Willen Lake

Willen Lake is a visitor attraction and public park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The site is owned by The Parks Trust, which is an independent, self-funded charity that cares for and maintains over 6,000 acres of green space across Milton Keynes.
Willen Lake is Milton Keynes' most popular park attracting in excess of 750,000 visitors a year. It comprises 180 acres of landscaped parkland which surround around 100 acres of water across two lakes. Both lakes are balancing lakes. The southern lake offers a wide range of activities on and off the water, whilst the northern lake offers a more natural and tranquil setting, ideal for quiet walks and spotting wildlife. There are large events held on the site throughout the year, including Comedy Central's FriendsFest.

Alex Fox

Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life.

What if right now, reading these words, you suddenly realized that you were actually dreaming--and that in this domain you could do anything imaginable? That is what it's like to dream lucidly, teaches Stephen LaBerge. With Lucid Dreaming, the author of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (more than 120,000 copies in print; Ballantine, 1991) teaches his simple, tested methods for becoming fully conscious in the dream state. With techniques perfected during LaBerge's 20 years of pioneering research at Stanford University, now anyone can learn to consciously explore and use their dreams for self-discovery, creativity, fantasy fulfillment, emotional healing, and profound spiritual insight. Available for the first time in paperback, this complete mini-course shows you:

* The fastest and most effective program to awaken in the dream state

* How to "re-dream" your nightmares to resolve hidden fears

* Ways to use dreamwork for emotional healing

* How to use the lucid dream state to more fully awaken in your daytime hours.

Features a CD complete with dream induction sessions, exercises, and more.

Available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/.

Alex Fox

Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby football (either rugby union or rugby league); and Gaelic football. These various forms of football share to varying extent common origins and are known as football codes.

Alex Fox

Furzton Lake

Furzton Lake in Milton Keynes was created to act as a basin for flood waters during rainy spells and was constructed when the Furzton estate was being developed in the 1980s, and incorporated a disused, water-filled clay pit. The lake has matured into an easily accessible and peaceful oasis for local residents, office workers and wildlife. Easy access and good pathways make it a popular choice for joggers, cyclists and walkers.

A bridge divides the lake into two very different areas. The larger area to the west of the bridge is an expanse of open water with two islands. The smaller one is totally covered with willows, poplars, Hawthorn and Blackthorn which provide safe cover for nesting and roosting birds. Grey Heron nest there and can be observed from the cycle redway. Woodpigeons congregate there. The larger island is more open and on its south side can be viewed from a conveniently placed seat. Herons, geese and ducks preen themselves in the sunny aspect. On this island there are wooden sculptures Silhouetted Portals by Wendy Hitchings – which have proved popular with the resident bird population and are used by gulls as vantage points.

The smaller area to the south-east of the bridge has a wide range of marginal plants and is more shaded and sheltered. It has a boardwalk from which observations can be made.

Alex Fox

Happy Easter

Alex Fox

 

Hot cross buns

A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun usually made with fruit, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the United Kingdom; Ireland; Australia; India; New Zealand; South Africa; and some parts of the Americas, including Canada and the United States.

The bun marks the end of Lent and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning, including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him at his burial.

They are now available all year round in some places. Hot cross buns may go on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand even as early as New Year's Day or after Christmas.

In many historically Christian countries, plain buns made without dairy products (forbidden in Lent until Palm Sunday) are traditionally eaten hot or toasted after midday Good Friday.

Alex Fox