Cambridge-Boston and surrounding communities in "Lockdown."

This is pretty weird - sitting on our patio while less than a ten minute walk from here the police prepare to set off a precautionary explosion to clear their way into the premises previously occupied by the older of the two madmen who killed and maimed so many at the Boston Marathon and killed a policeman during the night. It's sunny and warm. I would like to be walking to downtown Boston to do some work at the library but that is no longer on my agenda as we are all - something like a million of us - supposed to stay at home. All of the public transportation in the area has been shut down. All I can hear and see are helicopters going this way and that. No traffic on our usually busy street. A strange feeling, indeed.

I would like at least like to take a walk but I am stuck here as if under house arrest for who knows how long. The crazies who did this horror are from my neighborhood, which brings their crimes close to me personally. I may well have walked past these people on my way to my favorite coffee shop on Cambridge Street last week.