My Portfolio

Ask any Missourian south of I70 what a “float trip” is and unless he is one of our more taciturn Ozarkers he will tell you.  However as a boy living in Kansas where rivers flow muddy and sluggish I’d never heard of a float trip and 30 years later when we...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   The Serendipity Of Katherine’s Statue Serendipity has always been one of his favorite words. The dictionary definition of serendipity has a few variations; but in general, it means a pleasant, fortunate and unexpected discovery. Finding the...

Getting engaged and preparing for the wedding are some of the biggest things in anyone's life. Alice recalls her engagement and wedding.

Annette's first fell in love when she was on an extended holiday in Watson South Australia on the Nullabor Plain. She was 16 at the time and met a young man working in the railway gang and living in the Railway Camp   Their courtship blossomed in the Billiard Room, which...

Margaret became engaged to Ted in December 1944 and they were married on 31st January 1945.  There was no ring and no money to spare, but their friends gave them an engagement party at the local Toch H club.  

With 9 siblings there is no shortage of stories to tell about my family. They all have their own unique abilites and talents. This story is about my brother, Jim. He was the oldest of us 10 children me being second oldest. So, I always looked up to him. Today I...

Since the day he discovered that his tricycle was faster than walking all but the dullest, most sedentary American boys have felt the urge to have wheels beneath them.  From tricycles to Corvettes (if only in their dreams) their desire is always to have faster, sexier ways to go from place to...

  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,...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Post-It Note—Why The Boat May Be Drifting OK, complete disclosure at the outset….this chronicle is a contrived attempt to make a point that is simple enough to put on a small Post-It-Note. So, as part of...

Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in writing.  As a teenager, I would stay up late at night writing poems and stories while the rest of the family was sleeping.  Since I shared a room with my sister and could not leave the light on, I would sit...

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Joyce describes her 21st birthday celebrations and tells us what it was like to be 21 years of age in 1958.

Judith, who was living in Darwin at the time, decided to get married at St George's Church Magill South Australia because church had a lychgate and she describes herself as a 'romantic'.  She wore a wedding gown made from white and gold material she had bought on a cruise a few...

Wait Until Dark My favorite black/white movie is Wait Until Dark, with Audrey Hepburn.    I first saw it when I was living in Louisville, Kentucky in the early 1970’s.   I had an old tv that my friend Pat Elliott had given me.   It was pretty pitiful, but I could see fairly...

It would take many decades to piece together enough of the past for the Tiger and the Bear to share a story about their growing up years.  Until they met in Saigon late in 1966, they lived separate lives, thousands of miles apart.  After 44 years of marriage, however, they are...

How a broken romance led to a pen friend and a future spouse. Alice recalls those bitter sweet days.

Jill tells us about meeting Brian at a local dance in Adelaide, the Cambridge Club, her engagement in the summer of 1962 and their wedding in January 1963.

Joyce joined the Citizens Military Force, Royal Australian Nursing Corp in 1958 and there she met her future husband, Ted.  But what about the special date when he arrived smelling strongly of beer!!  And he was a teetotaller!  

Ruth was 21 when she met Murdoch, her future spouse.  He was not what she expected and she wasn't sure that he was the 'right one'.

Judith moved to Darwin from Adelaide to live with her parents and younger siblings in 1970.  She soon was gathered in by workmates and friends and started socialising with the young people of Darwin.  Food was all trucked in to Darwin at that time, and there were not many places to...