Rowboat to Troopship

Rowboat to Troopship
On the road...again!!! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Rowboat to Troopship   A landlubber like the Footloose Forester always felt at home with the sound of granite sand under his boots, the firm landings of his bare feet in beach sand, and the...
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On Ambitions

On Ambitions
On the road…again! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    On Ambitions     Only when the Footloose Forester  reviewed the presumed acknowledgment/comment box for Ambitious about students in his class, as reported in the for-profit website called Classmates, did he even think about himself...
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800 Views
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As I Lie Awake and Listen

As I Lie Awake and Listen
On the road…again!!! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   As I Lie Awake and Listen   Melancholia pervades a certain genre of music and people who suddenly become vulnerable to melancholia find a certain solace in the words and music of melancholic songs.  Singing...
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The Parody Defense

The Parody Defense
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    The Parody Defense   Only once in a while does the forgotten, third-rate would-be crafter of parody who calls himself the Footloose Forester get a response to his missives. He would prefer kudos but, alas, when the infrequent...
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A Closer Look at a Picture Worth a Thousand Words

A Closer Look at a Picture Worth a Thousand Words
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     A Closer Look at a Picture Worth a Thousand Words Flamengos Tree Nursery, Cape Verde Some people are proud of their humble beginnings.  Others are impatient to move on and forget about the past. It was many...
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1644 Views
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Moss and Mumblety-peg

Moss and Mumblety-peg
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Moss and Mumblety-peg The game of mumblety-peg is so old that even Mark Twain mentioned it as one of the favorites enjoyed by young boys.  It was outdoors, in the summer, and played in the grass.  To do...
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1991 Views
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My Life Story by Eleanor Jean Arnold Tyler

I was born in Portsmouth, Ohio on January 15, 1931, during the Depression years. My mom and dad, Ruth Isabel Thrickmorton and Walter Leroy Arnold, were living with my dad's grandparents, Minnie Burkhart and Adolph Arnold, at 814 Eighth Stree, Portsmouth, Ohio. My great-grandparents had built the house in approximately 1892....
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1385 Views
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My Life Story by Eleanor Jean Arnold Tyler

I was born in Portsmouth, Ohio on January 15, 1931, during the Depression years. My mom and dad, Ruth Isabel Thrickmorton and Walter Leroy Arnold, were living with my dad's grandparents, Minnie Burkhart and Adolph Arnold, at 814 Eighth Stree, Portsmouth, Ohio. My great-grandparents had built the house in approximately 1892....
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Can We Remember? Do We Remember?

Can We Remember?  Do We Remember?
On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Can We Remember?  Do We Remember?  Should We Remember?   People who think often about the past engage in subconscious peeking into their personal histories.  They see flashes of happy times, stressful times, sad times, times...
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Oskie Wow Wow, Burma Shave, and Other Artifacts

Oskie Wow Wow, Burma Shave, and Other Artifacts
While driving my jaunty  Explorer Sportrac, which my wife has named “Sassy Red,”  to the dealer some thirty miles away for its scheduled  maintenance, I passed some long-familiar scenes.  My mind began drifting, conjuring an image of life as it was sixty to seventy years ago.  God, how I long for...
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2223 Views
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From the Plains to the Mountains

From the Plains to the Mountains
PREFACE:  This is the second memoir of a multi-year experience that had a definite impact on my later life.  I want to stress that I am sharing these experiences in an effort to give some testimony to the way God has worked in my life and not in any sort of...
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Tree Houses `R Us

In rummaging through my bookshelf recently selecting books I could donate to our church’s garage sale I came across a collection of stories my next oldest brother, Gene, had written as a columnist for the weekly newspaper in the town in which he grew up  He grew up living in and...
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From The . . . (plains) . . . Of Montezuma

From The . . .  (plains) . . .  Of Montezuma
Preface:  This is the first "chapter" of what will be a "quadrilogy" chronicling a part of my teen years that had a profound effect on my later life.  I do not offer these in any kind of "I'm proud of this" boasting way.  If I have any motive other than simply...
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The Helping Hands Club

In the fall of 1956 a young woman with four small children moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where my family lived. I don’t remember her name and wouldn’t divulge it if I did, so I’ll call her Carol. She came from another State, where she and her children had been battered by...
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2117 Views
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TRICK OR. . . . Trick

Trick or . . . . trick Halloween in the late 20 th, Early 21 st Century is a "holiday" that has completely metamorphosed from the form it had at mid-20 th Century. If a teen-aged boy of those days were somehow magically time-traveled to Halloween night 2014 and saw little...
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A Story Only One Person Can Tell

A Story Only One Person Can Tell
On the road...again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   This Was Home For More Than 55 Years A picture can prompt 10,000 words this photo was rejected for inclusion in a book of memoirs because of presumed copyright law violation   At first glance,  the...
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3063 Views
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The Summer of Lefty

  NOTE: This is a "Coming of Age" story. It isn’t pretty nor is it pleasant for me to recall. But life consists of pleasure, pain, success, failure, ugliness and beauty. If my legacy consists of memories of significant events in my life and if it is to be complete and honest, it...
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Record-Breaking Secrets

Record-Breaking Secrets
Perhaps you’ve heard the expression: “Nobody wants to read your diary except your mother,” but if that were true, why do so many of us love autobiographies? Is it because we feel less isolated when somebody else shares his or her secrets? In Diane Keaton’s book: “Let’s Just Say it Wasn’t...
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1867 Views
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The Cherry Tree

The Old Cherry Tree             When I was eight years old we moved into the house that my father’s grandparents had built in 1882.  Many of the plants and trees they’d put in over the years were still thriving.  There was an abundance of hollyhocks, peonies, lily of the valley, tea...
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2201 Views
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A Short Botanical History Of The Trees Of Home

A Short Botanical History Of The Trees Of Home
On the road …again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek A Short Botanical History Of Home We youngsters might have taken the trees for granted when we were very young, but as we grew older those trees around the house became keepsakes.  The old Pellek homestead...
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