2 roe pictures

Here you can see the difference of amateur and almost-professional (me and Erik); and the difference of the photolenses which are in front of my Nikon D50 and in front of Erik's Nikon D200. These photos are taken on the same place, at the same time, about the same distance (Erik was a bit behind me), both lying down on the grass.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience. We saw this roe very far away, and didn't move towards her at all. She was the one who got curious about us, as we were lying down and she didn't really understand who we are and what we do there. She started to walk towards us murmuring and making hooks until she was about 17 metres from us. Then, suddenly she got scared and ran into the safe distance again with lots of barking. Photographed by Erik, Lääne county, Estonia, May 2008.

Photographed by Karin, Lääne county, Estonia, May 2008.

Karin is a year older again...

-Getting older isn't

a bad thing at all

If you see it as another year

we've been friends-

(from Minna's birthday card)

It's strange how quickly years pass by, and how often I get a chance to celebrate my birthday :). I'm not going to talk about my age, as it's not imporant anymore, when you're over teenagers' years (in our age, it's much more popular to say: I'm always staying young in my heart:)); but I want to share the impressions of my birthday party organized for friends.
This year, I had a very special birthday, as besides all my good friends from universty years, I also had 3 penpals present in my party: my dear penpal (and friend) Eda with her family, my dear penpal Piret with her daughter and... my dear Finnish penpal Minna with her husband Tomi! It's the first year I'm having an international birthday party, where people used 3 different languages to communicate with each other; and I think it was fun.
THANK YOU ALL* coming and sharing my confused feelings of getting one year older again...

*ALL means: Erik, Kert, Kristi, Pille, Avo, Marit, Tanel I, Kairi, Tauno, Tanel II, Eda, Andres, Märt, Elika, Piret, Maris, Minna, Tomi
**And hopefully others, who weren't able to come this year, will do it next year...
*** And thank you for everyone who remembered my birthday one way or another (greetings cards, SMS, phone calls, presents...)
My birthday cake - made by Erik. It's probably quite clear what is says: "Happy Birthday Karin".
My guests this year - Front: Piret, Maris, Kairi&Tanel, Pille&Tanel, Kristi, Elika and Kert
Back: Tomi, Märt, Minna, Andres, Tauno, Eda, Avo&Marit, Erik, Karin.
My flowers and the birthday cards...
I'm with my cards and flowers on my birthday morning

My Finnish friends and I on my party

Eda and I
Marit,Tanel, Pille, Kristi, Kairi and Elika
My friends from university times: Kristi, I, Kairi and Elika

Tanel wants to become a photographer in the future...

Tauno, Tanel in front; I, Eda, Minna and Tomi having conversation in the middle, and Pille, Kristi and Avo talking to each in the back.

Half of me, Tanel, Minna, Tomi, Maris and PiretHalf of Maris, Piret, Tanel, Kristi, Kairi and ElikaMen (Avo, Andres and Erik) talking about fishing, hunting and photo-hunting...

The Black Grouse

Photographed by Erik, Lääne county, Estonia, April 2008.

The Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix in Latin, teder in Estonian) is a large bird in the grouse family and breeds across northern Eurasia mainly in the bog areas near to woodland.
In Spring time, the male birds (which are much more colourful and majestic than the modest female birds) gather to fields where they display themselves to attract a female mate by strutting with their tails spread and heads held low.
These photos are taken during one of these attraction games, in a very deep bog, where you can see nothing else, than a few ailing pinetrees and lots of low bog plants and ... of course water.

Photographed by Erik, Lääne county, Estonia, April 2008

Friends - Part III

-Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend-
Lets meet my friends!
In 2005-2007 I was lucky to meet both some of my closest and "old" penpals as well as some new! You can see the photos here.
Amy, Robert, Heike, Karin, Annette, Marta, Minna - I don't know what I'd do without you!
Photo: I, Bethu and my Finnish penpal Minna, Kiia village, Estonia, August 2007.

Photo: I and my Portuguese penpal Marta, Porto, Portugal, September 2006.

Photo: I and my Estonian penpal Eda, on a small island near Pärnu, Estonia, August 2006.

Photo: I and my Norwegian penpal Annette, Palmse, Estonia, July 2006.

Photo: I, my Italian penpal Brigida and her friends, Forli, Italy, June 2006.

Photo: I, Kert and my Scottish penpal Amy's family, Muhu island, Estonia, August 2005.

Photo: I and my best friend Kristi, Plitvicka, Croatia, August 2005.

Photo: I and my German penpal Heike, Nürnburg, Germany, August 2005.

Photo: I and my Polish penpal Robert, Kiia village, Estonia, August 2005.
Photo: I and my Norwegian penpal Karin, Skaret, Norway, January 2005. Photo: I, my Norwegian penpal Annette, and her boyfriend Anders, Oslo, Norway, January 2005.

Friends - Part II

- A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out -
Lets meet my friends!
Here you can see some of the photos (from 2003-2004) together with my penpals and with my best friend Kristi.
Thank you - Laima, Eda, Kristi, Marina, Svana, Ande, Cindy, Brigida - being there for me for so many years!
Photo: I and my Latvian penpal Laima, Riga, Latvia, September 2004.

Photo: I and my Estonian penpal Eda, Jurmala, Latvia, August 2004.

Photo: I and my best friend Kristi, Pärnu county, Estonia, July 2004.

Photo: I and my Danish penpal Maria, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2003.

Photo: I and my Icelandic penpal Svana, Rutshellir, Iceland, August 2003.

Photo: I and my Estonian penpal Ande, Palmse, Estonia, June 2003.

Photo: I and my American penpal Cindy, Muhu island, Estonia, June 2003.

Photo: My Italian penpal Brigida, her ex-boyfriend Marco, Kert and I, Türisalu, Estonia, March 2003.

Friends - Part I

- A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more -
Lets meet my friends!
You can see some photos from 1999-2002 when I met some of my precious penpals.
Karin, Cynthia, Eda, Annette, Marta, Mari, Brigida and Amy:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP! Photo: I and my Norwegian penpal Karin in Tallinn, Estonia, October 2002.

Photo: I, Kert and my Dutch penpal Cynthia in Paide, Estonia, July 2002.

Photo: My best friend Kristi, my Luxemburgish penpal Anouk, my Estonian friend Eda and I in Pärnu, Estonia, May 2002.
Photo: My Norwegian penpal Annette, I, Annette's niece Ingrid in Fagernes, Norway, March 2002.
Photo: I and my Portuguese penpal Marta, Helsinki, Finland, October 2001.

Photo: I and my Finnish pal Mari in Helsinki, Finland. October 2001.
Photo: I, Kert and my Italian penpal Brigida in Saaremaa island, Estonia, July 2000.

Photo: My Scottish penpal Amy and I in Bath, England, March 1999.

Boys' fun

Kert spends all his weekends in Muhu island. Here you can see what he's doing there most of his time...