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On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek  Great Books and Film Documentaries They say that if a book is worth reading, it is worth reading again.  Good books attract numerous readers, as measured by readership survey data.  Great books are measured not so much as the...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Taking The Dreaded Comps Students, past and present, loathe saying too much about the exams they endured.  The more difficult the exams, the less inclined most students are to dwell on them.  If a particular exam was in...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Heroes We Have Known Chau and Hahn Telling stories about other people is fraught with risk.  One risk is that they might be offended that something you have said might not be true; another risk is that something else...

On the road …again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Picnic With Baboons In many of the popular game parks and reserves in Africa, the authorities go out of their way to provide amenities for visitors.  Quite naturally, a few picnic tables scattered here and...

  A Bastogne Tribute (Author Unknown) There was snow on the ground in South Jersey when, for the second year, I made my way out to the range to fire a Bastogne Tribute clip. As with the year before I left my SUV near the front gate, shouldered my M1, and made my...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Fresh Tuna Steaks   They say that there is nothing quite as tasty as fresh fruits and vegetables.  No argument about that. But when it comes to meats and fish, the chemistry involved is more complex and the effects...

On the road …again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   LAVA FLOWS AT GRANTS, NEW MEXICO As you speed along one of the broad highways of the US interstate system, it is easy to miss some of the most interesting things along the way.  Of course, the driver...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   A Half-Bar of Soap One haunting memory of Africa will always be the unexpected and personal one-on-one encounter with a villager in a remote part of Mali.  The line of five or six mud huts did not constitute a...

On the road...again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Mangoes For Elephants   No, this is not a footnote about the 2011 Fox movie production of the same genre.   The movie “Water for Elephants” was about a circus elephant that was abused and usually chained down.  This one...

Chronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Self-Hypnosis For Well-Being Part II What do yoga, transcendental meditation and self-hypnosis have in common?  Only an expert could explain in a convincing, substantive way; but the Footloose Forester will venture his version of an answer: Each practice is a deliberate activity with...

Chronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Self-Hypnosis For Well-Being Part I It was back in 1974 when an entirely new way of thinking invaded the brain of the Footloose Forester.  That was the time when a traveling clinical hypnotist on a lecture tour came to visit the University of...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Environmental Disasters For much of the last 30 years, the issue of the environment has become a political football, with political parties lining up on opposite sides of that football.  That is too bad; although the political teams play...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Petty Scams Being on the road…again and again…is to invite some scam artists who see every stranger as a possible mark.  You don’t have to go out of your way; they most often make it their business to...

  On the road...again!!!Essays, Stories, Adventures, DreamsChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek A Recipe for Becoming a Writer(The Brownie Principle)   Almost everyone likes brownies.  Oh, there may be a few health food devotees who distain sugary sweets of any kind; but most of us relish the mouthwatering idea of...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Hurricane Sandy   Many tragedies of Hurricane Sandy during the latter days of October 2012 have already been told, one at a time.  Most stories, however, may never be told.  Those that have been most affected may feel so...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Street Corner in Montmartre*   Le Consulat Restaurant, as it looked in 1963 If it is generally true, as it seems to be, that the older we get, the more we reminisce about the past; then those of us...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   The Serendipity Of Katherine’s Statue Serendipity has always been one of his favorite words. The dictionary definition of serendipity has a few variations; but in general, it means a pleasant, fortunate and unexpected discovery. Finding the wooden sculpture of...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   The Drunkard Mouse of Joburg   Thu was keen to visit Kimberly, South Africa, site of the most famous diamond mine in the world. So we arranged to take a vacation in South Africa, with a trip...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Post-It Note—Why The Boat May Be Drifting OK, complete disclosure at the outset….this chronicle is a contrived attempt to make a point that is simple enough to put on a small Post-It-Note. So, as part of the contrived justification...

It would take many decades to piece together enough of the past for the Tiger and the Bear to share a story about their growing up years.  Until they met in Saigon late in 1966, they lived separate lives, thousands of miles apart.  After 44 years of marriage, however, they are...