(1)to tiny poodle , flpicsee "$PWD" does not work in exec option of .desktop file .
(2)to hiro , your qiv script is nice . Pointing to that script in exec option of .desktop file gives what I wanted . I can press m + - to see picture in different sizes.
(3)Tried gthumb - it shows directory in tree on left & files (that can be filtered) on right pane .