Jo Monk
jomary10.bsky.social
Jo Monk
@jomary10.bsky.social
Seeker after beauty, joy and hope. Lover of cats, coffee, comedy, and small beauties. Easily distracted by sparkly things.
You could try this....
November 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver. A collection of essays in her unique and odd and wonderful author's voice. And yes, there is a form of 'high tide' in Tucson....you'll have to read it to find out.
November 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Remember, remember, it's Yule in November,
Sparkly tinsel and snow
I see no reason
why the Christmassy season
should last all year long - ho, ho, no.
#poetry #christmas
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Purring in the dark
tabby cat curled up cosy
in her duvet cave
#haiku
November 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
And font.
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Not Going Out Tonight - a #haiku

Umbrella with owls
Staring at me through the rain
Far too wet to woo.
November 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I'm reading Nick Rennison's collection of Victorian Tales of the Weird by authors from the well-known Conan Doyle and Edith Nesbit to the very obscure, but still well-worth discovering. They are very weird, very wonderful and very entertaining.
November 10, 2025 at 11:02 AM
#SmallBeautiesHour #smallbeauties #Threadofgold #BecauseofClem A cheery, cheeky 13th Century carved Madonna and Child having fun together; a pretty cup of coffee; some mushrooms that have aged and cracked so they look like flowers.
November 3, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Perfect dog, at heel
Sees pigeons and loses it,
Runs and barks: pure joy.
#haiku
November 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM
A secondhand bookshop find: "Buried Treasure: Travels through the Jewel-box" by Victoria Finlay. Nonfiction about where precious and semiprecious stones come from and the history of their use as jewellery. Includes amber, jet and pearl as well as gemstones. Fascinating read.
November 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
April? October?
World in blossom or ablaze
Colour for the soul.
#haiku

(Art by April Lacheur)
October 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Hope is sometimes worse
Than knowing there is none - but
Who can live without?

(Photographer unknown)
#haiku
October 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Some #smallbeauties from this week. A log frilled with row upon row of turkeytail fungus, a Gothic mausoleum at Glasgow Necropolis, and porcelain fungus growing out of a dead tree. #smallbeautieshour #threadofgold #BecauseofClem
October 28, 2025 at 8:58 AM
I've been devouring the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden this week. Now on the third volume, 'The Winter of the Witch'. Beautifully written fantasy dark fairy tale, set in medieval Russia.
October 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Bramley apple peel
Mouth-pursingly tart and sour
Irresistible.
October 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I listened to the whole opera 'Tosca' on the radio on Saturday. Not my favourite - too much shrill, discordant emotion for me. But I do love the final act aria. And a haiku (warning: contains spoilers):
O, lovely Tosca!
The stars are shining brightly!
But everyone dies.
#haiku
October 27, 2025 at 4:45 PM
'Bookcase' in Carlisle is WONDERFUL. Endless little rooms of new, second-hand, antiquarian, and children's books. Perfect treasure trove with a lovely cafe with sofas and books you can sit and read all around you.
October 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Fall necropolis
Dark ivied mausoleums
Gilded with bright leaves.

Image is my photo taken at Glasgow Necropolis.
#haiku
October 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Gleeful magpies seize
On breadcrumbs newly scattered
Cache them in the grass.
#haiku
Image by Dom 'Scruffy' Murphy
October 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Scarlet, freckled white,
Mushroom out of fairy tale,
Earthy, damp and real.
#haiku
October 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I love that film. The visuals are incredible. They create a whole fantasy world I longed to visit when I first watched it - and still do.
October 22, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Dull, relentless rain
Mulching down the autumn fires
Quenching their colours.
#haiku
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
My calico cat
Shrimped happily in my chair.
That was MY blanket.
#haiku
October 21, 2025 at 8:47 AM
A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna. A village woman from rural Pakistan rebels against poverty and patriarchy, but at what cost to her own life and soul? Brilliant, hard-hitting book with a complex, difficult protagonist. Makes us ask ourselves some hard questions about our moral assumptions.
October 20, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Loaded nan....
October 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM