Do you remember this lovely little book?

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Judgesurreal777

Robert McCloskey published Make Way for Ducklings in 1941, inspired by the days he spent feeding ducks at Boston’s Public Garden as an art student in the early 1930s. Later, while illustrating the book, he brought six ducklings home to share his studio apartment in New York’s West Village.

Photo by Alexey Gomankov via Wikimedia Commons

Can you imagine?

In the story of Mrs. Mallard and her brood, a kindly Boston police officer named Michael, who once enjoyed feeding peanuts to the Mallards, stops traffic for the web-footed family to cross a busy street.

Image courtesy of Read Me a Story; http://readmeastorynow.blogspot.com/2011/11/make-way-for-ducklings.html

The city of Boston erected a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings in the Public Garden where McCloskey’s tale began, and since 1978, the city has hosted an annual Duckling Day parade each spring, in which children and their parents dress as ducks and ducklings.

Photo courtesy of Schon.com; www.schon.com/public/ducklings-boston.php

Lest you wonder if the sweet story of “policeman-helps-ducklings” could possibly happen in real life, watch this video and smile:

Of all the warm, fuzzy feelings we get when we think of grandmothers,

a full belly may be the most comforting of all.

The quintessential American grandma loves to express her affection with food.

(As “Nanny Jane,” I can assure you—it’s true!)

After all, what’s more loving than the gift of nourishment?

Nothing in the world, it seems.

Grannies all around the globe share the primal longing to satiate the souls of their little successors.

How do I know?

Photographer Gabriele Galimberti has captured it on film.

It all began when Galimberti’s own grandma whipped up a batch of her famous homemade ravioli to prepare him for a photographic expedition to chronicle couch surfing abroad.

Photo courtesy of Gabriele Galimberti/Riverboom/INSTITUTE http://peace-meals.com/the-grandmother-ingredient/

No doubt, she wondered if it would be his last wholesome meal.

Gently, he reminded her that he would be staying in other people’s homes, where he would likely be fed.

“I said to my grandma, ‘You know, Grandma, there are many other grandmas around the world and most of them are really good cooks. I’m going to meet them and ask them to cook for me so I can show you that you don’t have to be worried for me and the food that I will eat.'”

That was a lightbulb moment for Galimberti, and a new photographic mission was born.

His newly hatched project, “Delicatessen with Love,” ended up taking him to 58 countries, where he photographed grandmothers alongside their favorite ingredients and signature dishes.

Photo courtesy of Gabriele Galimberti/Riverboom/INSTITUTE http://peace-meals.com/the-grandmother-ingredient/

“I like the idea of showing all the single ingredients in the first photo in a way that everybody can recognize, and in the second photo, I show the result of the recipes, where all the ingredients are mixed together.”

The Delicatessen with Love website exhibition also includes recipes for each dish (click on the “More Info” link below a photo to find the accompanying recipe).

“And, yes,” Galimberti assures, “I always [sat] at the table with the grandmas, and I always tried their food!”

If you have a family pig out in the pen,

you may want to cover her ears.

Photo by Alan Fryer via Wikimedia Commons

Here’s the problem:

Should farm pigs catch wind of the news I’m about to tell you,

the mud wallows of America won’t seem so satisfying anymore.

Photo by Mark Peters via Wikimedia Commons

And don’t put it past your pastoral piggy

to swim for fairer shores …

Photo by Stanley Marsh 3 via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to Pig Island.

Photo by cdorobek via Wikipedia

Officially, this tropical paradise in the Bahamas is known as Big Major Cay Island, but in its residents’ native tongue, it sounds more like,

“Oink, oink, snuffle, snort.”

Yup, the island is populated by pigs.

Photo bycdorobek via News.com.au

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