We arrive in Bay St. Louis, under a cloud

We arrived in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, Monday afternoon, after three days on the road.  It was not a great trip.  The weather en route was alternately foggy (we left during a "warm" spell), sunny and quite rainy; things were sopping when we pulled in about 3 pm Central Time.

But the weather was not the problem.  On Sunday, the second day, before we left Cincinnati, we received the shocking news that our close friend Pat Malicki was in critical condition in a Detroit hospital as a result of a fire at her house in Windsor.  This hung over us all day.  In Birmingham, Alabama, that evening we heard from a mutual friend in Windsor who had been to see Pat in the hospital -- first confirming the extent of her injuries, and then, not much later, that she had died from them.  We were devastated.  We had had a long phone conversation (there was no other kind) with Pat just a few days before and she had spent several days with us in St. Marys last summer.  We had known her through the ACO (Architectural Conservancy of Ontario) for years and became even closer to her after the sudden death of her husband, Richard, in early 2012, not even two years ago.

Here is Pat and Richard, whom we also loved, with me at my retirement party in late 2010.

The long-time president of the Windsor Region Branch of ACO, Pat also served a term or two as president of the provincial organization.  She was a preservationist force to be reckoned with and didn't suffer fools (political or otherwise) gladly.  She had strong opinions and loved her vodka-on-the-rocks and cigarettes.  She was a great friend to Joey and me.