in a journal anymore. When I've looked back on my journals the part I've found interesting were notes I made about the birds and garden. I would notice when the birds were getting up earlier and when they slept in. These patterns were apparent at different times of the year.
The emotional or personal issues of my life which I wrote in my journals didn't seem important if I glanced back on what I wrote. Those were the sections I wanted to discard, ripping them out of the journal and discarding as rubbish.
The old journal entries I was interested in years later were my notes on the birds behavior different times of year, what kept blooming past the first hard frost, what sprung up as a volunteer in a different part of my garden from where it was originally planted.
I think photography has replaced my journal in a way. I spend at least as much time taking pictures every day as I used to spend writing in spiral notebooks. If I want to look back on my life I can turn to my photo files.