Teasels in the snow 2 by ahisgett

Common Teasel: Dipsacus fullonum
An erect biennial with small prickles on the stem and distinctive spiny flower heads. Common teasel may reach 6 1/2 feet in height and is primarily a weed of roadsides, pastures, hayfields, and occasionally rosettes can be found in turfgrass. This weed is found throughout the United States except in the northern great plains.
Middle English tesel, from Old English tæsel; akin to Old English tæsan to tease

A weasel
perched on an easel
within a patch of teasel.

Christian Morgenstern, prompted by Bookslut

Barbed Wires by Giuntini Jonathan

durance:

Imprisonment; confinement or restraint by or as if by force

Middle English, duration, from Anglo-French, from durer to last from Latin durare

In durance vile here must I wake and weep
And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep.
- Robert Burns

Prompted by The Long Recall for June 4, 1861:

Two young runaway girls from Jersey City have been found and returned to their parents. The father of one of the girls has “locked his daughter up, and intends to keep her in durance until her romantic ideas have vanished.”

roister-doister:

Students of English literature may recall a play by Nicolas Udall of about 1553 with the title Ralph Roister Doister, a comedy that featured the eponymous Ralph, a swaggering buffoon who thought he was irresistible to women.

Prompted by Bill Wyman’s review of Rob Young’s Electric Eden.

A boffin by ukslim

boffin:

In the slang of the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, India and South Africa, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research. The word boffin (or boff—often as an insult) can also be used to refer to any particularly clever person.

Prompted by Whose turn is it to be right, darling? by Zoe Williams

dignity in senescence
by theilr

senescence:

the state of being old : the process of becoming old

Middle age ends and senescence begins, The day your descendants outnumber your friends – Ogden Nash

Prompted by Your Guide to DC Children’s TV Show by Richard Thompson, the mad genius behind Cul de Sac

Forest Park Desire Path
by Gateway Streets

desire path:

A desire path (also known as a desire line or social trail) is a path developed by erosion caused by animal or human footfall. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination. The width and amount of erosion of the line represents the amount of demand.

A failing in all design thinking is faith you can perfectly predict human behavior. Often a wiser strategy is to observe first, try to understand, and only then predict.

There’s an old concept among architects and urban planners called desire paths. If you walk around a college campus, or urban park, it’s easy to spot the well tread paths between buildings people have made for themselves. These are desire paths, or desire lines. The natural behavior among people shows you where the optimal path should be.
Thinking in Desire Paths, Scott Berkun

Prompted by The in-between edgelands of England by Sean O’Brien

(I’ve heard the same concept as “cow paths,” with frequent suggestions to “pave the cow paths,” but “desire path” is much more evocative and poetic.)

Texture Violet No. 5 by Neighya

scumble:

Diatryma: extinct, giant flightless bird found as fossils in Early Eocene rocks in North America and Europe (the Eocene Epoch lasted from 57.8 to 36.6 million years ago). Diatryma grew to a height of about 2 1/4 metres (7 feet). Its small wings were not used for flight, but its legs were massively constructed; Diatryma was probably a strong and rapid runner. The head was large and supported a powerful beak; Diatryma was an active predator, probably feeding on the small mammals.

Prompted by Charlie Brown