Charlie Fineran’s Photo of the Week: He’s not Fooling Around

Hi Everyone:

April 1, 2023 ***APRIL FOOLS DAY*** I am not fooling around, it is Saturday afternoon around 1:00 p.m., after a rainy windy morning, it has actually cleared up AND – it feels like SPRING! I just got up from my computer and checked my outdoor thermometer 72 degrees, in the shade. Don’t hold me to this, BUT, I believe it has been quite a while since we last hit 70 degrees. AND, if you ask me, March had the worst average weather of this whole NON-WINTER. I have been looking around for a topic and some photos for my latest Photo of the Week article. HOWEVER, after mentioning April Fools Day, I decided to do a little research on line trying to answer the QUESTION, What is the story behind April Fools Day? ANSWER – The exact origins of April Fools’ Day are unknown and effectively unknowable. Some historians speculate that it dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and some people continued to celebrate the new year in early April, becoming the target of jokes and hoaxes. Others suggest that it relates to ancient festivals that celebrated the spring equinox, such as the Hilaria of Rome or the Holi of India. It is also possible that it has a religious connection to the end of the holy week in Christianity.

OK, getting back to my picking a topic and some photos for this week’s article. Let me check my various files and archives. I finally looked through my four years of articles for insidewarren.com and came across an article titled “Spring is in the Air” dated April 24, 2022. Reading the article, I ‘kinda’ liked the story’s concept of keeping the article short along with its message. MODUS OPERANDI, I will copy and paste that article and look for some photos celebrating the warmer weather and wildlife.

Copied and pasted:

STORY BEHIND PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Decided to keep my Presentation short and focused, with the hope, you will look at the photos, and then, create your own images, your own subjects, all, celebrating this beautiful time of the year. The important underlying theme, is best described, by the words, re-birth and rejuvenation. For Spring is certainly a time when we witness, the coming forth of new generations, among the various fauna, along with, the dramatic, revitalization and recoloring, of our beautiful Open Space Lands. SO, charge up your imaginations, AND, begin to create your own Spring Collage images.

I have included a link to Branch Brook Park located in Newark, NJ. This is a world famous site, (NOTE: More cherry blossom trees than Washington DC!!) Also, it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, ‘The Father of Landscape Architecture’ We in Warren County actually have a connection of our own with his firm, Rutherfurd Hall in Allamuchy, when being built by Winthrop Rutherfurd 1903-1905 had hired the Olmsted Brothers, son’s of Frederick Law Olmsted to design his surrounding yard’s landscape. MAKE PLANS, Cherry Blossoms come out in early April.