What's a mother to do?

As we hunker down for a 11-17 inch snowstorm I thought it might lighten the forecast by remembering a kinder and warmer time last summer, when a mother duck tried to send her ducklings on the straight and narrow. Metaphors, all.
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Ciambotta - questo anno

Today it finally happened : the annual Ciambotta ritual was accomplished. I posted the recipe for my Italian family's summer vegetable stew last year here.

No salt pork here, and for class (class?) I added a few shitake mushrooms (my dad would be rolling over in his grave)** and Yukon Gold instead of Idaho potatoes to this parte seconda versione. The basil I added was from a phenomenal plant I've been growing this year. Usually by August it is leggy and anemic but not this gorgeous, green, aromatic guy! deliziosi

** after my dad passed away 15 years ago the end of July, my mom went a little wacko, bought even more cats (25 tops), and started dating a guy with questionable intentions and a rap sheet, (sigh). . .So my sister and I were discussing this one day and she said, "Well, Daddy is already turning over in his grave like he's on a rotisserie, one more cat isn't going to make much difference."

The family. We were a strange little band of characters
trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck