Polka dot is a pattern consisting of an array of large filled circles.
Wikipedia says: "It is likely that the term originated in popularity of polka dance at the time the pattern became fashionable, just as many other products and fashions of the era also adopted the polka name."
This is around 1834 and was a dance craze until the 1890's.Polka dot patterns got their name capitalizing on the polka craze - polka was added to the names of a wide variety of products.Polka dots today find themselves on informal sorts of things - cup cakes and candy, children's clothing and toys, and fanciful house ware and women's clothing. Definitely cakes and dresses lead the way for polka dot expressions.
And then there is the Polka Dot Queen - this is a different realm of polka dot expression. The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is known as the Polka Dot Queen because of her repetitive dot patterns in all her work. Her museum in Tokyo was recently opened, and included large polka dots on the exterior. Inside are her works with their polka dots on canvases, sculptures, and more. She has mirrored installations where visitors are immersed for 20 to 30 seconds to "replicate the sense of infinity". This is astonishing and creative work. Her room of polka dot pumpkins is mesmerizing.
Our picture today uses the Topaz Glow software on the fanciful Fusion lily.
Our Thanksgiving holiday weekend celebration completes, and next is Halloween and its traditions. Our Thanksgiving tradition came about in 1957 with the declaration of a holiday. The date varied before then. Unlike the Americans, there isn't a "First Thanksgiving". But it seems to me theirs varies too. The "First" is said to be October 1621 and lasted three days - and is about the Pilgrims (who were not Puritans). However, there is a Shrine of the First Thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The date of that Shrine is 1619.
Our pictures today show our current decorative traditions - a 'country' scene displaying the pumpkin and squash harvest, corn stalks, and chrysanthemums in harvest colours. These were taken at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington. The last picture is in Hendrie Park across the road from the greenhouse display. The entrance gates are beautiful and the plaque beside indicates the dedication to the Hendrie Brothers. William Hendrie, a Scottish immigrant, purchased the land in the 1870s for his racehorse farm. In 1931 his son George donated the property to Hamilton Parks Board as a memorial to William and his brothers. Ten years later the property became part of RBG.
I await the light this morning to 'see' the fog - there's a fog advisory that says visibility may be near zero in some places.
