My Portfolio

  Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     Let’s Go Bend The Fig Tree   The Bengal Tiger first coined the words to the love sonnet “let’s go shake the mango tree” when we lived in Hawaii in the 1970s.  She sang that sweet...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Hacking the Russian Environmental Report   Once in a while when a suspect news report gets aired with a misleading spin, the Footloose Forester goes into one of his petulant moods and yearns to compose a chronicle to mollify...

­Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     What Goes Around Came Around, Again   The passing phases of our lives are marked by words and phrases that come into vogue out of the blue, are repeated often by trendsetters and hipsters, and eventually disappear...

  On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Let’s Go Shake The Apple Tree   The Bengal Tiger was already in the branches of the Pennsylvania apple tree in the autumn of 2015 when she connected with the expression she had used...

Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujubaEssays, Stories, Adventures, DreamsChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   The Seagulls And The Clams   Our friend Thanh Mahoney related an amusing story to us about one of those “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction” events that might have seemed bizarre when it unfolded, but is...

Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujubaEssays, Stories, Adventures, DreamsChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   It Pays To Read Labels   Advertisers have been doing it for decades.  Putting nutritional information on milk cartons and cereal boxes, assembly instructions on the back of pre-fabricated office furniture pieces, and even pictures of...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Some Things You Can Make Up   People get bored quite easily. To counter that, many a youngster with an active mind tries to attract attention with their own personality traits that shout out, “I’m different….I’m not your...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Detecting The Vile In Greenbackville   No, this chronicle is not an exposé about sinister happenings perpetrated by vile residents in the sleepy little fishing village of Greenbackville, Virginia. Our fair hamlet of a mere 192 residents (2010 Census)...

On the road …again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Where Chickadees and Squirrels Compete   People who read some of the other chronicles of the Footloose Forester probably wonder if everything that is written is really true. Yes, all the stories are true, although...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   And Now On Stage …In Order Of Appearance   Let me introduce the actors, as they appear on stage.  From somewhere beyond the green curtain of shrubbery comes a red-headed woodpecker.  He appears stage left where the biggest bird...

On the road…. again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Reading The Fine Print   We all know that there is going to be fine print in contracts and agreements.  For the most part, the fine print protects the other party from unnecessary lawsuits, in...

On the road…again…! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     France Revisited   Footloose Forester wrote briefly in his Chronicles of a Footloose Forester about the Comoros Islands, Cambodia and France; but also about how the people and events in those three countries were blended...

On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   What Goes Around Comes Around   The first time that the Footloose Forester ever set eyes upon a  Zyzyphus  jujuba tree was in a desert region in Sind Province, Pakistan.  Travelers in the desert always welcome the sight...

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   Footprints Lead To Trouble When family and friends asked out of curiosity why the Footloose Forester was in the Republic of the Comoros one year, they became doubly curious in the following years after Islamic fundamentalists hijacked...

  On the road… again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Zebra Amber   Many times we all take things for granted.  Being comfortable with one’s personal ignorance is a way to cope, so although we strive to know what is going on, or knowing how things really...

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Washoe Indian Encampment at Wrights Lake, California Only after joining the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy as a volunteer in 2009 did Footloose Forester rekindle his interest in geology.  Having the time to document his memoirs helped, but the thoughts...

I have been having to travel a good bit lately for work and was in Atlanta the end of February.  As I was riding down the elevator with another woman she commented on my lipgloss and how pretty it was. :-) She asked me more about it and we chatted for...

  On the road again….Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek  Maple Trees   This timely chronicle belongs in either the “you just can’t make this stuff up” folder, or the “truth is stranger than fiction” folder.  To a bridge player, you might call it a cheap trick.  It...

In the spring of 1972, I had signed a contract with Brigham Young University Genealogical Research Center to direct American Research.  The research was done by students who were taking classes in research methodology and doing actual research on various problems that had been commissioned by individuals and family organizations.  This...