CFFC: Go Green

Green is one of my favorite colors. I am partial to the dark green but today the photos highlight the lighter shade of green in keeping with the theme of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week – Light Green.

Let me start with the one I am not too sure if it is light green but nevertheless a favorite color – sea green 🙂

Sea green.JPG

The vastness of the sea makes me feel limitless and boundless and that perhaps is the greatness of the sea.

dsc01217

This view is close to what I woke up to as a child. I can still hear the whoosh of the rushing waters as it lulled me to sleep…

Enough of the maudlin stuff! On to some fun and games.

football

That’s what I call green on green 😀 How about some red on green?

20160925_081602

Hmm the grass could have been greener dont you think? Like the lawns over here

Green Lodhi.jpg

Yep that’s the green version of the photo here. Now that I tricked you into visiting that page (only if you haven’t seen it before) here’s another fresh (green) photo 😀

green-l2

Hope you liked the pics – Thank you for visiting 🙂

3-Day Quote Challenge #3

On the final day of the 3-day quote challenge (the other two are here and here) I bring you some of my favorite humor quotes. They never fail to tickle my funny bone 😀

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know. Mark Twain

 Anyone who isn’t confused doesn’t really understand the situation. Edward R. Murrow

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them. Karl Friedrich Gauss

He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death. Saki

I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. Jerome K Jerome

I don’t like money actually, but it quiets the nerves. Joe E Lewis

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. Don Marquis

By the time we’ve made it, we’ve had it. Malcolm Forbes

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists. Jean Rostand

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Margeret Mead

And some really foot in the mouth quotes 😉

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, in 1943

640K ought to be enough for anybody. Bill Gates in 1981

Rail travel at high speeds above 20 miles per hour is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia. Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793 – 1859)

I confess that in 1901, I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for fifty years. Wilbur Wright (1908)

This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. Western Union internal memo (1876)

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. Lord Kelvin (1895)

Radio has no future. Lord Kelvin (1897)

We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. Decca Recording Company while declining to sign The Beatles (1963).

On an interesting related note, did you know :

George Orwell’s Animal Farm was initially rejected as “unconvincing”.

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 was rejected as “not funny on any intellectual level”

John le Carré‘s first spy novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, was passed from one publisher to another with the withering comment: “You’re welcome to le Carré – he hasn’t got any future.”

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was questioned “First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale?”

Have a super week ahead and keep those fingers dancing 🙂

If you have any favorites quotes, do share them – thanks for visiting.

The Showstoppers

img_1815
Photo snitched from Svkuki

tree

And a budding showstopper

bud

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” ― Haruki Murakami

For Becca’s Sunday Trees – 255

3-Day Quote Challenge #2

Here I am again with another bunch of quotes. I am participating in the Three day Three quote challenge albeit a revised version 😀 You can find Day 1 quotes (and rules) here. Please feel free to join the challenge – all are welcome 🙂

Today, I bring to you assorted quotes for the beleaguered writer 😀

Sometimes what seems like surrender isn’t surrender at all. It’s
about what’s going on in your own heart. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater. Nicholas Evans

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. Seneca

My whole career can be summed up with ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ When you do not know better, you do not really worry about failing. Jeff Foxworthy

Formatting is no substitute for writing. Leslie Lamport

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps on trying other things. Pablo Picasso

I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.  Sylvia Plath

Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl yore mistakes. Brendan Hills

This book fills a much-needed gap. Moses Hadas

I always wanted a happy ending… Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. Gilda Radner

Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps. David Lloyd George

Writing starts with living. LL Barkat

I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else. Pablo Picasso

The only kind of writing is rewriting. Ernest Hemingway

I’m not a writer. Ernest Hemingway was a writer. I just have a vivid imagination and type 90 WPM. Tiffany Madison

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. Stephen King

Never put off writing until you are better at it. Gary Henderson

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. Tom Clancy (paraphrasing Mark Twain)

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London

I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters – Frank Lloyd Wright

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W.S. Maugham

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. GK Chesterton.

Hope you liked my collection – If you have any favorites, please don’t forget to share. Thanks for visiting and have a super weekend.

 

CB&W: Lens on the Past

Let’s take a stroll through some of the arched corridors of time – in honor of Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge on Circles and Curvescorridor

Lotus Mahal or the Lotus Palace at Hampi, Karnataka in Southern India is a UNESCO World heritage site. This particular palace combines Hindu and Islamic architecture.

wheelsThe stone chariot is the iconic symbol of Hampi, the 14th century magnificent capital of one of the greatest empires of India.

Moving to the North of India, let’s step into a different era and style altogether

Steps.jpg

Way to the tomb of Sikander Lodhi who ruled Delhi between 1489 -1517 AD. Err the tomb itself will make an appearance later in another post 😉 In the meanwhile, feast your eyes on another tomb.

BWLodhi.jpgMuhammad Shah Saiyyad’s tomb who ruled from 1414 to 1451 at Lodhi Gardens, New Delhi

Hope you liked! Let me know either way 🙂 Have a super weekend.

3 Day Quote Challenge #1

Hello everyone! I was happy to be surprised with an invitation to the 3-day Quote challenge by Renegade Expressions who posts some really cool photos.

