iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

An Ericad a Day, 14/n Disterigma rimbachii flowering in my collection, October 2016. Natural habitat is high altitude in Ecuador and Colombia, and it really didn't like NC summers. I only managed to bloom a rooted cutting a couple of times before it expired. 🌱

A stem of a small shrublet with shiny dark green leaves and little tubular magenta flowers.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Solas’s version of Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

youtu.be

Ghost of Tom Joad

YouTube video by Solas - Topic

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 13/n Vaccinium oxycoccos, small cranberry. Great Wass Island Preserve, Maine, June 2023. 🌱

Little flowers with tightly curled pink petals and pointed sepals that resemble a bird's beak. They are on a small vining shrublet growing in a sphagnum bog.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

If you are in the mood for things like piglet races, gazing at giant pumpkins, admiring exotic chickens, perusing high school students’ artwork, and eating questionable fair food, then it’s a blast. Saturday morning, and mid-week are least crowded, but you will need some tolerance for crowds.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I keep seeing ads for those little dioramas that fit on a bookshelf and look like you have a cozy reading room or a little café or something wedged between your books, and I don’t understand this concept of a bookcase that isn’t already stuffed with books. Who has the space for these things?

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 12/n Vaccinium sp. #1. Orange County, NC, April 2025. This is one of (at least) three Vaccinium species that grow wild on our property. Perhaps V. tenellum, small black blueberry.

A cluster of small tubular flowers pointing down. They have tiny flared corolla lobes around the slightly constricted opening. The pistil sticks out like a little tongue

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Back in the days before easy Amazon shipments, I knew a British postdoc desperate for a taste of home who tried to simulate Marmite by cooking down Bacto Yeast Extract. It was not successful.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 11/n Rhododendron canadense, rhodora. Growing in a sphagnum bog, Campobello Island, New Brunswick, June 2023. 🌱

A twiggy shrub with purple flowers at the tips of its branches. Leaves are emerging on some of the non-flowering twigs. The plant was photographed in bright sunlight.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Are there ways to store/preserve bananas? All I can think of is dehydrating chips or maybe freezing for later use in banana bread.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Hunting giant squid seems kinda scary, but being a humpback seems like it would be chill and relaxing.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 10/n Leucothoe fontanesiana, highland doghobble. Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, Georgia, April 2026. 🌱

Pendant, conical clusters of small, white, bell=shaped flowers at the tip of a twig with leaves shaped like spear-heads.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Re: the OP, isn’t Coffin an old New England surname, which would mean it is from the UK?

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Orchids love to use and abuse their pollinators.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yes, essentially. For bees and flies, too. The insect mimic flowers come in (roughly) three classes: sex dolls, fake competitors that encourage fights, and fake prey. Anything to get the insect to grab onto the flower.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Orchids are notorious for nonconsensual sexual shenanigans: dungeons, snap traps, triggers that ejaculate pollen with considerable force, false pollen, fake nectaries, flowers that mimic sexy lady wasps to encourage “pseudocopulation” by naïve incel males.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

No, but the trapping mechanism is somewhat similar to carnivorous pitcher plants. Both are pitfall traps with bait at the top of the trap. The difference is that carnivorous plants trap insects for food, and this traps insects for sex. Also, this is a flower, and pitchers are modified leaves.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It’s covered in tiny ants, so, uh, not recommended. I can totally see books on orchid pollination being banned in Florida and Alabama, though.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

description of pollination mechanism in alt text

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Science fiction authors designing aliens need to aspire to at least the level of weirdness of a real bucket orchid. Coryanthes macrantha in my greenhouse this morning. Flower is approx 15 cm wide, 10 cm tall. 🌴🌱

A bucket orchid in shades of orange and yellow. The bucket is formed from the distal end of the labellum and the column. Glands drip liquid into the bucket. Bees falling into the bucket can only escape through a hole at one side where they will be forced into contact with the pollen and stigma at the end of the column. The hole is pretty large, so the bees must be equally big. The sepals look like big wings made of tissue paper that counterbalance the bucket. The base of the labellum where it connects to the rest of the flower looks like a weirdly ridged orange alien penis.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 9/n Kalmia latifolia, mountain laurel. Eno River State Park, North Carolina, May 2023.🌱

A cluster of white flowers that look like little parasols. The anthers are the ribs of the parasol, and the pistil is the handle.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Appears to be a newborn smooth earth snake, Virginia valeriae.

A dark brown, newborn snakelet on a concrete driveway.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Extremely smol snek, please do not hide under leaves on the driveway. There are acres of woodland where you will not be run over.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 8/n Ceratostema glans. Cultivated plant flowering in my collection, October 2022. Native habitat is Ecuador.🌱🌴

Strange, fleshy, pendant red flowers with narrow, black, flared corolla lobes. The flowers are hanging from a twig with small, semi-succulent leaves.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“It’s like living in the woods” It’s like eating lobster and organic salad. It’s like sleeping on silk.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

An Ericad a Day, 7/n Rhododendron groenlandicum, bog Labrador tea. Campobello Island, New Brunswick, June 2023. 🌱

A cluster of small white flowers with long white stamens

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

An Ericad a Day, 6/n Monotropa uniflora, ghost pipes. Quoddy Head State Park, Maine, July 2018. 🌱 The plant lacks chlorophyll and is parasitic on mycorrhizal fungi such as Russula and Lactarius.

