I'm back! It was a very lovely vacation - I can say now that we were on a cruise to Bermuda, thanks to the generosity of my parents, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I've been feeling kind of run-down and burned out in recent weeks, so this did me a world of good. It was my fourth time on that beautiful island, but we've already picked out one or two new things to do if there's another visit in our future.
I hadn't decided what my topic would be when I returned to the blog, but I sort of had the decision made for me thanks to a new addition to the list of guest photographers. Kevin's brother Darren sent me a photo of a marker I didn't have in Philadelphia. (I considered saving it until September, for the 100th birthday of the gentleman in question, but knowing me I'd forget.) My prior knowledge of John Coltrane was extremely limited; it mostly stemmed from having seen the movie Mr. Holland's Opus in my late teens, in which the title character names his son Coltrane after the musician. While researching this quest, though, I learned a lot of things, some of which surprised me. For one, this is the first time I'm writing about a canonized saint, although it won't be the last.