Orange stage design- at Madame Tussaud’s museum, San Francisco, CA
Orange tapestry, Museum of Art and Design, New York City
Floral arrangement, Philadelphia Flower Show
Orange beach umbrellas, The Bahamas
Life worth living
To live this life indeed
Driven by ambition and greed
We never pay any heed
To the little voice inside
We constantly try to hide
Behind a curtain wide
Of a false sense of pride
Collecting material possessions
In random succession
Making an impression
On others is an obsession
But happiness it never brings
Wasted are expensive things
Fulfilment always springs
From moments that tug at heart’s strings
A kind word, a beatific smile
They can stretch for quite a mile
Make an insipid existence worthwhile
Friendliness never goes out of style.
A helping hand to extend
A shoulder on which one can depend
A mind that can prejudice transcend
An open heart that can befriend
These are the kind of things that make
Life worth living for its sake
Objects and money are fake
Illusions that we must break.
Sunday stills, the next challenge: clouds
https://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-clouds-5/
Dark clouds hovering over Roman Forum, Rome, Italy
Fluffy cumulus clouds on a sunny day, Bahamas
Clouds reflected in a lake, Alaska
Cloud cover over Los Angeles
Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge: 2015 Week #9
Which way should I choose
As along life’s highway I cruise
Fancy-free and footloose
Along the way I search for clues
Clues that guide me constantly
To what my next step should be
Optimistic, with enthusiasm plenty
I strive to soak in whatever I see.
Atlantis Resort, Nassau, The Bahamas
At an island in the Bahamas
Onboard a cruise ship
At the port of Nassau, The Bahamas
A Word A Week Photograph Challenge – Intricate
Linking to: https://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-intricate/
Man is an intricate creature
Made up of helices intertwined
In patterns unique as ordained by nature
Each individual is one of his kind.
Intricate mask, Atlantis Resort, Nassau, The Bahamas
Intricately painted ceiling, Vatican City
Intricately embroidered wall hanging, at the Museum of Art and Design, New York City, New York
Intricate carving on the door, Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: 2015 Week #9
Capture my imagination
Be an object of fascination
Get my attention undivided
Leave me perplexed, undecided
In which category to place you
An oddball you are, that much is true!
A leisurely lizard languishing on a laidback island
Wheels on a pole outside a bicycle rental
Rhinestone-encrusted car, where else but in Las Vegas?
Forbidden desire
Stealthily creeping
Imperceptibly seeping
Into the crevices of my mind
Unwelcome feelings making me blind
Thoughts amorous
Still quite amorphous
Suddenly emerged out of the blue
Leaving me breathless, without a clue
A chance encounter
Full of idle banter
How it could inspire feelings like this
Euphoric passion promising me bliss..
Fantasies forbidden
Desires hidden
Tormented by this stormy passion
I stand at the edge of a cliff of depression
Lament my fate
Myself I berate
For falling in love and my descent
In danger’s lap, though inadvertent
Need to remind
My lovesick mind
The commitment I made is a contract
From which I must not retract
My heart restrained
My feelings chained
All forbidden thoughts I did banish
Gradually the tempestuous thoughts did vanish.
***
With sadness, I remember that episode
As a test of myself on life’s road
Never again have I fallen prey
To the temptations that life throws my way.
ONE WORD PHOTO CHALLENGE: TEAL
Here are my entries for this challenge-
All photographs are from an island in the Bahamas
Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge: 2015 Week #8
Along the banks of the frozen Schuylkill River, Philadelphia
Outside a Swiss-style chalet in Adirondacks region, New York
Fall colors, Washington DC
Beginning of a revolution
Every generation needs a new revolution.
-Thomas Jefferson
Explosive anger
Endless frustration
Thinly veiled rancor
Against domination
Bubbling resentment
Rising to the surface
Anguished predicament
Visible on the face
Cries of protest
Going up in the air
All that they detest
Amalgamated with despair
They are ready to struggle
They are willing to die
In this unequal tussle
Between classes low and high
Fanning a destructive fire
Of a bloody revolution
Fueled by a thirsty desire
To achieve a resolution
Of the conflicts of the land
With inequality everywhere
Justice lies buried in sand
The common man cries for his share.
The loner
Endless stretch of grassy land
Bisected by the road stretched like a band
Not a single soul for miles in sight
Landscape bathed in brilliant sunlight
In my dreams I cruise on this highway
I’m all alone, and this is my way
Far from the city’s cacophony of noise
Silently I travel, this is my choice
Thinking, dreaming uninterrupted
In a smooth flow that’s never disrupted
Far from the realm of modern civilization
Detached from the sphere of human expectation
This is the way my dreams unfold
Being all alone gives me pleasure untold.
Stuck? Just take a step!
The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.
I often face a mental block
As if faced by a mammoth rock
My mind a simple blank draws
Inertia grips me in its claws
I lie, listless, in a state of torpor
Waiting to be shaken out of stupor
Sucked dry of creative juice
I feel the onslaught of the blues
I then recede in recesses deep
Hoping inspiration would break my sleep.
**
How come I never did realize
Waiting and watching was unwise
I needed to get up and begin
Fight the lethargy seeping in
Change the pattern of my thought
Rekindle the spark that I forgot
New ideas would germinate
Draw me out of my inertial state
Step forward with a light spring
As I experience my spirits swing
Back on the upward incline
Enthusiastic, I rise and shine
**
If in a rut you ever feel stuck
Just take a step to change your luck
Begin, and the path you shall find
As the stars themselves align
The world can be your oyster
As you move ahead without fear.
Passion...unbridled 
