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.

Tuesday 9 February 2016

curious, hawthorn in leaf - in january, tree down, daffodils up, great brook, chill wind, it's all happening





What a curious winter.

At the end of January, we saw a hawthorn in leaf near Weald - fresh, slightly waxy-looking leaves.

At Black Bourton the recent gales brought down a tree on the wilder side of the village green. Yet the daffodils growing on its roots soon righted themselves.

Heavy rains overnight on Saturday left the Great Brook, half-way between Cote and Chimney, full and brown.

Today there is a chill wind, which slips easily through the curtains and darts around the house, mocking the central heating and the log fire. A day that leaves you feeling tired and sickening for something, though I'm determined not to succumb.

In so many ways, it's all happening in 2016!
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