My Portfolio

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek    The Concept of Rainforests   When a respondent to the Quora.com website explained why rainforests are so hot and so wet, the Footloose Forester was jolted into composing a rejoinder.  The contributor, an airline pilot and traveler,...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   The Durian Express   On the road again…!!! is an appropriate place to be when the mission is all about the Durian Express.  You see, the durian fruit grown in SE Asia and marketed in some key...

Grandpa Sam was quiet but when he spoke he always had something wise to say.  And he could be really funny too!  He had twelve children my mom being the oldest, so he had some skills in the leadership department.   He had a quiet strength and confidence that I liked....

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   On the road…again!!! in 2018 On the road again…is not just a line from the Willie Nelson tune of the same name.  On the masthead of the older Chronicles of a Footloose Forester, the catchy expression (that he...

The sur-name Steiger is a local sur-name; to be more pricise, it is a topographic name, derived from a physical location feature of the local geography. The specific derivation of the name Steiger is from the word "steig" which means "narrow, steep path." This makes sense considering that the family name...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     Paying for School Essays is Cheating There are plenty of self-help books out there. Some are long and fairly comprehensive. Others are short and to the point. Tips on building, painting, wiring, or baking come in many...

Having a summer holiday can be a boon or a bane for the students; it is a boon because you neither have to study for long and extended hours nor you have to stay up all night to complete the pending academic paper. However, it can be a bane because you...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Words Matter, No Matter What Maybe some words attain the distinction of earning copyright protection, maybe some words are so vulgar that they are not accepted in polite conversation, and maybe some often-repeated words are so vapid that...

I just love hiking the peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, they are much more rugged than the Santa Monica Mountains, and this hike did not disappoint. It was an amazing day and an amazing hike. We mapped out a loop that would take us up to Mt Islip by way...

      I don’t remember exactly how a group of undocumented immigrants got into our apartment, or  how quickly immigration agents showed up at our door. I only remember my feelings of rage, fear and helplessness.    At the time my siblings and I lived in a 3-bedroom apartment with our...

Background: In the year 2000, my mother gifted me a priceless and unforgettable experience. Through her generosity I was able to spend 4 months in the warm and wise embrace of my grandmother, great grandmother, great aunts and loving extended family. I arrived in Las Marias, Yuquayquin, the village where I was...

On the road…again!!!Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Googling Pyramid Peak   Another day, another dream, and another chronicle about nagging problems.  The long-festering issue about which screen capture photos from the Internet are free of copyright restrictions welled up again in last night’s dream. Among...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    Siberia From the Air You can’t see much from the small oval window of a jetliner but if you don’t look out you won’t see anything of the world below.  There is much you can learn...

As I pedaled up I saw her sprawled out on the ground.  She had lost her balance and fallen off her bicycle.  Her knee was skinned very badly and her arm was cut.  We asked her to let us call someone to come pick her up.  She steadfastly refused.  She had...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     Ezekiel Was a Prophet, Not a Horticulturist   Show me the person who thinks that every single word in the Bible is literally true, and I will show you a person who will be hard-pressed to explain...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Moss and Mumblety-peg The game of mumblety-peg is so old that even Mark Twain mentioned it as one of the favorites enjoyed by young boys.  It was outdoors, in the summer, and played in the grass.  To do...

As my younger son Ed, his wife Anna, and our granddaughters prepare for a cross-country move from New Jersey to Chicago, my mind goes back to 1974, the year our family also moved from the East to the Midwest.Husband John had accepted a position with Battelle Columbus Labs and begun work...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Pani Pulau Snippets of memory, the stuff of legacy stories…  That was the theme of a recent chronicle by the Footloose Forester.  Today another snippet of a distant memory was jarred loose during a period of...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    Rosewood By Any Other Name   Most everyone agrees that truth in advertising is a policy that should be followed simply because everyone wants to know what they are getting and to get what they are paying for. ...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Street Trees and Village Shade There is little doubt that trees beautify the landscape in any large city or small town.  Street trees are aesthetic treasures that may be ignored at times but gain attention when they are...