What's New???
September 20, 2003
Stephanie Ewen (Maid of Honor) and Jason Fisher (usher) are married in a beautiful outdoor Scottish ceremony. (Meredith was the Matron of Honor). Pictures from their wedding are available here. (username: fisher, password: highland)
October 26, 2003
Nell and Mark Horman celebrate the birth of Elijah Ewing Horman. Spenser and Benjamin have a new baby brother!!
Mark and Elaina renew their vows in front of their friends at the Stone Mountain Highland Games in beautiful Stone Mountain, GA (near Atlanta). It is the third Anvil Ceremony performed by Bing Ewen in less than three months.
December 2003
Kent McDowell, Meredith's stepfather, branches his photography studio out and begins photographing horses at Mill Ridge Farm that are destined for the Keeneland January Sales.
Fred and Meredith's mailbox is flattened at night by a wayward motorist. The driver swerved off the road, jumped the 18" culvert, took out the 12" brick walls on each side of the driveway, knocked the full trash bin into the middle of the front yard and broke it, then flattened the mailbox. However, they did leave something behind... their front bumper. Meredith later followed a trail of dark fluid through the neighborhood behind their house hoping to find the driver while Fred assessed the damage, questioned witnesses and made a report for the landlord's insurance. Meredith and Fred kept the bumper as a strange souvenir.
January 2004
Meredith's house is listed with Frank Ramos and Black Mountain Reality (859-509-6675 or frankramos@insightbb.com). Frank is the father of one of Meredith's students, Rebecca Ramos, which was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise for Meredith.
Billie Sebastian, Fred's Aunt, loses her house in a fire, due to a malfunction with the furnace. However, the nearby barn and all her horses were kept safe by Billie's quick thinking (she kept the barn roof and walls wet using an outdoor hose) and were all fine. Billie moved in with friends and is planning to rebuild.
Meredith's father, Jim Houston, falls and badly breaks his shoulder. Luckily he tended to the injury quickly and tightly wrapped his shoulder with bandages to stabilize the break and reduce the swelling. His doctors congratulated him for his quick thinking and hope it will reduce the chance of him losing function in the shoulder.
February 2004
Jimmy Houston, Meredith's brother, is honored at an awards ceremony banquet for Merck Pharmaceuticals as National Top New Representative. He won this award from a pool of 1500 candidates, and is certainly a hard worker. Congratulations Jimmy!
Ryan and Karen Dusek welcome another little girl, Rachel, into their family to join their first daughter, Isabella. Best wishes to the Dusek family!
March 2004
Meredith and Fred are faced with their first tornado scare together. Apparently Northern Alabama is in "Tornado Alley", and experiences many tornados. Holland, who was not happy with the flying curtains and rain through the open windows, walked around with stress wrinkles between her ears. Browning laid down and slept through it without worry.Drew Maney, Fred's brother and cadet at the United States Military Academy at Westpoint, was in Phoenix, Arizona with the Glee Club. On the morning of March 5, the Glee Club was on the Good Morning Arizona TV show. In the evening, they attended a pro football training game. March 6, they sang the National Anthem at the Spurs vs. Suns game (televised?). They returned to West Point on March 7. They went to California and Nevada the following week for a week long concert tour (Beverly Hills Country Club, Burbank, L.A., Channel Islands, Reno, Fairfield/Sacramento, and San Franciso). Click here to see the pictures from California and Nevada. Drew is in pictures 2,3 and a-fd-e. No spring break but certainly worth every minute of it.
Ruth Sebastian had a mishap that is the dread of any homeowner... her water heater exploded! Meredith drove to Lexington to help her clear out the books, furniture, and clothes, and try to save what they could. Luckily, Ruth was insured, and there is high hopes for the recovery of the few law books and pictures which got damp.
Meredith's mother, Patricia McDowell, is healing well from her surgery (she broke her arm in an auto accident before the wedding) and is gaining more and more use of her hand every day. She has returned to work and does not seem to have many problems, though her grip still does not fully close.
Meredith's father, Jim, has surprised all of his doctors and has regained some stability and movement in his arm. He is now back at work without his bandages and the bones in his shoulder continue to heal at a rapid pace, to the amazement of his doctors.
Kent McDowell has begun to add mare and new foal photography to his offerings for clients boarding their horses at Mill Ridge Farm.