{"id":52234,"date":"2013-12-10T19:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T00:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=52234"},"modified":"2013-12-09T19:05:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T00:05:01","slug":"our-new-christmas-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=52234","title":{"rendered":"Our New Christmas Neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Morris<\/a>The Musings of a Simple Country Man<\/p>\n

By Hobie Morris<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

–Mirror image:\u00a0 \u201cChristmas is Love; Love is Christmas\u201d<\/p>\n

(Brookfield, NY \u2013 Dec. 2013) My radiantly beautiful and always joyful wife Lois and this simple country man have already received our most highly prized Christmas present\u2014three new neighbors.\u00a0 We value their presence infinitely greater than any material object or gift that will all too quickly fade away in importance.\u00a0 As Oscar Wilde has observed<\/p>\n

\u201cwho being loved is poor?\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookfield has a reputation as a place inhabited by a wide variety of very unusual characters.\u00a0\u00a0 Society\u2019s mold breakers, non-conformists, some say oddballs.\u00a0 A very colorful collection of misfits elsewhere who are gladly welcomed to this wild area of forested hills and scenic valleys.\u00a0 In brief, all of these unique people are our good friends and we are happy to live in amongst them.<\/p>\n

We especially admire their rugged individualism and independence.\u00a0 Collectively they are very loyal, garnished with a deep sense of kindness and goodness.\u00a0 They pride themselves on hard work and are always willing to help those in trouble and in need.\u00a0 Most of them will gladly give more than they can really afford.\u00a0 Not all of them, of course, but the solid majority continues to uphold many old time virtues that have sadly become lost in the 21st century.\u00a0\u00a0 As James Russell Lowell has written \u201call God\u2019s angels come to us disguised.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Brookfield\u2019s life and times are not static but ever changing.\u00a0 This change has seemingly become faster in recent years.\u00a0 Part of this change has been the influx of new people who have been attracted to Brookfield\u2019s beauty, remoteness and quiet and attractive way of life.\u00a0 Lois and I have met many of these newcomers and have been very impressed by their friendliness, talents and first class character qualities.<\/p>\n

This Christmas we feel extremely blessed to welcome and celebrate three new Brookfielders in our neighborhood southwest of the village.<\/p>\n

Michael is a tall, handsome slender man with a Harvard law degree and a distinguished corporate legal career in Manhattan.\u00a0\u00a0 His wife Elizabeth is a lovely and talented Southern belle from Atlanta, Ga.<\/p>\n

Michael and Elizabeth are the proud new owners of the historic Raymond Burdick home and adjoining property on Waterman Road.\u00a0 A beautiful side hill location overlooking the scenic Beaver Creek Valley to the east.\u00a0 A remarkable vista for their eyes to enjoy in the years to come.\u00a0 We are sure they\u2019ll soon be immersing themselves in the fascinating history and lore of their new neighborhood.\u00a0 They\u2019ll discover so many new things to take in and enjoy.\u00a0 Their lives will be delectably enriched by examining the deep and ever flowing stream of the life and times of their new surroundings.<\/p>\n

Some starlit evening around Christmas time, as we travel west on the Waterman Road, we\u2019ll pass the cozy, diminutive house where Michael and Elizabeth will be celebrating the holiday season.\u00a0 Lights from within will shine on the sparkling snow outside.\u00a0 Wood smoke drifting lazily into the calm cold air will complete this Currier and Ives montage.<\/p>\n

Beyond their home the ascending Town road makes two sharp turns, crosses snow covered hay fields and then completes its short run through deep dark forests on both sides of the plowed road.\u00a0 Up ahead the Waterman Road runs into the more heavily traveled Giles Road.\u00a0 This is where we can greet our third new Christmas neighbor.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not a confirmed bachelor or spoken for, although he is by most standards a pretty handsome fellow.\u00a0 Everything about our third new neighbor is light years different from Michael and Elizabeth.\u00a0 But then, that what makes Brookfield so unique and fascinating\u2014its diversity.<\/p>\n

His name is \u201cWilliam,\u201d but more readily answers to \u201cBilly.\u201d\u00a0 Some say he drifted in to this area in July, but being a reclusive fellow, few people know for sure.\u00a0 According to some rumors, he came from somewhere south of us, but again this is only a mystery.<\/p>\n

For some reason our bearded newcomer has decided to spend the winter here in Brookfield.\u00a0 Like many others who have found Brookfield a friendly sanctuary, Billy is mum on his previous wanderings.\u00a0 Possibly a confirmed wanderer who can\u2019t put his itchy feet down for too long in any one place.\u00a0 But at least this Christmas Billy will enjoy his new location.<\/p>\n

In personality, Billy is his own man.\u00a0 Enjoying his own company above others although not totally devoid of a curiosity about others who occasionally cross his path.\u00a0 Billy loves the outdoors, preferring to spend his waking hours tromping through the woods and fields adjacent to his modest new home located near the intersection of Waterman and Giles Road.<\/p>\n

Billy is obviously very fit, as noted by passers-by who spot him him moving rapidly through his new surroundings.\u00a0 Apparently Billy is a strict vegetarian, according to rumors.<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, Billy\u2019s new home is very modest in all respects.\u00a0 But for him it seems perfectly comfortable from our harsh winter weather.\u00a0 His house is located close to both Town roads for easy access for kindly neighbors who occasionally leave food for him to enjoy.\u00a0 This Christmas Billy will have an impressive gourmet menu to select from.<\/p>\n

In church, every Sunday, there is a time to praise God\u00a0 as well as to request prayers.\u00a0 Recently this simple country man silently prayed for our three new Christmas neighbors.\u00a0 For their health, happiness and safety, among other things.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday the\u00a0 next hymn was entitled \u201cAll Creatures of our God and King.\u201d It begins with its title:\u00a0 \u201cAll Creatures of our God and King\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bible instructs us to love our neighbors as ourselves.\u00a0 This of course means all our neighbors.\u00a0 This simple country man and his remarkably loving and beautiful wife do, in fact, love all our neighbors as well as \u201call creatures of our God and King.\u201d\u00a0 They also inhabit our neighborhood and lives.<\/p>\n

Our three newest neighbors are the finest godly gifts we could ever receive this Christmas.\u00a0 We hope and pray you receive similar gifts.\u00a0 There is a wonderful Swedish proverb that goes \u201ca life without love is like a year without summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Musings of a Simple Country Man By Hobie Morris –Mirror image:\u00a0 \u201cChristmas is Love; Love is Christmas\u201d (Brookfield, NY \u2013 Dec. 2013) My radiantly beautiful and always joyful wife Lois and this simple country man have already received our most highly prized Christmas present\u2014three new neighbors.\u00a0 We value their presence infinitely greater than any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-dAu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}