PappasBland

Show us your cat #nostr. Cats for zaps! #catsofnostr

Our art stand is now open again in West Stockbridge, MA.

We are focusing on small prints this summer featuring photography mostly from in and around the Berkshires. We also have some copies of our zine, and occasionally some glitch art too. If you’re in the #berkshires #berkshires, drop in – maybe you'll see something you like.

All art prints are pay-what-you-want (there is some price guidance on the table). Zines are priced individually.

We accept #bitcoin.

We are listed on BTCMap: https://btcmap.org/map?merchant=41112#18/42.3399567/-73.3667754

More info: https://pappasbland.com/artstand

#buynostr #buynostr #art #artstr #artstr #photography #photostr

We’re in, the stage is set for a party in our mechanical room.

Probably the best birthday card I’ve ever seen. I wish our cat threw up rainbows instead of her food.

Come join the party and help us find a block!

Bring it on, come join the party

Turns out some people are obsessed with dahlias. If you know anyone with such an obsession, they’d probably love our recent zine.

#buynostr #photography #artstr #photostr

Proof of cat! #bitcoin

Join the

Block Party #bitcoin mining revolution and get 1 TH/s free hashrate using https://blockparty.rigly.io/?referral=LQ0B04

🕖 When: Saturday, March 14th 00:00 - 18:00 UTC ⛏️ Format: Direct hashrate buys & bring-your-own-miner.

Just ran the numbers for our effective 2025 electricity costs at home. We have an all-electric high-performance home with solar and energy storage. The surplus solar is exported to the grid, and during the summer we allow the grid to pull from our batteries too and get compensated for that (Virtual Power Plant events run by ConnectedSolutions in the north east, USA). So although our winter electricity bills are really high in Massachusetts, they are counter-balanced by almost zero bills in summer plus what we receive for the energy from our batteries via the VPP events. In addition we get incentives from our utility for charging our car only during off-peak hours. For 2025 our total net costs for electricity were just $483.55. Then when I calculated our total consumption of home plus car, it works out that our effective energy rate is $0.026 per kWh, which is AMAZING! The VPP events are the lifesaver here, without them we'd be toast.

What this tells me is that there might be some logic to increasing our mining. Currently we have just one Bitaxe Gamma (cheers to

) which is mining in the Braiins pool most of the time, and it joins the

block parties when they occur (we also buy hashrate for those). Obviously, increasing our mining means also increasing our consumption and our effective energy rate of $0.026 per kWh would increase – although that could be offset by efficiency gains elsewhere in the house. And clearly, the rewards from Braiins alone will never recoup the costs of the mining hardware itself. But I can't help be tempted by a NerdQaxe++. Does anyone else have any guidance or suggestions here? How should I be thinking about this, and what steps should I take, if any?

I should add that the incentives we receive from exporting to the grid from our home batteries and charging our car off-peak go straight into Bitcoin. So the question becomes, is it even worth investing in more mining hardware, or does it just make sense to keep stacking by funneling the income into Bitcoin? I suspect it's the latter...

-Tom

#massachusetts #massachusetts #newengland #newengland #mining #bitcoin

Absolutely under no circumstances should you go through this door.

Stoked to be on Noice, even if it’s just a WiP project. Check out the new website ⬇️

Is College (Still) Worth It? by Andrew Yang

https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewyang/p/is-college-still-worth-it?r=35g9gg&utm_medium=ios

We’re ready for winter. #photostr #photography #newengland

We’re ready for spring. #photostr #photography #newengland #massachusetts

Artful barn in North Adams, MA. Photograph by Diana Pappas.

#photostr #photography #artstr #massachusetts #newengland #berkshires #northadams

Scenes from the snowstorm in Massachusetts. #photostr #photography #massachusetts #newengland

We are unveiling some new work in printed form: our first zine, ‘First Frost / Final Bloom’ is out now.

A full color, 32-page, 6.75 x 9” staple-bound zine, it features 21 previously unseen photographs made on a walk among frozen dahlias on October 10, 2025 at a micro flower farm in West Stockbridge, MA, and includes an evocative introduction by writer Lee Buttala. In the comments below we will share the long-form newsletter post about the projects.

