Sandra Friend
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sandrafriend.bsky.social
Sandra Friend
@sandrafriend.bsky.social
Author. Science geek. History wonk. Nature nut. Space Hipster. Recovering guidebook writer now making things up. SandraFriend.com FloridaHikes.com TrailsandTravel.com ThoughtsAfoot.Substack.com
More of my 2025 reads. Shadow Ticket gets classically, hilariously Pynchon by ch 13; the Mediterranean titles, heartwarmers; Cheerfully, a dystopian Great Lakes quest of a bass player very worth the read.

📚 #booksky #bookreviews #fiction #2025reads
December 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Another entrant for #waterfallwednesday. Hubby dropped me off at the west end of Indian Mound Reserve; I hiked to the big mound and continued west along the gorge. He, and this, awaited me at the east end of the trail.

#indianmoundreserve #waterfalls #ohio #cedarville #hiking #takeahike
December 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Fall author run #3: John Scalzi. Started the year with his newest and worked backwards; I've shared some previously but hubby, not a sci-fi enthusiast, is now a convert thanks to the snark. Next up: diving into the Old Man's War series by @scalzi.com

📚 #booksky #bookreview #scifi #funreads
December 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Have to admit, stumbling across this puppy in a museum really freaked me out. Jeep-launched nukes? Yikes.
December 9, 2025 at 2:04 AM
A mesmerizing piece of kinetic sculpture at Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart, Indiana. This stop on our summer travels surprised with its sculptures threaded throughout the plantings.

#glassglobe #sculpture #fountain #garden #elkhart #indiana #soothing #videosky
December 9, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Accidentally found: a pirated book in a little free library. I've had #Buckeye on my TBR list. At home I discovered this "book" has no copyright page, no spine or back identifying publisher, and the interior is NOT the novel. I pity the reader who bought it. #booksky #pirates
#writersbeware 📚
December 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Fall author run #2: Mary Robinette Kowal. Started into her Lady Astronaut series earlier in the year - love the interweave of real-life astronauts - and decided to try another outside the series. A delight! Will seek out more next year.

📚 #booksky #bookreview #scifi #alternatehistory #womeninspace
December 8, 2025 at 3:17 AM
A moment for reflection among the ancient trees of Clear Springs Nature Preserve near Montague, Michigan.

#stunday #bigtrees #reflections #autumnleaves #michigan #naturephotos #photosky
December 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
There's a hole in our hearts today with the passing of our friend Bob Eggleston, who was as close to a brother as my husband John ever had as an only child. They'd met more than 50 years ago in Boy Scouts and we adventured together locally this past decade. RIP old friend.
#cancersucks #gonetoosoon
December 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Another good, kind human, another friend.
Descended through the portal of no return.
Goodness doesn't equate to good health.

Don't put off that #colonoscopy
Don't break more hearts.
#takecareofyourself
#youmatter
#fuckcancer
December 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
I love the idea of #waterfallwednesday, as it lets me dig into photos from our travels. This one pours off a rocky bluff into a ravine below the trail I'm standing on at Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Ohio.

#glenhelen #waterfalls #ohio #yellowsprings #hiking #takeahike
December 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Fall author run #1: Louise Penny. Had the first two on my TBR shelf for years and enjoyed the balance between quirky Three Pines residents and self-doubting Chief Inspector Gamache I tracked down her latest releases. All engrossing reads.

📚 #booksky #bookreview #mysteries #cantputdown
December 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
A sense of perspective on the sandy slopes of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore, its dune front dropping precipitously into Lake Michigan.

#stunday #nationalparks #lakemichigan #photography #photosky #sanddunes #michigan
November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
More recent reads, all mysteries. Griffin: WWII physicist retrieval, bloody military mission; Penny: charming while deadly; St. John: Hollywood glam movie gone bad, didn't see plot twists coming; James: WWII espionage & Hollywood.

#recentreads 📚 #booksky #bookreviews #mysteries
November 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Remembering the random joys of fall at a Midwestern farm stand (Goshen, IN) before winter sweeps these colors off the scene.

#farmstand #fallcolors #autumn #pumpkins #thanksgiving
November 29, 2025 at 10:46 AM
A reminder for this Shop Small weekend: grab an app, explore more of #Florida on your own two feet. floridahikes.com/florida-trai...

#shopsmall #smallbusiness #takeahike #hikingguides #exploremore #gooutside
November 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
This book. Wow. I'd avoided reading it because it was so overhyped. I didn't want to see the movie because movies so rarely provide the richness of the author's words. Well worth the read, and the hype was clearly deserved.

#booksky #bookreviews #readthis #literaryfiction 📚
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
More recommended reads. Eco-fantasy in Impossible, WWII done well in London, great canvas for Hollywood shenanigans in Mercury, and absolutely everyone who loves flying must read Saint-Exupery's lyrical love letter to its origins.

#booksky 📚 #bookreviews #readmore
November 25, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Artist's perspective atop a high dune ridge, Rosy Mound Natural Area, Michigan.
#bluesky #bluemonday #mondayblues #naturesky #naturephotos #photosky #hiking
November 24, 2025 at 6:37 PM
#BirdOfTheDay theme, which is #Mr&Mrs ... heard these two #eagles before we spotted them overhead on a hike north of Orlando in the Gemini Springs Addition, DeBary. #baldeagles #floridabirding
November 23, 2025 at 11:50 PM
#BirdOfTheDay theme today is #shadesofgrey ... one tiny corner of rookery of wood storks at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida.

#woodstorks #nestingbirds #floridabirding 🪶#birdphotos
November 17, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The Bear River rages through a canyon along the edge of downtown Petoskey, Michigan, with a delightful loop trail around it providing perspectives of its rapids as it tumbles to Lake Michigan.

#stunday #petoskey #nature #Michigan #naturephotos #photography #photosky
November 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Latest batch of lighthearted reads. Golden Hotel a goofy family drama at a shuttering Catskills hotel; the others series cozies with endearing twists.

#booksky #mystery #novels #cozy 📚
November 14, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Today's #birdoftheday is the #least found on your camera roll. I'll take that literally rather than scour hard drives. This Florida scrub-jay, a threatened species, was somewhere I never expected to find one: along a mangrove shoreline near Charlotte Harbor. #birding #photography #floridascrubjay
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM