My Portfolio

    It was after 6:00 when my long day ended and the offices were quiet at last. I surveyed my overflowing desk, then stood and stretched wearily.  Alone in the silence, I could hear the snaps and crackles as I slowly rotated my neck to relieve the day’s tension.  I hoped...

I received a package in the mail at Christmas when I was about ten years old.  After gently removing the brown mailing paper on the outside, then pulling off the lovely wrapping paper on the inside, I dug through the layers of tissue.  There I found the most beautiful, albeit totally...

I wish I knew my grandparents better before they passed. What I know of them comes from a few visits as a child and conversations with my parents. Genealogists are often surprised by their discoveries about past family members. But what will my descendants be surprised to know about me? That...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Giving Up Barbershops Except for the one time he went to a barber in Gainesville, Florida before leaving for the Organization for Tropical Studies study program in Costa Rica in 1970, the Footloose Forester decided to...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Travels By Train On his first travels west of the Rocky Mountains, the Footloose Forester had a premonition that he would never again be as happy as he was in the mountains.  Seeing the Rockies...

             My Great Great Grandfather and Grandmother              John Blackham                          Susannah Lees                    JOHN BLACKHAM BORN:  14 November 1827 PLACE:  Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England CHRISTENED:  November 1827 BAPTIZED:  4 April 1849 by T. J. Schofield CONFIRMED:  29 April 1849 by John Albiston Jr. MARRIED:  21 May...

This is simply a word picture of something I often experienced as a boy.   As often happens I didn’t know how much I loved these things until I realized they no longer shared my world. Steam Engines:    At the mid-century point of the 20th Century hundreds of awesome black behemoths roamed...

  When I was in the Navy and we'd be out to sea, once a week we'd have boxing matches.  And the other week we'd have wrestling matches.  It was for entertainment to keep the troops entertained when we were out to sea.  We'd be out six to eight months at...

  On the road …again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Trinity Center, California A few memoirs are related almost exclusively to forestry ventures, and some of the very sweetest memories are about the sights, sounds and events when Cal-Pacific Forest Consultants had a contract to conduct a...

My love of water began early when Dad hoisted me on to his shoulders and waded out into the Pacific Ocean as it reached Queensland’s golden beaches. As he was 6’6 ½” tall, I had a bird’s eye view of the beach as he turned and warned me to “Hang on...

As part of the business of our moving into a “Retirement Condo Community” (It is mid-April 2012 as I write this) we have been taking inventory of the tangible “driftwood” that has piled up on the shores of our  lives over the years and disposing of  things that were once useful...

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Uniform or Not, Civilian or Not   Uniform or not, civilian or not, many of us who spent more than a year in Viet Nam saw lots of action of one form or another. There were mortar attacks,...

Newspapers may just give us the "story behind the story!"

Being interested in family history since the age of 10 years old, I am keenly aware of some of the many genes I inherited. Firstly, I believe diabetes came to me from my paternal side of the family--the Masons--because Daddy developed Type 2 diabetes in his 40s and I in my 50s. Well,...

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION Attalea crassispatha (C. Martius) Burret, the "Coco rosse" known only to a handful of botanists and the Haitian villagers in the Southwest of Haiti, may be one of the rarest palms in the world. At this...

I think we won't have to carry a phone or computer around with us, that we will be able to simply "call up" a phone or computer in the air and be able to see it and interact with it in whatever way suits us best:  voice, touch, or eye movements.  Automobiles,...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Getting To Morocco On A Pass With a hand-written copy of the Rhein-Main flight schedule in his back pocket, Footloose Forester was not sure where he would end up during his first leave period from his duty post in...

You're going to love Legacy Stories Forever!!! Not sure where to start or what to do??? Legacy Stories will help you get the start you need – It’s simple, fun and easy!   Share those priceless memories with your loved ones today!!! We’ll help you get -- -- Organized – suggesting...

And now, from the planet Mars...

I JUST WANTED TO SING   Bright lights! Beautiful music! Big Celebrities! As an eight year old girl from a small, small town in Arkansas, every day I dreamed of and imagined myself in this spotlight. I was destined to become a star. Could anyone have told me that I would...