Autumn in Finland

It was nice to get away from the daily routine for some days and make a trip to Finland. Even when it was full of work, I had some time to meet my dear friend Minna as well as do some Christmas shopping in Helsinki! :) Unfortunately, the weather was as bad as in Estonia - rainy, grey and cold. The pictures didn't come out nice at all.

My route this time was:

Helsinki-Tampere-Riihimäki-Helsinki

Tampere

Photo: A rainy autumn morning in Tampere

Photo: I in front of Tampere University where we had a meeting.

Photo: Nice pink heather - my favourites during Autumn!

Photo: Culture house in Tampere

Photo: Just a big tree in its autumn robe

Riihimäki

Photo: As I arrived to Riihimäki in the dark, then the only photo taken there is at Minna's house!

Helsinki

Photo: House in Alvar Aalto's style

Photo: Winter caps are waiting in the market!

Photo: Streets in Helsinki.

Erik and tennis

When Erik was a kid, his father took him to the tennis practice. He went there for several years, but one day decided to quit and instead, go to the gym and be engaged with body-building.

After 15 years of not playing tennis, he thought he would try again this Autumn. His friend Valdeko needed a budy in the tennis court for some practice and Erik decided to join him. And it seems he has not forgotten how to play it, because already the 1st competition brought him the VICTORY! :)

Photos: www.coraltennis.ee

Local fame ;)

In Estonia, there are no PhD thesis defended in occupational safety before mine. Therefore, the news about it achieved some response among the specialists and journals in my area. In the end of summer, the editor of the magazine "Estonian Occupational Health" interviewed me and the result is now published. For some moments, I can enjoy the glory... :)

Well, this is not exactly true, because unfortunately, the area where I work in, will ever make me neither rich nor famous; since the safety culture is so low in Estonian enterprises, that the employers would live much more happily if there weren't those "stupid specialists" like me...

Photo: The first page of the article

How to store firewood?

As you can see, we are preparing for winter. It is one of those years, when we have ordered a lot of firewood directly from the forest (together with our neighbour) and try to invent the ways how to store them... Since we have much left from previous years in our woodshed, then we had to think where to put them - and just yesterday, Erik finished "the firewood tower" inspired by the similar ones (but much bigger) seen in Kuremäe Monastery (see a picture - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBt-5oSC0mmZhcSRqw0XzmNRWgDhzMpxPNC5yqvFAtbwGbYupQm6iABXuZD6ss7w9Px3xqrKu9X9UcoFDcuEDHFFSbOEgDYq8JvOow9qM6KtbqDe8SFP3zBbZ2PGxaQOluisoibWWIdxm/s1600-h/Eda+ja+Karin+Kuremael1.jpg )

It takes time to make this tower, but the result is much better than everything else what you can do with firewood...

Photo: The tower is still in the middle.

Photo: Picture taken today morning - the tower is finished.

Photo: Our new firewood tower

Happy Birthday, my niece!

Lisanne - my first niece - had her 1st birthday today. She is the most goregous little girl! It has been so lovely to watch her growing from new-born to a little girl throughout this year. I still remember so well when she was born and I saw her for the first time... she was such a cute baby-girl with long legs, and she is just as pretty right now, too...

Even when she doesn't walk, yet, she is improving a lot in this matter day by day and I'm quite sure that it's only a few weeks till she is running away from all of us.

We have been to her birthday party today, where all her relatives were present. And already this week, she'll go on her first holiday trip - to Crete. I hope she enjoys it!

Photo: Lisanne and her birthday cake to celebrate the 1st birthday

Photo: Lisanne with her cake

Photo: Lisanne sitting in her eating chair with the present bag we gave for her

Photo: My self-made card for Lisanne

Photo: Some presents Lisanne had for her birthday. We gave the pink Hello Kitty dress,another dress (the first one in right), and some pair of trousers.

Autumn in our garden - Vol I

Two very popular autumn-bloomers in Estonia are hydrangeas and dahlias. One is a bush (hydrangea) which have to be cut a lot to get big and many blossoms, another a flower (dahlia) which has to be taken out each winter to store it in warmer place, but all this fuss is worth it - they bloom like crazy until the frost comes...

Dahlias

Dahlia naturally comes from Mexico and Colombia. Dahlia is named after Swedish 18th-century botanist Anders Dahl. Among gardereners, dahlia is appreciated because of its wide range of colours - the darkest of reds and purples to the brightest of yellows and whites. No doubt - the multiple colored dahlias are the most interesting ones.

In my garden, there are 4 spieces of dahlias right now:

Dahlia "Bluesette" (pink)

Dahlia "Marbel Ball" (white-pink-purple)

Dahlia "Mystery Day" (dark red and white)

Cactus-dahlia "Orfeo" (purple)

Hydrangeas

In Estonia, two different hydrangeas can be grown - hydrangea paniculata (in Estonian aedhortensia) and hydrangea arborescens (in Estonian puishortensia). The first one is a bush which survives the winter without any problems while the second one is grown in Estonia as a flower which frozens back every year, but recovers due to its good roots and grows itself new stalks and leaves and blooms intensively in August, September and even October.

All hydrangeas grown in Estonia are with white blooms. The other ones (for instance blue hydrangeas) do not survive our cold winters. However, many paniculata blooms develop a lovely pink shade as the blooms age, extending their beauty into September and October months. The name "paniculata" comes from the fact that many of the blooms are panicle-shaped (somewhat cone shaped) rather than ball-shaped.

My hydrangeas are:

Hydrangea arborescens "Annabelle"

Hydrangea paniculata "Grandiflora"

Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight"

Hydrangea paniculata "Pink Diamond"

Hydrangea paniculata "Pinky Winky"

The touch of Prague

Photos Radim Sulc

2 weeks ago, I visited one of the most beautiful capitals in Eastern Europe - Prague.
Prague is situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia and is home for 1.2 million people. It is a very old town - being the cultural and political centre of Czech for 1100 years and therefore, is full of history.
The old town is very beautiful and I and my colleague Marine enjoyed walking around there.

Astronomical clock
Prague Orloj -the oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410. Later the clock was rebuilt by the master Hanus in 1490 (master Hanus of Ruze perfected the mechanism and in 1552-1560 Klokotská Hora repaired it). The clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the sun and moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details, ‘The Walk of the Apostles', a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures, and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.
Photo: The astronomical clock

Photo: I and Marina in front of the astronomical clock

Old Town Square

Old Town Square is always full of people - a lot of tourists visit it. The Church of Our Lady before Týn (often called just Týn Church) is a dominant feature of the Old Town Square. It has been the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. The church's towers are 80 m high and topped by four small spires.

Photo: I in the Old Town Square, the Týn church back.

Photo: I in Prague metro (opened in 1974)

Karlova Bridge

The most wellknown bridge in Prague is called Karluv Most. The building began in 1357 and the Bohemian sandstone was used. The construction took place until the beginning of 15th century.

As the only means of crossing the river Vltava (Moldau), the Karlova Bridge used to be the most important connection between the Old Town, Prague Castle and adjacent areas until 1841.

The bridge is 516 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Leser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side.

Photo: I in Karlova Bridge with the Old Town Bridge Tower (built by Petr Parler).

Photo: Street musicians in Karlova Bridge

Photo: I and Marina

Photo: I on one of the bridges in Prague

Photo: View over Vltava river, tourists boats and Manes Bridge

Photo: View to Hradcany quater

Photo: Something about work, too - Esrel 2009 Conference