By Charlie Fineran

AN OBSERVATION
This is the time of year, when Charlie Fineran’s articles and photos begin a campaign, reminding everyone, about the approaching Art Show, “Nature’s Art Show”, which will be presented throughout. our wondrous Open Space Lands on a grand scale, AND/OR it may be presented, on a much smaller scale, in a theatre, as small as a bush, shrub or tree in our backyards!! Nature’s Art Show is also rather unique, in that each individual piece of art, changes its presentation of colors, throughout the duration of the season, through a gradual crescendo of colors and hues, reaching a beautiful climax and then, reversing the process, leading on to the exposure of bare skeletal remains, which we endure throughout Winter. Let the preceding words serve as my 2023 initial campaign informing you of the upcoming Autumn Colors!!

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO OF THE WEEK
A NEW TWIST – Thought it might be interesting and fun to delve a little deeper into THE AUTUMN SEASON and maybe “Connect some Dots” if you will, in which I could showcase some of the “Players’ in Nature’s Grand Scheme of Things, through photos!! We all know there is more to Autumn than just Colors!! BUT, BOY CAN WE ENJOY THOSE COLORS!!!

DELVING INTO AUTUMN
Autumn is the season of transition, days get shorter, temperatures get cooler and leaves change colors and fall from the trees.

The word AUTUMN is derived from the Latin word autumnous, meaning “harvest” or “ripe” and it was used to refer to the season of crops and fruits.
In the United States, the word fall is more common, and it derives from the Old English “fealian”, meaning “to fall or die”, and reflects the falling of leaves and seeds.
Autumn is also a time of celebration and festivals, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali and Octoberfest, that mark the end of the growing season and the bounty of nature.
Autumn is a source of inspiration for many poets and artists, who capture the beauty and melancholy of the season in their works, such as John Keats :To Autumn” and Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night over the Rhone”

Autumn is also a season of change and transformation, as it prepares the earth for winter and the spring, and it symbolizes the cycle of life and death, renewal and decay.

NOTE
It was pretty interesting doing a little research on Autumn and the Fall, and while I am not going so far as to say I learned something new, I did refresh and then remember, a lot of concepts that were pretty well buried in the back areas of my mind!! I was glad I did this research to renew and recharge my understanding of Autumn/Fall.

CONNECTING SOME DOTS / MAKING SOME COMPARISONS
I mentioned earlier connecting dots, those dots are several Wildlife Photos of some birds and animals that Nature depends on to spread out and plant the seeds for the next generation of plants. This is my personal view comparing man and nature. Think of it, for the most part we/man looks at Spring as our main time to plant our crops where as Nature seems to rely more on Autumn/Fall for the wildlife to do the job. Keep in mind, Wildlife are doing their tasks more as a personal necessity to prepare for the winter months, AND, through those efforts of collecting and storing they are actually becoming Natures Farmers in planting the next seasons crop. I am not positive on this, but, a lot of what animals collect, then hide and store is not retrieved by the animal doing the initial storing!! A lot of Nature’s stored seeds actually do become new plants!! So all the scurrying around and harvesting by Wildlife serves two purposes – the animals future feeding and survival ALONG WITH promoting future growth for the various Habitats.

It is my hope that these efforts Delving into AUTUMN have renewed your overall thoughts about Autumn and given you a fresher sense of what is happening during this most beautiful of seasons. Remember Nature is all about, EVERYTHING plays an important role AND there are always more than one thing happening at the same time. Just Look for it!!

All the above photos depict animals that live on seeds and move seeds around thus helping spread seeds in the wild.

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran
Director Open Space
Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman
Allamuchy Historical Society – President