iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 06/10/2026

And here's how it looks on our wall.

An alcove in a wall, arched on top, square at the bottom. The wall is an ecru color and the inside of the alcove is red-orange. Three decorative wooden bowls sit on a shelf below two square art works, one abstract in orange, brown, and yellow; the other a large red and yellow lily with a gold leaf background.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 19/09/2026

Back from Spain. We had a lovely family visit. Wordle 1,918 3/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A view of a fountain in a Granada plaza at night. There's an ornate streetlight in the foreground, the fountain beyond it, lit purple, and apartments in the background. Trees and shops fill out the image, a dark blue stormy sky overhead.

1111

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 08/08/2026

Happy #caturday and International Cat Day! Isabo is so excited.

081

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 04/08/2026

Any recommendations for how to get up from your chair when you have a perfectly curled up cat in your lap? It's like there's a warm, fluffy vortex keeping me anchored.

020

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 13/07/2026

Oddly, yesterday's and today's are nearly mirror images.

1100

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 02/07/2026

Isabo is telling me I don't need to step on the scale, and weight is just a number, and I'm beautiful just as I am.

Tabby cat is sprawled on the bathroom scale, looking up as if to say, You don't want to do this, Mom.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 29/06/2026

It's not #caturday, but Isabo is claiming her space.

050

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 25/06/2026

Anyone know frogs? This one's about thumbnail size.

Tiny thumbnail-sized frog hopping in the grass at the park.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 25/06/2026

You gotta love Davis parks. There's a pond beyond those cattails

Gorgeous blue sky, rolling lawn shaded in the foreground, backed by sunlit trees with cattails in the distance.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 25/06/2026

Jazz band at our public library.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 22/06/2026

I was gobsmacked to see one of my photos, taken on Liberty Island, used in this Texas Public Radio piece on immigration. www.tpr.org/podcast/the-... The photo is posted on Pixabay: pixabay.com/photos/statu...

A photograph of the head and shoulders of the Statue of Liberty with a back drop of a perfect blue sky. Lady Liberty holds up her right arm, lifting the torch of freedom skyward.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 12/06/2026

Someone wants to shut out the world until Caturday.

050

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 03/06/2026

I saved an itty bitty baby praying mantis from the net bag prison it was sharing with an unripe pluot. What great great did you achieve today?

110

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 06/05/2026

Not as gorgeous as your photos, but I caught this hitchhiker clinging to my mare's lead rope in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Polyphemus moth?

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 17/04/2026

Yes, that's me at the computer, writing words from my actual brain without the assistance of AI. No prompts needed, just my own creativity, decades of writing experience, and hard work (Oxford comma--never leave home without it).

At the bottom of the image is the top of the writer's head from behind, with a computer screen full of words in front of her. Behind the computer screen are various tchotchkes on shelves: seashells, coffee mugs, cat alebrijes. Next to the shelves is a tall cupboard with plants on top.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 16/03/2026

Gorgeous. I'm having trouble getting that nice color on my loaves. They look kinda pasty.

A very sad, pale batard loaf of sourdough bread.

200

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 09/03/2026

My favorite photo from Mexico City. Taken at the Museum of Anthropology.

A woman is standing behind a glass display cabinet, positioned so that the mask inside covers her head. The mask is bird-like, with a giant beak and seven feathers arrayed around the head. The bird's eyes are half closed.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 02/03/2026

We just got back from a week in Mexico City. As an author, the sign on this building caught my eye. It's the equivalent of the Library of Congress in the US, i.e., where you submit your work for copyright.

A sign on a building in Mexico City that reads Instituto Nacional del Derecho de Autor (National Institute of Copyright).

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 01/02/2026

Here's Alani in her happy place under a blanket. Happy #caturday

An orange tabby looks over her shoulder from under a blanket.

120

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 22/01/2026

I'm a technical person and worked in IT for several years. But as someone who has had six full-length novels stolen and used to "teach" AI, I'm not a fan of that particular technology. So I've signed on to #StealingIsntInnovation www.stealingisntinnovation.com

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 20/01/2026

I did not know a cat could do this. The bare part is her belly where she was shaved for her spay. Her front feet and back feet are going in opposite directions. Does she have a swivel somewhere?

A tabby cat is lying on a cushion, twisted so her head is on the same side as her belly. Her belly is shaved after her spay.

020

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 19/12/2025

Our new kitten, Isabo, is very happy about the holidays.

011

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 19/12/2025

Very excited that the second book in the Tankborn Liberation series, Pheno's Treachery, is now up for pre-order. It releases on March 1, 2026. For those that might have read the YA sci-fi Tankborn Trilogy in the early/mid-2010s, the Tankborn Liberation series is a spinoff of the trilogy.

A book cover of Pheno's Treachery, part of the Tankborn Liberation series written by Karen Sandler. A mixed race teen boy with medium brown skin, a gray T-shirt and black curly hair on top with sides and back shaved. Orange and blue circuitry is in the background.

