Rambles in Bedford, NY and A Piece of Unsolicited Advice

On a visit to my nearby parents, I walked and jogged about 10 miles over the past 24 hours, up and down Middle Patent Road in Bedford Village, New York. Now the site of million-dollar homes, this forested neighborhood was a flashpoint  during the American Revolution when British burned the entire village of Bedford to the ground.  

The winding five-mile-long road, which is called East Middle Patent Road once it hits North Castle and then Stamford, Connecticut, earned its name because the land through which it runs was granted by the English king in three separate patents: East Patent, West Patent and Middle Patent.

Some of the stone walls marking property lines were built during Colonial times. Other dividing lines are much newer.

I did not encounter many cars, either on my mid-afternoon or my early morning walk/jog. A few men ran past and one woman cycled by. One middle-aged man, however, slowed his Land Rover down to offer me some unsolicited advice.  First, he identified himself as "a neighbor." I kept jogging as he slowed his car to talk with me.

"You look great!" he told me and then proceeded to tell me how I should consider a weight-loss program he had used himself to lose 38 pounds. Thanks but no thanks, buddy.