There’s a limited edition of 30 available which include a small print, and a few open edition copies too. Visit https://pappasbland.com/fffb (reach out if you’d like to pay with Bitcoin)

#artstr #photostr #photography #zinestr #massachusetts #newengland #buynostr

6” inches of snow overnight in western MA.

Once a structure.

#photography #photostr #massachusetts

Just saying hi.

#artstr #photostr #photography #newengland #massachusetts

Something from the weekend. It’s well and truly fall here in western Massachusetts. -Tom

#photography #photostr #newengland #massachusetts

I’ve been on an Ernst Haas kick recently, I think I have every book out that our library system had available. I wasn’t really that familiar with his work until recently but I’m enjoying noticing some overlap with how I like to see and shoot. Definitely a new source of inspiration for me, belatedly. -Tom

#artstr #photostr #photography

We took a hike up Monument Mountain today. Our next art drop will land when inspiration strikes and we’ve managed to get some other projects off the ground.

#photostr #photography #naturestr

Just put some duct tape on it and run that thing into the ground. #photostr #photography #artstr

OnlyZaps mode enabled.

Saw this in town yesterday and felt like it spoke to me. -Tom

#artstr

In the year 2030 how many sats would this chocolate milkshake have cost? #asknostr

Reporting for duty 🫡

We get a mention in this issue 👇

Summer evenings by a lake with a picnic. This is why we moved to the Berkshires. #massachusetts #newengland #nostr #photography

None of our zaps seem to work now. Been zapping but no sats are leaving our account… #asknostr

#artstr

Red lines, blue lines, shapes, geometry. #photostr #photography #artstr #minimalism

Perhaps the value of art made by humans actually increases dramatically in the era of artificial intelligence?

Would you say that you’d feel much more inclined to buy someone’s product or creation if you could pay with #bitcoin?

#asknostr

Just saying hi.

PappasBland is the collective work of Diana Pappas and Tom Bland, photographers and partners in work and life (FYI Tom writes the notes here).

Today we work together as photography partners under the umbrella of PappasBland, producing fine art prints of our work for collectors, helping our clients tell their story with photography, and pursuing our personal projects – all while writing an ambitious newsletter where we debut our newest work in the form of monthly art drops.

We are based in the beautiful Berkshires in western Massachusetts.

It would be great to connect with other artists in New England, interior designers, art consultants, and business owners in western MA or the Hudson Valley. If that sounds like you, zap and say hi!

#nostr #newengland #massachusetts #artstr #photostr #photography #artists #grownostr

GM #nostr. On the road early today.

Shipped these #photography prints off to their new homes today, always a satisfying experience. One of these orders came from us leaving small handmade zines in our town’s info booth. The buyer who was visiting the #berkshires grabbed a zine and ordered a print from our site later that evening. That was cool, and proof of work I guess!

#artstr #nostr #massachusetts #newengland #proofofwork #photostr

Gonna ask our town Treasurer about adding some #bitcoin to the balance sheet as a way to lessen the burden of real estate taxes. Wish me luck!

#nostr

Major energy spill in #massachusetts today, the electrons are flowing from the sun into our home, battery storage and car. Solar is amazing. Everyone should harness the fusion reactor in the sky if they have the ability to do so.

Our latest art drop features an addition to Diana’s ‘Hand Bouquets’ series. I love how this project is growing over time. There’s also a little giveaway hiding in there if you look closely enough…

https://open.substack.com/pub/pappasbland/p/artdrop25-june2025?r=35g9gg&utm_medium=ios

If you are interested in a print of this latest hand bouquet and want to pay with #bitcoin send us a DM and we can make it happen.

#photography #photostr #artstr #buynostr

Shapes and color in Lee, Massachusetts. Photos by Tom Bland.

If you’re located in western MA, or anywhere in MA for that matter, come say hi!

#photostr #photography #artstr #red #blue #urban #berkshires #massachusetts #newengland #shapes #nostr #urbanart