Lightening our load . . .

Have you ever tried to get through a closed and locked door with your arms filled with stuff. You shift what you are carrying one way and then the other . . . all the time fumbling to get your keys out and into the lock . . . fumbling to find the door handle and turn it . . . all the while juggling what's in your arms.

Inevitably something gets dropped . . . and you fumble to pick it back up again, sometimes even falling over yourself.



It would be a lot easier if we just put down what was in our arms to begin with, and then tried to open the door. How much simpler and uncomplicated . . . how much more manageable . . . and yet . . . we all try it the hard way, time after time.



The thought occurs to me that this is like a metaphor for life. We all go through our lives carrying baggage with us from our past. Some of our burdens are heavier than others, some are lighter . . . Some of it is helpful, other things are not so helpful. We do this with the love in our lives . . . with the hate in our lives, with mistakes we have made and cannot change, with the truth, with betrayals . . . with pain we've experienced ourselves, or which we have caused to others . . . the list goes on and on . . .

We lug it around with us . . . letting it weigh us down, and then we wonder why we have a difficult time opening the door to our future and moving foward. We just cannot hold on to everything and move forward . . . it's impossible to do without our future suffering . . . in doing so, we only allow our past to control our future. Instead of learning from our mistakes and losses . . . we allow them to keep pulling us down . . . preventing peace from entering our lives and our hearts.



We have to learn to put down what we are carrying and open the door . . . and only then decide what it is we hold in our arms that we think is worth carrying with us in to our future.

Today I'm going to think about any thing that I might be carrying with me that is preventing me from moving foward, and try to put it down and leave it behind. Not easy sometimes, I know . . . there may be things that I find easy to leave back and there will probably be others that I want to hang on to just that little bit longer . . . but it's nice to know that I can at least lighten the load.



We are having our Children's Primary Christmas do today, before they all have to go back to school. We decided not to have it before Christmas because there was so much going on and it would have been a big rush . . . instead we have given them something to look forward to now that the Christmas stuff is all said and done. I am off out this morning to buy some food for it . . . the usual kid's party stuff, like sausage rolls, cookies and little cakes. At the last one I did vegetables and dip that went down really well also, surprisingly. The kids really seemed to love them. I'll probably do that again today. Not sure I'll have time to make any sandwiches though. We'll just have to see!

Here's a taste tempting dessert that is a real store cupboard favourite here in my house. I often make this in the winter. I always have bluberries in the freezer and tinned peaches in the larder. I can knock this up lickety split, and it always goes down a real treat!



*Blueberry Peach Cobbler*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

This is delicous dessert to help brighten up these cold and gloomy winter days! Blueberries and peaches go so well together!

Filling:
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 TBS flour
the grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
pinch of salt
3 cups of sliced canned peaches (in juice, well drained)
2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
1 TBS fresh lemon juice

Topping:
1 1/3 cups flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBS butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 TBS demerara sugar to dust over top before baking

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Prfeheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. LIghtly butter an 8 inch square baking dish. Set aside.

COmbine the sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt in a bowl. Add the fruit and lemon juice, tossing to mix. Spoon this mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 15 minutes, while you make the topping.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt for the topping in another bowl. Cut in the butter with pastry blender or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the butter milk, mixing only to moisten. Drop the dough onto the warm filling, by dollops, making about 8 dollops. Sprinkle evenly with the demerara sugar. Bake for an additional 25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve warm with scoops of vanilla ice cream on top.



Cooking over in The English Kitchen today, delicious Boulangere Potatoes!