Mothers And Daughters

Sabina Waldman consulted a priest before opening her shop, Sabina & Daughter, in a former convent in Fells Point. "We didn't want to be sacrilegious," she says.No problem, said the priest, so now she and daughter Samantha keep shop in a large room that was once a chapel. There, with a reverence for the old and a love for whimsy, they show off the most beautiful objects of the 1860s to the 1950s.A ceramic angel sits on the ledge of a Gothic window and watches over the former sanctuary, while the Waldmans focus on art deco, art nouveau and mission style -- mixed with some Victorian and Empire -- furniture and accessories.

The Pratt offers 'Story Anytime'Ever feel you need a story -- a nice little fable or folktale? Well, there's one as near as your phone, thanks to "A Story Anytime," a new service of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Pratt staffers have recorded 3- or 4-minute tales that you can listen to any hour, day or night. There's a different story every week and the library's goal is to repeat each story only once a year. The service, part of the library's program to promote literacy, is financed by a grant from Bell Atlantic and the American Library Association.

The way Mary Gamberdella remembers it, the argument was inevitable. The bride and her mother were getting along too well -- giggling and agreeing on everything from sending out ecru-colored invitations to serving oysters on the half shell.But then during a final dress fitting, the mother announced that she hated her daughter's hair. You ARE getting a perm before the wedding, she declared.The bride scowled. Angry words flew. And a fairy-tale time turned into a scene from a Bette Davis-Joan Crawford movie.

Before you decide whether or not to go into business with your mother, ask yourself: Do you want to ride the roller coaster or do you want to ride the merry-go-round?This advice comes from Lilly Walters, executive director of Walters International Speakers Bureau in Glendora, Calif.Walters, who has been working with her mother, Dottie Walters, since she was 8, joined her mother's company on a full-time basis about seven years ago."I felt all kinds of trepidation, but where else would someone automatically give me this kind of opportunity?"