Portland is a mossy place. The moss grows all around the tree here, so if you are lost don't count on that. You can find it in most of your pictures as well. Take a picture of any street scene, then pump up the green, you'll see what I mean.
Waiting for spring... coming in fits and starts this year, no clear line of delineation. When the weather crosses from colder to warmer, it is usually self evident. With spring in Portland I have come to expect a big bang of showy life. Not this year. More like many many smaller ones. They could be counted.
Kit lens broke on the camera, oh well. It was a typical 18-50 setup. I kept it wide open at all times. There is no reason in my mind to ever 'zoom' in with a lens. That is interpolation. Get yourself some prime lenses and call it good. It's a camera, not a microscope. You can spend $1,000 if you have it. You could also spend $150 and be just as happy.
A side benefit: prime and wide lenses are smaller. You don't walk around with a bazooka strapped around your neck.
I had the kit lens on my current camera for 6 months. I can count the number of times I 'zoomed' in. Personally I prefer the widest of views. You can zoom in if that's your deal and amplify detail. I prefer to do the same but in the opposite direction. Zoom out to find more interest in the scene, more supporting detail. It's there, hidden yes, but it's there. Trust me, it's the way of the world.
Kurosawa the master here. Watch any and all of his films. Pay close attention to the depths of his scenes. There is always supporting material, the environment, the elements, relations, strangers, the camera itself. Every thing has a purpose, it's not there by accident. The same can be true of your photographs, even as a passer by.
If you need to get closer, for heavens sake get closer. Move towards your subject. You are not a Private Investigator, you are a public one. You are a viewer of the world and it's relationships. Beauty, we don't need photographs for that. How two or more things interact, that is what photography is all about.
A beautiful thing and a beautiful picture should never be one and the same.