My Portfolio

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Let’s Go Shake The Mango Tree   Mango cubes in his breakfast cereal were more tastebud satisfying and aromatically pleasing than sliced bananas ever were. It took decades of taste testing, mixing of ingredients, and sample bowls of...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Dominican Republic     As a country right next door to Haiti, and occupying about 2/3 of the Island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic was also a pleasure in contrasts.  The Footloose Forester went there...

  On the road …again!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   M was Macau These fleeting decades after Macau had been absorbed by the People’s Republic of China, one wonders if the map makers made it easier or harder to find that former Portuguese enclave...

  On the road …again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   On Growing Things   Some farmers around the world think of themselves as unskilled peasants.  On the other hand, some city dwellers think of farmers as providers of the riches of the land.  The land itself can...

On the road …again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   G for Greece Greece was on his bucket list of places to see well before the popular concept of “things to do and things to see before one kicks the bucket” was made into a movie.  As a...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   M is for Madagascar   Madagascar is so puzzling as a nation that even the people who live there generally acknowledge that it would be meaningful to divide up the island into four distinct regions. If one would slice...

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Canyon on the Feather River     Of several trips to the large property on the Feather River, one of them turned into a real adventure.  A land owner wanted his square mile of land (640 acres) in...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek Northwest Frontier Provinces Pakistan On a trek into the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan, the Swat valley he believes it was -- Footloose Forester arrived with Peace Corps colleagues John Harper and Jerry Jensen at sunset. We were happy to...

  On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek Horses and Mules   Once in a while making a trip by horseback was preferable to walking, but not always.  The Footloose Forester was only a sometimes rider, so never got comfortable enough around horses and mules to...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   G is Guatemala   The people of Guatemala have always been a personal attraction because of their cultural distinctiveness.  A mixture of Mestizo, Indians, and European-looking classes have ensured that in any given place you are likely to...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Softball Overseas Part II   Within a year of completing the Cape Verde assignment, Footloose Forester was selected to serve as Senior Forestry Advisor for a USAID project in Haiti. His interest in softball came up within a...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek Softball Overseas Part I They say that when you go overseas you should plan for downtime by developing hobbies. Softball was not exactly a hobby, but a sport that enjoyed wide popularity around the world and one that did...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Getting The Most Out Of Coconuts   Seeing a coconut lying under the tree was always a reason to smile. Wife Thu and Footloose Forester were fortunate to live in Hawaii where coconut palms are abundant, so we...

  On the road…. again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   N is Nigeria One of the stopover countries, Nigeria will always come to mind because of the stories associated with it.  As we ate dinner at the home of a newly arrived USAID program officer in Cape...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Sponges That Tastes Good                                          Since ancient times the use of natural sponges for bathing has been a mark...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   G is for Ghana   Only after Ghana defeated the United States in World Cup soccer in 2006 did it occur to the Footloose Forester that a Ghana story might get somebody’s attention.  The name Ghana was tossed around...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Discovering Chincoteague Bay February 2012 The future excites us and stirs our thoughts about what the next adventures will bring.  While many of the older Chronicles of a Footloose Forester were about memories captured from a distant...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   L is for Laos Laos is as exotic a country as most people will ever visit.  In the 1960s when the Footloose Forester first visited, the market place reeked of the distinctive smell of marijuana in the...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   T for Thailand Two weeks was the limit for a visa to Thailand, so the Footloose Forester too soon had to leave the vacation atmosphere of Bangkok and seek adventure elsewhere.  Vacation, yes, since eating good food everyday and...

        UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM DATE:                                   1 April 92 REPLY TO ATTN OF:             Dick Pellek, REDSO/ESA Natural Resources/Policy Advisor SUBJECT:               ...