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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...

  BONANZA   SUNDAY NIGHT  I COULDN'T WAIT.  HOSS WAS MY FAVORITE WHEN HE WAS THERE TO HELP LITTLE JOE I WAS HAPPY .BUT WE DIDN'T GET TO ENJOY THE SHOW AS MUCH AS MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW THE MAP WOULD START TO BURN UP AND...

You might be thinking, "What the heck is he talking about?" As I was growing up in North Conway, N.H., the most common type of home in the area was a Cape Cod style with a full basement.  Most people never finished off the basement so the steps downstairs were usually...

This is not the actual rubber bands we used....The ones we used were this big before you began pulling on them!  They were awesome!!!   Rubber band wars with Dad My younger brother Tyler and I used to love having rubber band wars with our Dad when we were growing up. ...

Milton Berle is my all time favorite comedian.  He made me laugh till I cried.  He had more energy  than I've  seen in my lifetime and he never offended anyone in his routine.  I can't say the same about the so called comedians today. There are very few that I can...

It was nineteen forty eight. . My father had a huge, seven inch wide screen portable TV. Once a week I loked forward to the Milton Berle Show.  he mad

Howdy Doody was a great show that I remember.  They were re-runs at that time, but they were new to me!  Another show that started in black and white and then went to color was Captain Kangaroo.  I loved that show too....Mr. Green Jeans and the ping pong balls.

this song made it to number 100,000 on the music charts     I HAD BEEN PLAYING THE GUITAR FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS AT THIS POINT OFF AND ON. THEN ONE DAY I WAS SITTING WITH MY BROTHER JIM AND MY COUSIN LARRY WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN I JUMPED...

As the van with it's nearly bald tires reached the crest of the deep snow-covered mountain pass we were exhausted after pushing it up the last 100 feet or so. It was desolate and we all asked ourselves why in the world we would ever try to do this. In airplane...

  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...

FOR MY SON TAKE YOUR SON TO WORK DAY   I WAS WORKING AS A PLASTERER FOR MY BROTHER AND I ASKED IF HE COULD USE SOME EXTRA HELP. I WAS ASKING FOR MY SON.  HE SAID THAT WOULD BE FINE - BRING HIM TOMORROW.  MY BROTHER HAD TWO GUYS FROM...

LOCAL FARMER AT HIS BEST   OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WAS FILLED WITH LAUGHTER PRETTY MUCH ALL THE TIME . I THINK THAT WAS THE REASON ONE OF THE FARMERS THAT LIVED THERE WOULD COME DOWN THE STREET WITH HIS HORSES AND HAY WAGON ON ANY GIVEN SATURDAY RIGHT AROUND 6:30 PM.  HE...

THIS WAS A FUN GAME   WE WOULD LINE UP HOLDING HANDS LIKE IN THE PICTURE.  EACH LINE OF PEOPLE HOLDING HANDS  WOULD BE ABOUT 4 TO 5 PEOPLE. THE TWO LINES WOULD BE ABOUT 50 FEET APART. THE FIRST PART OF THIS GAME IS THAT YOU TAKE TURNS CALLING A...

Eons ago, when I was a child, every Australian back garden had a selection of fruit trees growing – a lemon, orange, plum, apricot and peach were the most common. Families with a larger garden also planted nectarines, mulberry, fig, crab apple, quince, pomegranate and other more exotic fruit producing trees...

Flying through the trees like a squirrel or monkey...who wouldn't love that?  My first adventure ziplining began with trepidation and ended with exhilaration.  I wanted to take my husband on a "different' kind of trip, one that was daring but not TOO daring.  Googling around located this thing called ziplining 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...

  listen to the audio if you dare at the top of this story Music and Family   I belong to a large family which took an enormous effort from both my parents and all the siblings. We never asked for any material things from my folks and I believe they...

Travel Memories “I haven’t travelled everywhere, but it is on my list.” Susan Sontag.                             I confess – I have a secret passion for travel. I’m sure that the seed for my passion was deeply embedded in me at the age of 3 ½ years when I became a monthly boarder at...

Hooper Bald 5,450' (One of the highest points in the Nantahala National Forest, N.C. 2008....Car camping at it's finest!   I tell ya, I truly enjoy camping.  Now, there are different types of camping so let's get that straight right off the bat.  There is rv camping where you've got a...

Windsock Estates -  Hang glider vista When I was between the ages of 2-4 years I lived in an apartment complex that was adjacent to the local community airport in North Conway, N.H.  The name of the apartment complex was Windsock Estates...What a great name.  The airport and surrounding town was...