My Portfolio

An example of an '88 VW Jetta.  Ours was dark navy blue.   Another close call... When I was 16 I got my driver’s license.  At sixteen and 2 two weeks I had my first ticket  for speeding!  I just couldn’t keep my foot out of the gas.  It was just...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   C is for Cambodia Cambodia was on the list of places to see before the Footloose Forester had to decide whether his sojourn out of Pakistan would turn south toward Australia, or continue east into...

This is an example of a jacknifed trailer. Yeah, well it seems like I have this...pun intended....fatal attraction with semi trucks.  See, back in 2004-5 my brother and I were on I-40 westbound headed toward Nashville, TN.  We were going to pick up some off-road tires for his Tacoma.  We were...

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...

He was a slight man, maybe 5'6", with a thin beard and short dyed hair. He took awkward steps when he walked, and his skin was tightly wrapped around his bones, as though only a step away from resembling a Holocaust victim. He was clearly in great physical pain. He strained...

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Ambush At An Khe Pass   Most of the sagas about the Viet Nam War are about military operations and men in uniform, but civilian contractors in Viet Nam were not always safe.  This short chronicle is a...

DRIVING ALONG INTERSTATE 495 IN THE BOSTON AREA IT WAS RAINING PRETTY HARD.  I WAS TRAVELLING IN THE HIGH SPEED LANE WHEN I NOTICED SOMEONE AHEAD OF ME COMPLETELY STOPPED IN THE SAME HIGH SPEED LANE. I WAS ABLE TO SEE THE CAR IN TIME TO QUICKLY PULL OVER INTO THE...

Hello everyone. My name is Mark Garay. I am new to this site.  I was a broadcast journalist for 20 years, before venturing out on my own to create a company dedicated to preserving family histories and memories. I create broadcast quality documentaries for my clients. I build video stories around...

Generally, this is the car I was driving at the time...But Dark Navy Blue.  1998 or so Mazda Miata. Close calls eh?  I’ll give you a close call! Back in 2001 my cousin Heather came to visit me at my home in West Knoxville, TN.  She was staying about 20 miles...

The Oreo Cookie turned 100 years old today! I cannot at this moment think of any other icon of American Culinary Achievement that outstrips the familiarity of this cookie. Surely as it was for me, it was for others an integral part of my childhood. I even adopted a ritual for...

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Santa Cruz, California It was just another day in the woods.  Ed Tunheim, the senior forester for Cal-Pacific Forest Consultants, was in charge of several small contracts to inventory the timber on the properties of local landowners. Most of...

  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...

On the road…again!!! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek U is for Uganda The first sight he ever had of a dik-dik was up close, real close.  His old E-Mail nickname “DikDik” comes as no coincidence.  It was a hint of Africa and a reminder...

  On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Golfing Where and When You Can Living and working overseas does not mean that you have to give up the pleasures that you enjoyed back home.  Playing golf was a pleasure that was not available everywhere,...

Two of my earliest ancestors that I could identify were Cassie Williams and her daughter, Phillis Smith. As the story goes, Cassie Williams was one of three slave girls in Georgia. Although I haven't been able to verify this story, or her country of origin, our family has been able to...

Legacy Story Prompt: Describe a life-threatening close call that happened to you. Are you familiar with the cartoonist Gary Larsen? He made one superlatively funny cartoon in which two deer are standing in a forest, one bearing the image of a target/bull’s-eye prominently affixed to his body. The other deer says,...

As my body bounced against the rocks, my thoughts raced!  "Is this the way I will meet my demise?"

  On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek  I is for India   A hundred people in a banyan tree? The banyan tree in India is many times larger than this one While watching a sci-fi movie in which three young adventurers were filmed sitting in...

Along about 1967 the tsunami of money from the Federal Government to “Education” that was created by the nerve shattering “beep-beep-beeping” of the world’s first space vehicle had reached its crest and was receding.   It was Russia’s vehicle. . . and it was called “Sputnik” or fellow traveler. Those beeps were...

    It never occurred to me that I would actually pray for my father to die.  But watching someone suffer from cancer brings changes to people.  Especially if the person suffering is someone we love.     When my father had a lung biopsy which revealed that he had lung cancer, he...