Rules of the challenge:

  • Three quotes for three days.
  • Three nominees each day (no repetition).
  • Thank the person who nominated you.
  • Inform the nominees.

I love quotes and just three quotes is too much for my sensibilities. So I would like to tweak the rules (after all they are meant to be broken right?!) and go for a few assorted quotes on three topics. Also, it seems a bit unfair to restrict the challenge to just a few people – so anyone interested in quotes and the quote challenge?

Jump right in! 😉

“Run from what’s comfortable.
Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.
I have tried prudent planning long enough.
From now on I’ll be mad”. Rumi

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.” Voltaire

“Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.” Chanakya

“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.” Rabindranath Tagore

He who has injured thee was either stronger or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself. William Shakespeare

 Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. Lord Buddha

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Gandhi

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true. Swami Vivekananda

“The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. There was never a time when you and I and all the kings gathered here have not existed and nor will there be a time when we will cease to exist.” The Bhagvad Gita

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. Diogenes

“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming… suddenly you find – at the age of 50, say – that a whole new life has opened before you.” Agatha Christie.

These are just a few of my favorite quotes. Hope you liked and if you have any favorite quote please do share – thanks for inviting, visiting and sharing 🙂

 

CB&W: Complementary Pairs

As you know Cee loves to challenge us and this time it’s black and white (or sepia) photo challenge for Two very different things or the number Two.

I know I am late (travel times and network woes to blame). But nevertheless here they are – hope you like 🙂

Crow.jpg

Did it work? No? Well, how about this one?

Band W.jpg

Moving on and still sticking to theme of fliers but of the inanimate variety 😉

Air car.jpg

And on a completely different note – tadaa~~~

two

sepia-two

Well not quite sure if this fits the bill for they are the same things but you will agree very different? Btw the last photo is a contribution from my kid sister. Pretty soon I expect my family and friends to be out on photo shoots for my blog challenges – how cool is that? 😀

Dont forget to let me know you were here 🙂

SPF: Daffodils

174-09-september-25th-2016

Daffodils

Words 200

“Good morning children. Take out your English Readers and turn to Page 5. Daffodils by…”

“Teacher, what are daffodils?”

“Flowers.”

“What kind of flowers? The red ones that bloom during Holi or…

I wandered lonely as a cloud…”

“Teacher, why lonely? The other clouds would give it company?”

“We’ll discuss this later Molly.”

“Teacher! What are vales? And isn’t the spelling o’er wrong?

“No Molly. Poets are allowed to write like that.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Enough Molly. A host, of golden daffodils.”

“Host? Are they having a party? How can flowers host a party?”

“It’s not that kind of a host Molly. He means a lot of daffodils.”

Molly subsided. She loved stories. Where was the story here? Why say something but mean something else? How would one understand? What kind of flowers – red or yellow? Ten thousand flowers! She would have loved to see them tossing their heads in sprightly – aha a new word – dance.

“…pay attention Molly…the daffodils beat the sea in their dance of joy.

“But Teacher, that’s not the sea. It is a lake.”

“Hold out your hand! Now get out of class.”

“It’s still a lake.” Molly sniffed as she walked out.

***

PS: Oft this flashes upon my inward eye but I now know what daffodils look like – thanks to Sunday Photo Fiction 😀 Click here for other stories on this prompt

PPS: A partly fictionalized account of my first brush with poetry (not counting nursery rhymes). Opinionated and unimaginative, as an 8 year-old, I couldn’t really grasp the essence of the poem (can’t say much has changed since then). Yet strangely enough, that day is crystal clear – where I sat in class, the teacher, my thoughts (I didn’t say most of these things). I also remember being very skeptical about “Continuous as the stars that shine
  And twinkle on the milky way.” Flowers didn’t twinkle did they? The last stanza of the poem was (and remains) my favorite – been there, done (doing) that 😉

Corporal punishment was the norm in those days, at least in my first school. Apologies (bouquets, kudos and thanks) are due to my English teacher. She did mistake the lake as the sea. I did raise an objection. But she not only gracefully accepted her oversight but also publicly boosted my morale (and bighead) which could be the reason why that day is so clearly etched in my memory. 😀

Thank you for reading – do share your thoughts and memories of this poem or childhood.

For readers of Moonshine, here's Chapter 88 and Calvin

 

Changeless

from-roger
Photo Prompt (c) Roger Bultot

Changeless

Words 100

 

Her wedding was around the corner. By all counts she should be thrilled. But worry gnawed at her.

“Mamma, why do girls have to leave their home?”

“That’s tradition.”

“Traditions can change.”

“What’s the matter darling? Wedding jitters?”

“No.”

“You do love…?”

“It’s not about me Mamma! How will you live alone?”

“Don’t worry darling. I will manage.”

“But how? It’s always been about me. My health, my education, my career -nothing is about you. Once I leave what will you do?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Like?”

“Your father needs me.”

“You mean…?

“Yes darling. I will return to Earth.”

***

Written for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers – a story in 100 words or less. Thanks to Roger Bultot for the photo prompt this week. For other stories on this prompt click here

Thank you for reading – look forward to your comments.