Back in the '30s a highlight to the summer for my mother and her sisters was visiting their Aunt Beulah, who lived with her family in Southwest Virginia in the village of Mud Fork near the West Virginia border. To reach Mud Fork they would take the train from Roanoke, about...
1596 Views
Sorting through family papers recently, I came across two separate newspaper clippings that described my parent’s wedding in 1949. I was first struck by how detailed the reports were, in contrast to what might get into the newspaper these days. Secondly I was impressed that both articles, apparently by different people,...
2113 Views
We’re going under the water now; I’ve got you.” The words "I've got you" seemed a bit superfluous, the little girl was clinging to me, her swimming iunstructor, like a leech. She began protesting—loudly. “That’s good,” I commented. “But when you’re underwater, you’ll need to close your mouth. You can cry as much...
1790 Views
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Aroma Therapy About a decade ago, the hip, the yuppies, and the avant-garde community came up with the commercially salable idea of aromatherapy. Most big shopping malls in major cities now have at least one...
1899 Views
Growing up with two older sisters and a younger brother, each about two years apart, I longed to gain entry into ‘the big girls club.’ My brother, Kevin, was in a club – and room—of his own. We three sisters shared a room, although I was a bit isolated...
1791 Views
MILESTONES--or maybe Highlights? GLASGOW, LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND when we moved into our very own house (even a new one) in Drumchapel and I spied a friend outside when I fell in love with a cylindrical satin-wood post-box, my favorite toy when I played my first real song on the...
1938 Views
This poem; A Life for a Life by Dinah Mulock was given to me by my mother on a day that I felt no one understood me and especially not my mom. She put this under my pillow and I have been grateful ever since. Oh, the comfort — the...
1607 Views
On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Who Manages The Managers? The chronicles and personal stories of the Footloose Forester , up to this point, purposely avoided episodes that were critical of others, accusatory, or those that cast aspersions. Although everyone...
Tags:
1558 Views
I was born in Columbus Ohio, in 1946. during my childhood, I had become a shy mixed-up human being. growing up in a constant poverty, made me a chronic worrier. i was the middle of three boys. i was boy trying to be a man. In 1965 the world was changing...
1500 Views
This is not how I imagined I would be spending my last night at my mom's home. My idea was a quiet peaceful time, reflecting on the many happy moments enjoyed over the past 47 years visiting with family. In reality every piece of furniture is gone now except for a...
1596 Views
INTEGRITY The most significant value that I was shown in my lifetime was from my Daddy…Integrity! T he situation was that my Daddy was principal of the high school and one of his responsibilities was to sign papers to send to the Arkansas Athletic...
1683 Views
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missle Crisis, a time when we skated closer to the line of nuclear war than we realized then or think about now. I was not quite 18, a freshman at Texas Woman's University in Denton. I don't remember how my roommate and...
1574 Views
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia C hronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek The Drunkard Mouse of Joburg Thu was keen to visit Kimberly, South Africa, site of the most famous diamond mine in the world. So we arranged to take a vacation in South Africa,...
2035 Views
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek On Name Dropping The Footloose Forester has been a practicing iconoclast for most of his adult life. No, make that most of his entire life. As a teenager, he spent plenty of time musing about...
Tags:
1944 Views
On the road…. again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Where The Deer And The Etcetera Play When he looked out the back window this morning he spotted the waving tail of a grey squirrel. Nothing unusual about that; except that the squirrel in...
2140 Views
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By 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,...
5830 Views
In August, 1958 at the age of fourteen years (4), I was given the opportunity to spend a few days in Salt Lake City, Utah with my grandmother Thiessens, affectionately nicknamed "Mumpsy". This was to be a special outing, just Mumpsy and me. As we walked along Main Street, I remember...
1734 Views
On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek C for Costa Rica The Switzerland of Central America is known as the country that has the most stable democracy in Latin America. Costa Rica is also a magnet for studies in tropical ecology, whether...
4543 Views