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Armenian Women's Welfare Association is excited to announce new renovation plans for the Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Debbie Weisberg, Community Contributor

Armenian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) is excited to announce new renovation plans for the Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (ANRC), the esteemed nursing and rehabilitation residence in the Greater Boston community. The renovations began in October 2024; the interior work is expected to be completed by January 2025 while the exterior portion of the project is slated to be finished in fall 2025. ANRC provides both short-term rehab and long-term care for area families.

The renovations will be handled by Applied Form + Space (AFS), a prominent architectural firm based in Andover, MA. The plans call for an extensive overhaul of both design and function to better service ANRC’s elder members.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Applied Form + Space on this project,” said Wendy Segrest, Executive Director & President of AWWA and ANRC. “Their expertise in well-designed interior and exterior spaces perfectly aligns with our mission to provide a nurturing, comfortable and welcoming environment.”

In terms of interior spaces, upgrades will feature a more formally designated intake lobby that is inviting in style and concept as well as an enhanced and upgraded design for the residents’ rooms. The building’s exterior will include upgrades that are both aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound, focusing upon accenting the outdoor areas of reflection with abundant landscaping and foliage. There will be additional covered sitting spaces for outdoor relaxation, including an outdoor fireplace and tables for dining and socializing. Notably, all areas have been designed to honor the Armenian heritage.

Segrest added, “We are so thrilled to install what we hope is the first of many functional and aesthetic upgrades to ANRC in the coming years. Our goal is to improve the level of care, programs and amenities for our residents and families at ANRC.”

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The Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is conveniently located at 431 Pond Street in Jamaica Plain. For more information about the residence, please email info@awwainc.org, call 617-522-2600 or visit www. visit our website at www.awwainc.org.

Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is a not-for-profit nursing and rehabilitation center that has been serving elders locally and internationally for over 100 years, owned by AWWA and managed by Legacy Lifecare. Drawing on its rich history, generosity of spirit, and the work ethic of the Armenian community, ANRC provides short-term rehab and long-term care. ANRC is dedicated to ensuring the good health and well-being of all Armenian elders and others in the surrounding area.

About Armenian Women’s Welfare Association

Armenian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) is a not-for-profit organization established in 1915 dedicated to serving elders and their families both locally and internationally. AWWA is the proud owner of the Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (ANRC), an 83-bed, not-for-profit, skilled nursing center providing both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care for elderly patients in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. In 2004, AWWA expanded its mission to Nagorno Karabakh to become a proud supporter of Hanganak Elder Program and Clinic which provided medical care, food, and social support to elders in that region and continues to do so for those elders displaced in Armenia today. AWWA believes that honoring elders is at the very foundation of both family and community. Drawing on the rich history, generosity, and work ethic of the Armenian community, AWWA aims to ensure the health and well-being of elders and their caregivers

From tableside service at The Ritz-Carlton to a new space for a local staple, here's where to get a cup this holiday season.

Montana Samuels, Patch Staff

MASSACHUSETTS — As the weather cools and the fall and winter holidays creep closer on the calendar, the urge to have something warm in your cup intensifies.

In the Boston area, that craving can be met with a few holiday popups or new business openings for a sweeter beverage: hot chocolate.

One location to get some hot chocolate into your cup is Boston's Ritz-Carlton.

Avery Bar at The Ritz-Carlton is bringing back its tableside hot chocolate service, which officials call Avery Bar Chocolat. The location allows guests to sit next to a marble fireplace and pick from a selection of sweets and pastries alongside their cup of hot chocolate.

Guests can order their cocoa tableside and choose from a selection of toppings curated by Ritz-Carlton, Boston Pastry Chef Christoper Goluszka. Accompaniments this season include egg nog choux pastry puff, black forest tart, white chocolate candy cane torte, vanilla marshmallow and caramel whipped cream.

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So what makes the hot chocolate at Avery Bar special?

"Our perfect cup of hot cocoa is a blend of milk and dark chocolate," said Goluszka. "For milk chocolate, we use Maracaibo Créole, made with cream powder, that impresses with its creaminess and delicate cream-caramel notes. For dark chocolate, Maracaibo Clasificado with coffee, plum, orange blossom and cinnamon aromas is used. The gentle blending process beautifully unfolds a well-balanced cup of hot cocoa that will warm you any chilly day this winter."

