A Moment In Time
by Sharon (Woods) Schwartz '55
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MOTHER NIGHT

  Like the crackling of ice
 Cross a frozen pond
  Our vessel glides across
   Its watery domain.
 

  The night like a mother
        Hovers over her as if
To protect and keep safe
 Her child.
 

She draws her close
To her bosom
And the soft whisper
Of the waves become
Her heartbeat-soothing
And calming the soul.
 

We sail on as the stars
Seem to fall like fairy dust
Upon us.
And the moon smiles as
It lights our way.
 

Mother and child are one.
Waiting to be reborn
With the promise of the
New day.
 
 

Quilt Story
by Linda (Meltzer) Harris

  I promised Mama Duck that I would tell you my quilt story so here goes.

  My step-mother moved out to Phoenix to live with her brother and sister in 1986 and so she made arrangements to give my daughter my mother's dining room suite which was a art deco style that Mother bought at the old Rhodes Furniture store that used to be located on Main and Anderson (before Mangas Cafeteria was on that spot). Since Carole lived in Pittsburgh at the time, we put it in storage in a pole barn until she could come and get it.

  Two years later, Carole was able to truck it over to Pittsburgh and began to polish and restore it to its natural state when she found a Falvey's box in the buffet drawer. When she opened the box, she found two quilt tops. When she called me about them, the memories began to come through.

  One of the tops was an appliquéd Lancaster or Ohio Rose pattern in bright pink with nile green leaves and the other was a Tulip pattern and the leaves were of purple and pink and yellow with nile green leaves set on a diagonal. I remember Mother working on these when I was about six or seven years old. She did  quilting with the King's Daughter's of East Main Street Christian Church and the ladies always seemed to "set up shop" in Mother's dining room.  They would show me how to do the stitching and I'm sure I was a great help to their endeavors! (smile here).

  However, these two particular tops were done solely by Mother and were very special to her. Her eyesight failed when I was in first grade and she was unable to see to sew after that and so the quilt pieces were boxed up and put in her buffet. We were thrilled to find them 50 years later and so I set out to quilt them up for Carole and our son David. It was a miracle to be able to match the colors but we did and I have embroidered Mother's name, my name and the kids' names on their respective quilts. It was a lot of work and I am not very skilled in the quilting business but it was a joy to be able to have these treasures to pass along to Mother's grandchildren that she never met.

Love does find its way, doesn't it?

Linda (Meltzer) Harris '57