I am not the photographer….Ron is!

I am not the photographer….Ron is!

When I saw the invitation from Mari Sterling Wilbur (http://mariscamera.blogspot.com) asking for photographs to be sent to her so that they could be featured in her posts, I just took a cursory glance at all the talented people who accepted her invitation. I am not a photographer, alright I like taking pictures but more than that I love being photographed!! I couldn’t think of any pictures that were saved in my folders that could be sent, they were all of ME!! I am not a narcissist, so what if I pester my son all the time to take my pictures! My son, Ron is my designated photographer. My camera guy! Poor boy, he hates it because most of the times he can’t go click, click, click, with the camera photographing what he likes but gets blackmailed into taking mine. I know sometimes on purpose he takes such unattractive pictures of me so as to discourage me from asking him.

It then struck me to send some of his photos to Mari. The ones featured in her post were taken last year. We had gone to Shillong, a scenic hill station also the capital of Meghalaya (Land of clouds); it is a three hour drive from where we stay. The entire way is beautiful, like the name says you can almost touch the clouds as you climb up the hills. Just short of Shillong there is this place called Barapani (Big water). It is a huge lake and it is breathtaking. We stopped by and explored. Ron was thrilled to take off taking shots but not before he took a few mine. The caterpillars in the pictures are huge and they camouflage with the bark of pine trees that are everywhere. For more do visit Mari’s blog, she is a gifted photographer who shares tips on photography and we all come back from after reading her posts educated. Thank you once again Mari for featuring Ron.

http://mariscamera.blogspot.com/2011/07/composition-summarized.html

 

Questions???

Questions???

Have you ever wondered why sometimes people ask you a question that is most irrelevant? I’m not talking of a rhetoric one here, I’m being polite and not saying they are the most stupid and dumb questions but in all honesty they are stupid with a capital “S”. A few days back a friend sent me some real classic dumb questions. Here are a few examples:

Ø  When you get woken up at midnight by a phone call...
Stupid Question:-
Sorry. Were you sleeping? 
Answer:-
No. I was doing research on whether the Zulu tribes in Africa marry or not. You thought I was sleeping.... you dumb witted moron. 

Ø  When you see a friend/colleague with evidently shorter hair...
Stupid Question:-
Hey have you had a haircut? 
Answer:-
No, it’s autumn and I'm shedding

Ø  You are smoking a cigarette and a cute woman asks...
Stupid Question:-
Oh, so you smoke. 
Answer: - 
Gosh, it's a miracle .......it was a piece of chalk and now it's in flames!!! 

Ø  At the movies: When you meet acquaintances/ friends…
Stupid Question:-
Hey, what are you doing here? 
Answer:-
Don’t you know, I sell tickets in black over here?

Ø  In the bus: A heavy lady wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet...
Stupid Question:- 
Sorry, did that hurt?
Answer:-
No, not at all, I'm on local anesthesia.....why don't you try again?

I think most times people ask you a question just for the heck of it! Maybe to keep a conversation going, or at times a question is asked just out of sheer habit. You may be down in the dumps and someone asks you “How are you?”….”Hello! Are you a moron? Can’t you see I’m dying here?”

However, in a lover’s world everything is permissible. “Do you miss me?”, “Do you love me?”, “How much do you love me?” and you are sure to get an answer back from the heart! “I love you baby”, “I miss you all the time”, “You have no idea how much I love you”. A conversation like this can be repeated at least three times in a span of a day and it is considered normal and not dumb! Every time you hear your lover reaffirming how much he or she loves you and misses you, you are literally swooning. But for a bystander it can be pretty exasperating…”What’s wrong with these people? Didn’t she just hear him say “I love you” so why the hell is she asking the same question? And why on earth is he answering her again? They love each other, so they are together! They miss one another, so they spend as much time together! So what’s their problem?” …..”Excuse me! You haven’t yet fallen in love! Just you wait and watch when love tiptoes into your heart!”

Then you have the after breakup questions. He calls you and asks you “How have you been?” and you answer in your sweetest confident voice “I am doing good”. Pride, hurt and pain hold you back. You are not about to open up your heart to him. You had done that, laid bare your soul and look where it got you? So you pretend everything is picture perfect. You are having a ball! So what if he is not in your life? You are not about to tell him that even counting sheep at night can’t get you to sleep, that you sob every night, missing him and wanting him back. As for him, does he ask you because he needs to ask or is he genuinely concerned about you? I wonder…In all probability he holds on to his breath when he asks you how you have been and lets out a sigh of relief when you say you are ok. He doesn’t want to go in there so he moves onto more polite questions and she lets him. It is only after he hangs up you think of the choicest of retorts but it is too late.

Questions! They can really put you into a dilemma at times. You are at a loss for answers so you are polite and give the person exactly what he or she wants to hear or at times you are plain rude and shut the person up. We are all questioning and seeking answers about our life and the universe but that is for another day to contemplate about. Today it is all about questions that make you wonder….

Poe-A-Tree Hop...LOST

Hey another Poe-A-Tree Hop!

Well here we are going again, just hopping all over the world.  As you may know the last hop we were looking at the rainbows. Saw some mighty pretty ones two.  But to have a rainbow you need a little rain. So this time, get you a box of Kleenex or a supply of crying towels cause were going to have a down pour of tears causing poem and tear jerking story for you to read. As you dry your eyes please leave a sympathy note in the comments. There a list of blogs that is participating in this hop below the poem and or story.  Have fun and cry your eyes out you will feel better. It’s good for you, Mikey like it.  

LOST

A lone tear trailed,

His sad eyes

Cried silently...

