A choir of kittens

I expected to post very often during the summer...but as you can see the activity here has been pretty much non-existent. Since I wasn't able to get a summer job, I wanted to spend more time outside (instead of sitting inside and doing nothing).
And so I did:

Firstly, I picked up roller-skating again. Thankfully, Tallinn has built quite a lot of roads for bicycling/jogging/etc. and it really has been a joy. I now have a wonderful connection to the bog of Harku (Harku raba) which is close to my home but used to be a hassle to drive up to (lack of decent roads). So while an obscene amount of drivers are mad at Tallinn for creating lanes for public transportation basically out of thin air, I've really enjoyed the direction where the city's support for sports is headed.

Secondly, I decided to educate myself and start reading more books. It's a shame that I haven't really read that much after graduating from high school. And it was years ago *shudder*. The last book I read was in spring and it was about crimes that have shocked Estonians ("Ajaroimad: kuriteod, mis vapustasid Eestit" by Heino Tõnismägi). It was pretty good, real people talking about real and gruesome murders/crimes.
Since a certain book (fifty shades of this, that and blergh) had been making headlines in the media, I decided to give it a go. I ended up reading all 3 books. It took me about 4 days, so I am glad that I haven't wasted too much time on this series. My thoughts? Bad literature was bad *Oh my!*. The first/best review on goodreads.com pretty much sums up what I thought of it.

And lastly, there is always something to do in our summer cottage. Lately, I've really enjoyed being there because a stray cat gave birth to 3 kittens, and they all live next to us (our neighbour's attic).
Their mother can be seen here http://kairits.blogspot.com/2012/06/nature-mobile-shots.html and strangely enough, none of her kittens look like her.

She/he (I personally think it's a 'she', based on how she acts) is my granny's favorite. She is the first one that I was able to catch :)

Again, I believe this little one is female. We call her "the Dame" because she is not amused by "common foolish
things" such as chasing a toy. But when the Dame does want to play, she gets all grumpy and annoyed when she
can't catch the toy prey (and/or falls ungracefully). She's also my mother's favorite.

My granny's favorite. All shots taken after a "gaming" session, so she was pretty tired (and muddy).

Portrait photos. On the left is my mother's favorite and on the right is my favorite :) I believe this one to be a 'he'.
He is the most energetic fluffball I've ever seen, so fast and brave. I call him Lapik, which should
translate to Dapple or something like that. Unfortunately I don't have that many photos of Dapple
(and the ones I have are usually blurry because of the speed of him).

A nice way to drink milk.

I took a bicycle and went for a ride to the Old town. This is
taken somewhere near the Kultuurikatel and Linnahall.

The school of Valdeku street. It was half-way demolished this year because it hadn't been used since 2009. At least they kept the main building...
It's a Soviet decoration (a 5-pointed star; flags; a book and a globe, I think) at the very top, for those who are unfamiliar.
*A texture is used on the left one.

The main entrance and facade of the school in its full glory.

Not particularly a very exciting image. Just the reflection/curtains/trees of an evening sky in our summer cottage.

And a July must-go-to Vasalemma. I took plenty of photos, just haven't
had the time to sort them. More photos will come, this is the only one I
had "prepared". It's also almost the same spot/angle where I took a photo
in Vasalemma last year -
http://kairits.blogspot.com/2011/09/shameless-repost.html

Of course, no post would be complete without music.
NB! I have some Lightroom presets lying around and I'll be uploading them in the next week or so.

Snowy white - Bird of paradise