My Graduation Day

On Thursday, September 17, the ceremonial commencement was held in our university - to celebrate the 91st birthday of the university as well as hand over the certificates of Doctor's Degree for all those 38 doctors in our university who had defended their work within 1 year. I was one of them :)

So since Thursday, I'm officially doctor with all the proof certificates.

Photo: Our Rector Peep Sürje arriving to the ceremony.

Photo: Rector Peep Sürje is giving me the diploma.

Photo: I'm writing my signature to the university's yearbook.

Photo: Greetings time - Erik hugging me.

Photo: Greetings from my friends Tauno and Kairi.

Photo: Taken after the ceremony in the building where I work (Economics Faculty)

Photo: Taken near my new office.

Photo: My diploma.

Photo: A very small tea-table after the ceremony (I've had all my parties already in summer...)

Summer in our garden - Vol VI

My favourites among bushes are the ones who bloom for a long time or even twice during the year. This entry is dedicated to some of those shrubs in my garden.

Photo: Spiraea japonica "Froebelii" is one of the many spiraea shrubs I have in my garden. I like the colour of its blossoms - they create a nice pink spot in my front-yard during the summer. If you cut the wizened infloresences, it blooms for at least 2 months (July, August).

Photo: In Estonia, this bush is called "Snowball" (and it seems to have the same English name -Viburnum opulus "Roseum"), but its official Latin name is Viburnum opulus "Roseum". It blooms in the end of May and looks very nice then - however, many insects like its leaves, so there is no other way than use the insectiside in Spring if you want the bush look nice also during the rest of summer.

Photo: Deutzia scraba "Candidissima"- not very often grown in Estonia because of its scare for cold winters; lets see how it will like the winter on my garden... Anyway, it blossoms during the time (late June) when not many other bushes are blooming in Estonia and therefore, I really wanted it! As it was a very young plant, then this year, it had only a few blossoms, but they were fresh and nice for many weeks.

Photo: The small Meyer lilac "Palibin" (in English called also the dwarf Korean lilac) bloomed second time also in August. A very cute small bush!

On a misty summer morning...

Photographed by Erik, Lääne county, Estonia - September 2009

Happy birthday to Aune

Today, it's Aune's (my neighbour) birthday and I know she has had a great day. Here is the card for her birthday as well as the flowers I picked from my garden:

We have already been to her birthday celebrations, too, today morning with a delicious sandwich-cake and a biscuit-cake as a dessert.

Summer in our garden - Vol V

Right now, in the middle of September, roses have their second big blooming wave, and many of them are so beautiful right now... it's hard to believe Autumn is approaching so quickly and soon, everything goes to sleep...Photo: Very soon in full blooms - rose "Ingrid Bergmann". It is a hybrid tea rose which is introduced in 1984 by Oelsen. World Federation of Rose Societies (http://www.worldrose.org/) voted it as the most beautiful rose in 2000.

Photo: "Eden Rose" - new antique rose, introduced in France (1985) by Meilland. It has so very beautiful full double blossoms and beautiful romantic shape, but unfortunately the blossoms are not rain-proof, which makes her growing a bit difficult - you never know if you are going to see the blossoms in their full beauty before the rain destroys them or don't... It was voted among the world's favourite rose in 2006 by World Federation of Rose Societies.

Photo: The lovliest bloomer among white roses - "Aspirin" which was developed by Jans Jürgen Evers in 1997 . Besides blooming so much, its main strength is also the strong resistance to rose diseases. Its leaves are always shiny and healthy while many other roses next to it suffer from time to time.

Photo: "Palmegarten Frankfurt" (introduced in 1988, by Kordes) - my very first rose in the garden; right now it blooms like you see in the picture. A lovely pink spot in the garden.

Photo: Given as a gift from my colleague Marina, "Fantasia Mondiale" (by Kordes, 2000) is the only yellowish rose in my garden. It has well-formed apricot pink blossoms and is loved by my neighbour Kadri.

Photo: One of the "black" roses - "Mildred Scheel" (developed by M.Tantau,1978), bought from one of the private rose growers Mart Ojasalu. It was a very small plant when I bought it, but right now it will have 4 blossoms and I'm curious to see how dark the blossoms will be when they are fully opened.

Photo: A climber rose "Illusion" which will not bloom only once during the summer, but continously (however, not as fully as, for instance, "Flammentanz"). It is bred by Reiner Kordes in 1961 and has dark red blossoms.

Photo: A groundcover rose without a name (was sold so in shop) is appreciated for its dark-red blossoms which do not fade its colour during the blooming at all. Suits so well with white groundcover roses next to it.

Photo: "The Fairy" groundcover polyantha rose which in my garden looks more like a climber (as I've raised its branches alltogether higher). It's loved by all rose growers because of its ability to bloom like crazy, over the summer. The sea of pink flowers really remind of a fairy-tale...

"The Fairy" was bread by Bentall (1932) in United Kingdom.

Photo: A cluster-flowered rose "Candy Cover" (Hybridized by Poulsen, 1992) does not have too many blossoms one time, but they are cherrful with their colourful blossoms - light pink and dark pink together.

Photo: "Sexy Rexy" - loved by many gardeners. In some countries it has spread by name "Heckenzauber". It has a subtle creamy pink colour, with camellia-like, rounded blossoms, and flowers for weeks and weeks throughout the summer. It's bybridized by McGredy (New Zealand) in 1987.

Photo: "The Red Fairy" in a pot with a gypsophila. It is also a heavy bloomer, that is similar to parent, except color which is red instead of pink. It was introduced in 1992.

Photo: The polyantha rose "The White Fairy" produces large clusters of pompon-like white flowers and is quite effective with its dark green small leaves.

Photo: A bright deep-red floribunda rose "Nina Weibull" bred by Poulsen Roser A/S (1961) in Denmark always catches the eye in the garden.

Photo: Blueish climbing rose "Indigoletta", a rose I do not know much about (I bought it cheaply from a fair).

Photo: "Broceliande" (M. Adam, 2004) - quite an interesting combination of colours: fuchsia-pink with creamy; some blossoms look more red and some more creamy.

Summer in our garden - Vol IV

Blue corn-flower is the national flower of Estonia.
But in the garden, you can grow variety of colours...
This year, I had those:

Official Opening Ceremony

Many of you know, that I have been moving to a brand new office due to my work during this summer. The official opening of our new house in university's campus - the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences - took place in August 31. It was an important event - the building was opened by the President of Estonia - Toomas-Hendrik Ilves; and the former President - Arnold Rüütel - being also present.

I'm sharing a room with my colleague Marina and I hope the new office will turn out a good one. I'm happy because my new work place is much closer than the old one - yesterday, it took 13 minutes to drive home! :)

Photo: The start of the opening ceremony. You can see our Dean Enn Listra (second from left), the President Toomas-Hendrik Ilves (third from left) and the rector of Tallinn University of Technology - Peep Sürje (speaking).

Photo: The speech of the President.

Photo: Our dean and the President of Estonia

Photo: Some important people

Photo: Here you can see the mascot of our university - Juulius.

Photo: I together with the mascot Juulius.

Photo: The new house from outside.

Photo: View from the last floor of our building over the old part of university's campus.

Photo: View from my colleague's window, left you can see another quite new building of university (faculty of Power Engineering).

Photo: This is my new office which I share with my colleague Marina. Of course, most of our time we spend in lecture halls...

Photo: Another photo of my new office.

Photo: Park around the campus.