Stephie has just got back from hospital having been in for a couple of nights with concussion, she was still struggling with her balance and not very confident,  by the end of the 3 mile walk though she was much better.

I decided to take some snaps to give her a break and this old tree caught my eye,  I have often seen Herons wading just beyond the tree, but unfortunately not today.

I even managed to get a picture of Steph sitting in the sand dunes and smiling,  which is quite unusual as she is pretty camera shy!

We get a lot of great sunsets here, but this one was pretty special because of the reflections on the wet beach and the clouds.

For 2 years I used probably the most simple technique:

• I sit cross legged – in a quiet place
• close my eyes
• count my first 30 breaths
• from 30 onwards I just focus my attention on the air as it flows through my nose
• I do this for roughly 10 minutes, if my thoughts wander, I just bring them back to my breath and carry on

Recently I realised that I could also meditate very successfully in a constantly noisy place, which is really useful when I am waiting for a plane, or if the kids are off playing somewhere. My latest refinement is only a week old and it’s to meditate with background music. 

I came across the perfect music while out walking at Bolton Abbey, Debbie and I went into the Priory Church and there was a beautiful background chanting music playing,  as soon as I heard it I felt myself being drawn into the meditative state.  Unfortunately there was no one there to buy a copy from so I dragged Debbie back the next day and managed to get a CD, wonderful!  As luck would have it, when I got home I found a pair of noise isolating headphones – that I had bought off eBay a few weeks ago – had arrived from America and these are perfect for creating a completely quiet environment to listen in.

So that I don’t get in a rut I try and read a little about meditation each day and I have found Ezine articles to be the perfect way to do this,  I have subscribed to the meditation category using RSS and so at least one new article appears in my reading list every day.

One of the things I noticed as I walked around chatting to people was just how many of them seem to have moved there because they fell in love whilst on holiday, which is always a good sign.  I have saved the best for last,  Arnside is only 1 hours drive and 1.5 hours away by train – pretty much perfect.  If you get bored of the place you can jump on the train and go over the river to Grange over stands or walk around the headland to Silverdale.

It was interesting to see that Debbie was also really taken with the place, which surprised me a little because we already live in a great Sea Side town which she doesn’t seem to appreciate enough.  When I asked he about this tonight on the way back from Tennis she agreed and said that she had thought the same thing and that it had needed her to enjoy being in a place in a holiday setting in order for her to appreciate all the great things about our current home.

The photo’s in this post were taken during a 3 hour walk that I managed to cram in on my first and only – so far – day there, but stay tuned for news of more visits!

The first image is of a person swimming in the sea and has sound affects of kids playing on the beach.  It looks really effective with the sun streaming through it.  The next picture shows a rusting steel monstrosity in most peoples eyes,  although when the light catches it right it casts a shadow of a broken heart.  Finally we have this amazing – huge – glitter ball.  At night 4 projects shine onto it and the resulting light show stretches for 20–30 metres on each side of the ball,  walking past it you seem to be walking in a sea of swirling lights and it is a really great affect, although you feel a bit dizzy by the end of it.

If you want to find out more there is a web site with all the details here, with a bit of background from the site:

The Great Promenade Show originated from the major redevelopment undertaken by the then Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to replace and strengthen the 2km long South Promenade’s seawall flood defences. This £20 million project entailed removing the existing Victorian promenade and replacing it with a new well-designed concrete promenade on two levels. The upper level was to incorporate ’roundels’ every hundred metres, on which it was intended to site specially designed features, including wind shelters and visual displays possibly representative of the history of Blackpool.

A Millennium Lottery bid was made by the Council to this end, though a commitment to start building had to be made before the outcome of the bid was known. The bid was unsuccessful, but the sites for visual features along the new promenade remained, as did the Council’s commitment to occupying them. At this point, responsibility for managing the project shifted from the Council’s Technical Services Department to its Education, Leisure and Cultural Services Division.

• Its regenerated promenade is a great place for a walk, and even better for scooters and cycling
• It has a wonderful beach, very clean and with lots of undulations that capture the water and make it great for beach games
• To the east of Blackpool the beach is effectively deserted
• The centre of Blackpool has a good selection of bookshops and some pretty good places to eat
• The central promenade is undergoing a £60M regeneration which is really interesting to watch if you like large scale civil engineering projects
• When the promenade is full regenerated it promises to look really good
• I can walk from where I live to the centre of Blackpool along the beach and it takes about 3 hours for the round trip
• You can have some great fun in the amusement arcades, and there are loads of games for kids (and adults) of all ages if you don’t like to gamble
• It has some good events (the picture is of some of the kids watching a carnival
• It has some great firework displays
• It looks better at night

The Cafe has floor to ceiling glass windows and is perched right next to the beach with great views.  It’s also nice and warm in all weathers thanks to a wind cheating design and under floor heating.  They also make all of their own food.

The white feathers really do catch the light and make them seem to be like jewels.  We also love to watch the larger flocks as they get disturbed and rise into the air, swirl around and then return to the beach in waves only to take off again in another smooth wave a few minutes later.  Sometimes these flocks have tens of thousands of birds in them and it really is a breathtaking sight.