Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Sunday, 24 March 2013

spring?, periwinkle, snowy churchyard, in pursuit of spring, spuds and onions, creative writing


































Spring? It's nearly April and there's an easterly wind and patches of snow on the ground. The temperature is barely above freezing and the outlook for Easter is hardly any better...

The only cheerful sight on our walk near North Leigh last Tuesday was a bank of periwinkle in a green lane (top photo). The plants must have escaped from a garden or been introduced but were lovely to come across. The photo of St Peter and St Paul's, Broadwell was taken when cycling this morning--compare this with the ones I posted on Sunday 3rd February, when the countryside seemed on the verge of spring. Some beautiful colours in the landscape, nevertheless, like the burgundy willow stems in a hedge along the gated road, Calcroft Lane.

Talking of spring and Easter, I'm looking forward to three programmes about Edward Thomas as prose writer, entitled In Pursuit of Spring, the first of which will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Good Friday at 3.30 pm.

Ordinarily, I'd be working on the allotment over Easter but it's been so long since I've been able to do anything up there that I've almost forgotten where it is. Still, last year's spuds and onions are keeping well and bring back memories of better times.

A weekend of creative writing work--MSt and online courses. Rewarding.
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1 comment:

  1. Margaret Keeping27 March 2013 at 13:14

    So true about the allotment - we even forgot our allotment AGM, so out of sight out of mind it's been.
    Our broadbeans are getting lanky indoors - I know they should be OK outdoors but just can't trust it.

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