My Portfolio

  When the generations of a family stop interacting on a daily basis the spontaneity of the interactions begins to suffer. Likewise, family visits with an elder under care become stilted and awkward, and ultimately less frequent. Changing the dynamic of the family visit to become engaging, rewarding, purposeful and productive...

Marv and I wanting to bag another peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, so we turned to our trusty hiking book and settled on Mount Waterman with a possible side trip over to one of the twin peaks. We made it as far as Twin Peaks saddle, then turned around and...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Why Footloose Forester Won’t Write A Novel As snippets of clichés and other prompts for new chronicles popped into his head, the Footloose Forester decided that at least two of them were determining factors in his decision to...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Canal House   The intention of this chronicle was to document with Google Earth screenshots one or more of the places where the Bengal Tiger and the Footloose Forester once lived.  When they were successfully captured...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Fantastic Sale - Moral Compass   Own a piece of history.             Order your very own Moral Compass.                         Designed and field tested in the USA.                                     Made in China by factory representative of noted fabricators.                                                 Don’t...

                                                  Professor of Physiology at Ohio State University         During ‘our” graduate school days at U of I, we had lived very frugally on the...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Hacking the Russian Environmental Report   Once in a while when a suspect news report gets aired with a misleading spin, the Footloose Forester goes into one of his petulant moods and yearns to compose a...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   You Remember Birdies and Eagles   One of the differences between daydreams and night time dreams is the simple proposition that daydreams are induced recollections and night time dreams are involuntary.  We may awaken to recall...

Essays, Stories , Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     The Healthcare Lifeboat   When does a chronicle belong in the Ancestors portfolio?  Where does a story about Education belong?  Who should be the general audience for a personal legacy tale about Growing Up Years?  Obvious...

Along the Elizabeth River waterfront on the southwest corner of Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia, is the Armed Forces Memorial that features 20 letters written home by U.S. soldiers and sailors who died serving their country from the Revolutionary War up to and including the Gulf wars.  The letters appear...

After returning from Viet Nam in 1970, my only skills were shooting people and playing music. With those limitations, combined with the humiliation of returning to an unsupportive America, it was impossible to find work to support my wife, Christine, and newborn son, Justin. So, I got together with two of...

From my birth until I was 18 I always lived next door to my mothers parents and brother and sister.  Starting in Bronx, NY and including our move out to Tucson, AZ I always had a large family looking after me.

­Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     What Goes Around Came Around, Again   The passing phases of our lives are marked by words and phrases that come into vogue out of the blue, are repeated often by trendsetters and hipsters, and eventually disappear...

Get ready to hear some very interesting facts about little Raymond.

Chapter 4 -   What do you know about your parents' upbringing?

Famous people get all the adoration and recognition. But Peanuts creator, Charles Schultz, helps us recognize the real heroes in our lives, whose story should be part of our own legacy. The questions below should inspire you to share a legacy story! Just read the questions to this quiz. You don't...

-- By Jane W. Topham            This month we are spotlighting a very prominent couple of Salem, Stephen M. and Linda B. Rees.  Stephen’s parents, Spencer and Luzenia Rees, lived in Loa, Utah and he was born in Salina where the nearest hospital was located.  Linda’s parents,...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Countdown to More Sweat Getting started on a job that will likely promote sweat involves a short span of personal contemplation.  The upcoming job may be one of short or long duration, but when real sweat is in the...

It is needless to mention that; our parents are our assets. They are someone that had given enough care, attention and compassion to us in all our situations. But, when they grow elder, they do expect the same from us. Of course, you can give your all attention, care and love...

Great question about traits that can be attributed to the next generation.    Without a doubt, it happened to my fathers 1st brother Bill (Boleslaw) Zukowski.   He was a muscian all of his life and retired with honors from playing with the Air Force Symphony based out of Washington, DC....