Crowns large and small

Yesterday I got The Crown Part One, very undramatic, thanks to a good dentist and an excellent assistant. Dentistry is complicated for me owing to the occasional laryngeal spasm. 

It's like getting cramp in your airway. It's dangerous, scary, and I avoid triggers. So having equipment and water spraying about my mouth, water hitting my throat being a prime trigger for me, I'm always grateful for expert dentists. It's also why swimming is not a source of joy! 

So that was wonderful, to have it done and only needing the permanent crown in a couple of weeks, much simpler process.

Speaking of crowns, all the talk around yesterday about people who hadn't known any other Queen than Elizabeth II, reminded me that my mom's life was bracketed by queens. 

Born in 1895, she was old enough to read out the newspaper account of Queen Victoria's death to her mother. So she lived through Edward VII, Edward VIII and the abdication -- always was on the side of Edward, thought Prime Minister Baldwin a bitter old man-- then George VI and in to Elizabeth .

She also saw many changes and inventions, from newspaper accounts of events, often days after they'd happened, all the way to live television.  

She remembered newspaper accounts if Bleriot's famous first biplane flight across the Channel, daringly flying over water! And she admired Amy Johnson, pioneer flyer,  whom she always called Amy Mollison, that being her maiden name, under which she first became famous. 

This weekend's viewing, calm, peaceful is

I've probably seen it but a second evening with Mma Ramotswe is fine.

Yesterday's gardening consisted of yanking out the cherry tomato plant which was starting to fail, the nights being too cool for further ripening. 

This is one plant, amazingly productive. I have a couple of hundred tomatoes ripening on the windowsill and on plates.

And you see the spent eggshell I found under it, probably a mourning dove 

The departure of the tomato plant leaves breathing room for the butterfly bush which is going to be spectacular

Happy gardener here. And next year I'll plant tomatoes again now that I know they can grow in that unlikely shady damp spot. Unless the butterfly bush has completely taken over.

Happy day everyone, lovely spell of weather, very typical of this time in September, sunshine, low humidity, cool nights, everyone very cheerful. 

Ukraine has retaken some of their own territory. Slava Ukraini!