Delicate pale pink stems, each curved like a shepherd's crook with white vestigial leaves and a single-downward facing white flower at the tip, are emerging from dense moss. They look tobacco pipes planted stem-down in the moss.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

An Ericad a Day, 5/n Kalmia procumbens, alpine azalea. Westfjords, Iceland, June 2024. 🌱 (I think there are some stems of Empetrum nigrum, crowberry, mixed in there, too).

A mat of tightly packed leaves with star-shaped pink flowers form a mat barely an inch or two tall.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I used twinwall polycarbonate, which has lasted beyond its warranty and held up really well to falling tree limbs, but now that it finally needs replacing, it is a huge job. I like the idea of a small hoop house for marginally hardy stuff, but my wife might kill me if I build another greenhouse.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Building greenhouse, in my 30s: “This roof I designed is really high and looks cool. Time for a beer now.” Replacing greenhouse roof, in my 50s: “Who designed this ridiculous fucking roof to be 12 ft high and too steep to walk. Need to rest for a week now.” Replacing roof again, in my 70s: ??????

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

University-level history was great because it was taught by university professors. My Dad want to a British university and was more than a little jealous of the classes I could take, just because I was curious, as part of my bachelor’s degree at a US university.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This is true, but I still much prefer the US university system. Perhaps my high school history wasn’t as rigorous as it is elsewhere, but as a Biology Student in a US uni, I could get a history minor with classes taught by a guy who had dedicated his life to studying the Byzantine Empire.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Have also never heard of song or artist. Also live in the south. Local shops more likely to play 80s 90s rock overhead than country. In the car, I listen to my music collection or streaming artists/genres I particularly like. Don’t listen to radio, top 40 or otherwise. Don’t read Rolling Stone.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

An Ericad a Day, 4/n Vaccinium vitis-idaea, lingonberry, growing as a mat on a moss-covered boulder. Great Wass Island Preserve, Maine, June 2023. 🌱

Pale pink, pendant flowers among glossy foliage of a small creeping shrublet.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

An Ericad a Day, 3/n Rhododendron jasminiflorum subsp. jasminiflorum. Cultivated plant in my greenhouse, c. 2005. Native habitat is peninsular Malaysia. This was the first vireya species to flower in cultivation (England, 1849). 🌱🌴

Clusters of long, trumpet-shaped white flowers. The most recently opened flowers have a slight pink blush.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Foliage of Tradescantia sillamontana doesn’t look great after heavy rain this week, but the flowers are cute. 🌱🌴

Triangular three-petaled magenta flowers above fuzzy foliage.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

An Ericad A Day, 2/n Vaccinium myrtillis, bilberry. Westfjords, Iceland, June 2024. 🌱

Beautiful wine red bell-shaped flowers on a small shrub with pale leaves and slightly winged twigs

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Reposted by Nick in NC

taenia @taenia.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

so anyway the North Cascades are pretty nice

A mountain valley overlooking a small lake. The foreground is mostly short bushes with red and yellow leaves, with a few dark spruces and lime green larches scattered around. The background shows craggy mountains under a blue sky

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

An Ericad A Day, 1/n Phyllodoce empetriformis, pink mountain heather. Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, July 2017. 🌱

Pink bell-shaped flowers above tiny dark green leaves. The flowers are in bright sun.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My favorite plant family is definitely Orchidaceae, but Ericaceae (heather, rhododendron, etc.) is a close second. Because there isn't a lot flowering in the garden right now, I'm going to post one ericad photo a day until I run out or get bored.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Boo! Be time to bring the sensitive ones indoors soon.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The temperature outside has dropped to a frigid 16 C, and it is only 23 C indoors. Time to break out the fleece-lined flannel shirt.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As I was sliding a tray into the oven, a flower crab spider fell from the ceiling with an audible plop, narrowly missing my frozen strudel. I whipped the tray back out, and the spider was non the worse for its brief sojourn in the furnace. Not sure why it was in the house instead of the garden.

A black and white crab spider is sitting on a blue silicone baking mat in an aluminum tray.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My kids also went to Orange County Schools. Zero regrets. One went to State, the other is at Carolina.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Bulbophyllum corolliferum. This was one of my first orchids, purchased 32 years ago and still going strong. Flowers smell like mushrooms. 🌱🌴

an orchid with clustered yellow flowers. The individual flowers have large lateral sepals and small petals.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Me: “I don’t understand people who get angry at TV sports.” Also me, yelling at the screen during Jeopardy: “Grendel! Who is Grendel, you dumbfucks!”

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Doesn’t count if it’s a juvenile. There’s a period before they are fully fledged when the shirt is inevitably inside out and backwards, and the socks are probably mismatched, too. Seems to more commonly affect juvenile males, for some reason.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Gorgeous! The only place I have ever seen them was in a friend’s garden in Norway. I imagine I’d need to build a refrigerated conservatory to grow them here.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The heck? No one else likes dung beetles? I think they’re pretty awesome. This one was cleaning up after a raccoon (I think) who ate too many persimmons.

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Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Dung beetles move like they’re animated by Ray Harryhausen.

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