100

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 21/11/2025

As disgusting as Tr*mp's calling a woman reporter "Piggy," it also annoys me because pigs like this mini are really sweet and very cute.

A white and gray mini-pig sitting on its haunches as a dog would. Her nose is pink and black, and she's wearing a light green halter with a pink leash.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 10/11/2025

It takes a lot of cooperation for Alani and Zak to cram themselves into a bed only made for one. But they manage it. If only Congress could get along so well.

Two cats crammed into a cat bed lined with a colorful blanket. Alani, an orange female, is on the left/foreground and Zak, a mackerel and white tabby is on the right/background. They're both looking at the camera.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 24/10/2025

I have encountered many praying mantises in my time. They are one of the coolest insects. What I've never seen is a praying mantis eating an insect. In this photo, the mantis is eating a bee, and another bee has flown in to take a look. Wow.

A photo of a praying mantis eating a bee. The mantis is sprawled on a peach colored rose and near its back right leg, another bee has flown in. There's a blue sky in the background.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 19/10/2025

Another of my favorite signs.

A woman in a frog costume holds a sign that says Amphifa, amphibians against fascists.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 18/10/2025

I like my democracy neat. No ICE.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 11/10/2025

Yeah Caturday to you! Alani says hi!

The head of an alert orange cat pokes around a table holding a jigsaw puzzle.

120

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 31/08/2025

Zak, once thought to be Zoe. Called the vet for confirmation who said, "I did a neuter, not a spay."

060

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 25/08/2025

Worldbuilding isn't just for science fiction and fantasy novels. I built worlds when I was writing mysteries and romances. @stacylwhitman.bsky.social‬, my editor for my Tankborn Trilogy, is presenting a workshop on worldbuilding for all genres. www.stacylwhitman.com/workshops/

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 02/08/2025

It's such a cool bridge. Wonderful photo. Mine's not nearly so pretty. From long ago.

A woman wearing sunglasses in a denim summer top with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 10/06/2025

From hmd.org.uk/resource/fir... "Martin Niemöller is best known for writing First They Came, but he is a complicated figure. Initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazi control of churches."

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
--Pastor Martin Niemöller

Below the poem: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ushmm.org

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 08/06/2025

Current @nws.noaa.gov forecast for June 14th. Let's raise that 50%!

The screengrab reads "A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 50%."

020

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 01/06/2025

My roses are gorgeous this year.

Two orange-red roses in full bloom in a ceramic vase with lavender cyclamen painted on it.

120

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 01/06/2025

Zak had to squeeze in next to Alani and his tail didn't fit.

Two cats curled up together in a cat bed, a mackerel tabby boy and an orange tabby girl. The boy cat's tail is hanging over the side of the cat bed.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 28/05/2025

One sad thing about having a pool is that bees fly in to drink and get stuck. My hubby rescued two & they're recuperating in the pool net. Then another flew in. I tossed in a gardening knee-pad, nudged it closer with a pool noodle & the bee climbed on board. I hope he stays till his wings dry.

Two bees who were trapped in our swimming pool when they went for a drink are recuperating in the pool net.

A bee who got trapped in the pool water when it went to drink climbed onto a green gardening pad that I tossed into the water and shoved closer with a pool noodle.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 26/05/2025

Tell me this dragonfly isn't smiling for the camera.

Extreme closeup of a flame-colored dragonfly perched on the top of a red tomato cage. It looks like it's smiling for the camera.

010

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 02/05/2025

I walked in the May Day demonstration with my son and daughter-in-law, both Federal employees (my granddaughter took the picture). For our smallish town, it was a big crowd. Maybe 800-1000. I admit, they didn't really approve of the language on my sign. I don't seem to set a good example. 😜

An older woman with a protest sign denigrating Trump with some bad language, a younger couple with signs that read "SAVE cfpb $21B BACK 2 CONSUMERS" and "Cuts to Data are Cuts to Democracy"

1102

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 15/04/2025

Perfect and horrifyingly true.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 12/04/2025

Pretty full moon reflected in our pool.

A full moon partially obscured by clouds reflected in a swimming pool. There's a fence around the yard and beyond the fence is a house with light coming from its windows.

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 11/03/2025

Return to the world of the sci-fi Tankborn trilogy with Mishalla's Courage, a gripping novella full of intrigue amidst the battle for social justice. Buy now: books2read.com/u/bz9p5D

000

Karen Sandler @karensandler.net · 06/03/2025

One of the photos from the press packet I received for the first Star Trek movie. Cast members listed in the ALT text. If I've misidentified anyone, corrections appreciated. @georgetakei.bsky.social

A photo of the cast from "Star Trek - The Motion Picture" from 1979. Photo roughly left to right: George Takei, James Doohan, Grace Lee Whitney, Nichelle Nichols, Stephen Collins, DeForrest Kelley, Majel Barrett, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Persis Khambatta, Walter Koenig

1141