My Portfolio

My Artist Mother I see my mother at the table sketching, painting, working on crafts for relief society, and cutting silhouettes for posters.  Everything she worked on she would share some paper, paint, or beads with her kids so we could play too.  I am sure it was messy at times,...

December 22, 2013 Santa Fe New Mexico So maybe now I have some answers to why I am drawn to this area of the country and have been coming out here so frequently since being in my 20's. And why I have spent hundreds of hours trying to learn how to...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Rides On The Wild Side   As he emerged from a dream and lay beneath the cozy flannel sheet, the Footloose Forester started to brew his next chronicle about flying and flying machines.  After many years...

WANDERER Scattered hereabouts are the ashes of a wanderer       Present still in the soil, In the crevices of rocks, In the eddies of streams, In the tops of trees, In the wind, Across the land.

Some time ago Tom Cormier suggested that we might write our epitaphs - in twenty words.  I have thought about that off and on.  For the last year or so I've been keeping a "Spiritual Journal" containing some meditations and thoughts that come after reading a passage in The Bible, reflecting on...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Rain Shadows and Rain Forests   On the one hand, you have those who believe in global warming; and on the other side of the divide are those who are currently labeled as climate change deniers. ...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   When Mixing Metaphors   Sure, we sometimes get away from our game plan and jump into the frying pan, but hey, who’s perfect?  When passions run deep, we should take solace in the fact that still...

Your turn to spin -- no, it's not "spin the bottle" but "spin the wool".  This is a talent of Lillie Francom.  Lillie was born in Payson on July 8, 1926; she is 88 years old.  She has lived in Salem for 43 years.  She met her husband, Arthur Francom, at...

A True Samson   He was the first-born to Arthur Benton and Leva Mae Carriker in 1898. I never knew who named him or why they chose such a peculiar middle name, for it was truly a curious choice. I have never known or heard of any person outside of the...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Smelly Dog Stories   Writing a story about his sweet, sweet Violet has been a most difficult challenge because the Footloose Forester was not going to be satisfied with a simple story about his dog; or...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek          Legacy Of The Land If you are not making many mistakes, you are not being very creative.  Now, that is a stinging indictment…to the reader, whomever that is, and from the writer…whomever that was. ...

Keith and Gwen Barney never moved very far from where they were born.  Keith was born in Lake Shore 81 years ago and Gwen was born in Spanish Fork 76 years ago.  They were both born at home.  When Keith was born in was 33 degress below zero and his dad...

It truly was another time in a place that no longer exists. Oh, the buildings and streets are still there and the snow still falls deep and wet on them but yet – it is all different than it was when I was a young band director in a small school...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   This Wasn’t Your Grandma’s Thanksgiving Turkey   When Thanksgiving rolls around and families gather to enjoy traditional meals and each other’s company, conversations often tilt to fond recollections about turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. ...

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. -- Kevin Arnold (From The Wonder Years) My memories of Thanksgiving are pretty much the same for each year. My mother was not someone who experimented with things. She...

The gene pool from which American families draw is a wondrous palette onto which our “Artist-Creator dips his brush.  The genes floating in that pool are as countless as the stars, making it possible for Him to send several children to the same parents:  Children who, while sharing some commonalities, are...

  On the road… again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Speedy’s Lost & Found   The Chronicles of a Footloose Forester are true stories about a gadabout adventurer who, for lack of steady employment of his choosing at a time or in a place...

The Legacy Untold Is Like A Book Unread By Tom Cormier and Dick Pellek   You and I will leave a legacy whether we want to, or not. Everyone who passed on has already left theirs. Some are rich in history and personal accomplishments; and others are obscure or even unknown....

While growing up, Ruth and her siblings often visited their grandparents who had immgrated from The Netherlands in 1922.  One of the traditional foods that Grandma Folkers liked to prepare and share was "Roode Kool".  Here is her traditional recipe to pass on to her posterity. Ingredients: 1 medium sized heart...