Week in Review: Pipe Bombs and Pumpkins and Meals, Oh My!

What a week!  I know that I say that frequently when I write on a Friday or Saturday.  So, let me continue my tradition of capturing the week in a list, rather than a ruminative essay.

--It's been a week of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats and other opponents of President Trump.  Happily, the suspect has been apprehended.  I had wondered if we might be looking at a decade of Unabomber type activities.  This current bomber was sloppier; he left a fingerprint.

--There might also be a language aspect, much like the Unabomber case, where his brother recognized his rhetoric when the Unabomber published his manifesto in The Washington Post and The New York Times.  I heard one newscast say that some of the current bomber's tweets have been similarly used to connect him to the bombings, as some of the same misspellings on the packages match the tweets.  But it's likely the fingerprint that will prove to be decisive proof.

--Yesterday I wrote this Facebook post:  On the "Washington Post" site, I think I'm watching live footage of the van that the bomber used being driven on a truck across my county in South Florida. During the long shots, I peer at the screen, trying to figure out what road they're on. I am grateful that I'm safe and sound in my office and not out on the roadways right now (because of the traffic congestion, not because I think I would be in any kind of danger from a bomb).

--I wrote this e-mail to a friend:  Yes, once again, terrorist(s) in South Florida, in my very county. What is it about South Florida that drives people to terrorism? You may or may not remember that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers got their flight training down here, and a few of them lived less than a mile from me--that revelation didn't surprise me. And the fact that someone has been mailing pipe bombs from my home county is also not a surprise. I think this person(s) was arrested in Plantation, which is in the middle of the county, while I'm in the southeast part of the county.

--Happily, it's been a much quieter week at work and home than it has been in the national news.  When I look back on this week, I'll remember my joy at pumpkin decorating at work and the subtle shift in the weather and light that I sensed last night when we ate our salmon on the backyard table.  I'll remember the Johnny Cash music fest we created for ourselves last night.  I'll remember having meals out:  on Wednesday with our undergraduate campus pastor and Thursday night with my spouse's brother and wife.

--On the home repair front we are making slow but steady progress.  On Thursday, my spouse's brother helped us pick up the barn doors that will separate the laundry room from the kitchen.  We first saw them three weeks ago--finding them at a local discount door store took over a week of internet researching.    We have chosen the cabinets and the color--that required trips to Home Depot and getting samples mailed to us.   We were going to go to Home Depot today, but we've waited this long, so we'll wait a bit longer.  I can use a leisurely morning.