A long journey

A lonely path

Of love falling apart

As it made its way

Down his tormented face…

I stood watching

Blinded by my own

My heart heaving

As cascades of

Pearly, weeping tears

Stung my face

He was a man…

Giving into crying

Something alien

But that grey day

His cracked heart

Triumphed…

A sparkling gem

Precious and invaluable

Escaped its prison

And trickled down

Containing in its

Crystal bubble

Volumes of pain,

Sadness and loss.

I look back now

And wish I had

Saved that gem

Stopped its course

Midway…

Captured it in a bottle

A priceless pearl…

Crystallized in time forever

But I floundered

In my grief,

As the tiny drop

Splashed on his

Heavy chest

Lost forever…

One last look

At his otherwise

Stoic face

Now rife with

Unspoken emotions,

I walked away

Sacrificing love

At the altar of tears.

POETRY TEAR HOP

Participating blogs: click on one and make the hop to another puddle of tears.
In no particle order:

Roy Durham http://royd-spiltmilk.blogspot.com/
Rimly Bezbaruah http://rimlybezbaruah.blogspot.com/
Alpana Jaiswal http://motifsonthewall.blogspot.com/
Bonnie Parker Gayadeen http://bongoisme.blogspot.com/

 sulekha rawat  http://www.://sulekkha.blogspot.com/

Sancheeta Biswas http://www.anshsaransh.blogspot.com/ 

Anna Sides  http://othersideofanna5.blogspot.com/ 

‎ Melissa Tandoc  http://www.grazieadio.blogspot.co​m
Jessica Mokrzycki http://ascendingthehills.blogspot.com/
sarah-jane klemis     http://almostthere.biz/

  

Hope and Wait...

Hope and Wait…

“Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords”

                                                                                                                                                                      Samuel Johnson

I think of hope and I think of waiting…we hope and we wait for it to become a reality. We desire therefore we hope. Sometimes they are fulfilled; sometimes a lifetime is over without realizing them. Our only possession in this world is hope, without it, the brightness of our life is gone. And we wait…sometimes lifetimes. But is that all needed for our desires to be realized? Just hope and wish? And yet it is also said that if you desire something intensely the whole universe conspires to give it to you. So am I underestimating the power of hope, desire and the mind? Or do we strive towards that desire by working at it in the hope they will be ours….whatever we long for? Or do we just sit and wait and hope? What happens when the person you love and desire to spend your life with shuts the door? All he does is sit behind that closed door and hopes, afraid to step out and meet his love halfway? While his lover sits on the other side of the closed door and waits, stoking the flames of hope, knowing nothing can happen unless that door is opened by him.

My hungry eyes long for a glimpse of you,

My empty ears wait to be drowned in your voice,

My lost soul cries to become one with you,

My body thirsting for your touch

But my broken heart mourns

For the hopelessness of all that can never be…

And wishes sometimes it hadn’t

Belonged to you, my love.

The hours are slipping

Another day is coming to an end,

Another step towards futility

While I die a thousand deaths waiting….

We have two choices…live in the present or move on. Many will say this waiting is not worth it while others say “Make the most of this present, bask in the love for who has seen the future?” It is never easy to move on… it takes courage and a complete death of that hope. We move on to other desires and hope for something new, something that has more possibilities of it being fulfilled. We move on saying it was meant to be…that is the consolation we give. But I wonder if that hope remains buried somewhere deep, the only thing that has changed is that we remove our focus from it? Perhaps not… We need to live and for us to keep life in motion desires are necessary. Therefore we hope again for something else and wait…

She wept because she needed him

She felt forlorn because

She wanted to be lost in his strong embrace,

The façade of being strong and resolute

Enervate her tired limbs

She just wants to be a woman

To her man

To be held close to his heart

Safely cocooned in his warm presence

Not a visitor to her lonely evenings…

Is it too much to ask for?

She wonders aloud…

The fragrance of her soul must be as intoxicating

As the passion of her mind

Maybe the silvery moonlight will

Soon break through those ominous clouds

And they will hide from the glow of her face

Tears from her eyes will show her way

Like sparkling pearls

The rose petal lips will usher in

A lifetime of contentment

And companionship

Swallowing her lump

She wonders aloud…

Is it too much to ask for?

(The above verse is by a dear friend and mentor)

What say you my dear readers? Would love to get your comments.

The Darkness In Her....

The Darkness In Her….

With every turn

Of the full moon

She changes….

Mutates…

Another Jekyll and Hyde

Love, compassion,

Understanding, acceptance

All swept to a corner…

Like an evil witch

She churns and churns

Pain and hurting

In the cauldron

Of her frenzied mind.

Plotting and sub-plotting…

The cold damp recesses

Of her heart turning black

Potion after potions

Of magical charm, love,

Tears and silent appeals

Have no hold over him

Her lover…

Longing and helplessness

Turn into lashings

Till he bleeds,

Choosing to be helpless,

Patience is his forte

And all he has is

“Don’t worry baby, I love you”

Some days the words

Like a balm soothe

Her tattered and

Frayed nerves

Other days

They are like claws,

Every syllable

Digging into her soul

Screeching and screaming

Making her want to

Rip out her sick heart

Instead, frothing and fuming

She spits out venom

Emptied she wonders…

Is this love or a sick obsession?

Or just the lure of the

Forbidden fruit

That is him?

Despising what she becomes

A monstrosity

She wants to flee

This darkness that

Possesses her

But she stays rooted,

Desiring him

With a deluge like passion

Perhaps for eternity…

Pain and hellish fury

Swept to a corner