One of the best things about having a camera phone is that you can capture little unplanned moments throughout your day, whether it's the color of changing leaves, the way sun shines through the trees, or the design carefully drawn on the foam of a freshly-made latte. This Birdy's favorite season is autumn, without question. And we're in the thick of it, so I'm enjoying every fleeting moment of it when I can. And maybe that's one of the reasons I love fall so much -- it feels like a fast moving transition into winter, where we won't see bright colors for a while, so you take the time to appreciate the sights, sounds and smells of the year as it wanes into its final days.

Some of my favorite fall things include:
Pumpkin spice-everything (lattes, pies, bread, the works!)
No matter how gray the skies are, the color of fall leaves make the day bright
The farmers markets are full of harvest favorites like squash, corn and apples
Tis the season for scaves, coats and jackets
The air feels crisp, cool and clean -- the right way to start the morning

So, what about you? What's your favorite thing about this time of year?

Jaunty Fine Print:  photos taken by Denise Sakaki via iPhone and run through Instagram

Just like showing up late to the Pinterest party, this Bird is also fashionably tardy to the Instagram soiree as well. But I had a good excuse -- I just got a new phone that could finally do all this neat stuff that all the cool kids were already doing. And of course, like any new toy, I'm totally OBSESSED with the latest doo-dad's and whatchamacallits. So, yes, my latest object of J'adore is taking borderline interesting pictures from my phone and making them Instagram-tastic, with a wide variety of filters and funky frames. I do appreciate that it's not total magic -- if you took a lousy photo, it's just going to put a funky frame and filter on a lousy photo, not necessarily make it better. I tested it out on some outdoor shots at the recent Railroad Days celebration in the city of Snoqualmie, where the vintage fire trucks and old spooky railroad cards lent themselves well to the filters.

Because it's just a phone app, I can't provide a link for web users, but if you want to track me down in the application, my username is: dsakaki. Looking forward to seeing you on the Instagram pictoral landscape!


Jaunty Fine Print:  photos by Denise Sakaki