Opening day for the winter 2024 debut is scheduled for Nov. 30 and is set to continue through the holiday season.

Visitors to the Avery Bar at Boston's Ritz-Carlton can enjoy their hot chocolate tableside next to the hotel's marble fireplace, pictured above. (Michael Kleinberg)

An existing chocolate and coffee shop is expanding to a third location in Boston's Financial District, with a focus this holiday season on hot chocolate.

Chocolatiers Perla Rosario and Leo Baez, owners of Cacao chocolate shop and cafe in Newton and the South End, will expand to a "charmingly retro" space 64 Broad St. For Rosario, getting into this building provides a particularly personal achievement.

"My mom did janitorial work in this very building for over 20 years,” Rosario said. "So for me it’s definitely a full circle moment."

Cacao offers a number of treats ranging from an assortment of pastries, a variety of sandwiches, and convenient hot chocolate and coffee boxes.

The hot chocolate has a reputation as one of the best in the city, with a cup made with 53 percent dark chocolate and infused with warm spices. Cacao has several riffs on classic hot chocolate including extra dark (a bittersweet, deep hot chocolate), spicy (with cayenne pepper) dulce de leche (featuring a rich caramel base), and fleur de sel (with French sea salt). They also serve iced hot chocolate and frozen peanut butter hot chocolate.

Cacao partners with Pain D'Avignon, based in Hyannis, Mass., for the croissant options at their locations.

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Snow has been on the minds of many folks recently as we approach the holidays. And while winter does not officially begin until Dec. 21, New England is no stranger to seeing snowstorms much earlier than that!

So let's take a walk down memory lane of some of the early season snowstorms that have impacted Boston and New England.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of every winter storm that developed in October and November over the years. Instead, it's just a sample — hopefully to get you excited about the potential for snow this season.

One of the earliest winter storms on record was the 1798 New England Blizzard.

From Nov. 17-21, records show parts of New England dealt with high winds and feet of heavy snow that buried homes. In fact, more than a foot of snow fell in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut, while parts of Maine and New Hampshire saw about three feet of snow! The winds were so strong at times that several vessels on the Cape Cod shore were wrecked.

The Great Snow Hurricane of 1804 also produced snow. Wait! A hurricane that produced snow? Yes, you read that right. As cold air entrained into the hurricane's circulation, the storm began to lose its tropical characteristics. So, around Oct. 9-10, 1804, the storm was able to produce quite a bit of snow through the Berkshires, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Eastern Massachusetts mainly saw rain. In fact, Salem received about seven inches of rain, not snow, from this event.

On Nov. 5, 1894, the Election Day Snowstorm caused quite a mess. Formed off the coast of New Jersey, it dumped between 10 and 12 inches of snow on Connecticut and tracked through southeast Massachusetts. Winds got as high as 60 mph on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. And according to the National Weather Service office in Boston, hundreds of trees and telegraph poles were downed, which delayed train service in the region and crippled telephone communications.

More than a century later, on Oct. 10, 1979, an early season winter storm unexpectedly brought some of the earliest measurable snowfall for parts of the Northeast, including Boston. The storm tracked from Virginia to southern New England, producing several inches of snow in its path. Boston got a trace of snow while Worcester received a record 7.5 inches of snow.

October 1987 brought another memorable snowstorm for many in the Northeast, and heavy snow fell over portions of Upstate New York and New England.

While there are several other early season snowstorms we could list, you might remember the Thanksgiving snow in 1989 that brought several inches to the Northeast, including blizzard conditions in Maine. It also brought significant wind damage throughout Massachusetts.

A more recent snowstorm happened 13 years ago on Oct. 29 got a lot of attention. Known as "Snowtober" and "The Halloween Nor'easter," it produced widespread power outages and downed trees in New England. And the snow kept coming, too! Parts of Massachusetts, like Plainfield, saw a little more than 30 inches, while the highest snow total in Connecticut was 18.6 inches, in Bakersville.

Could we see snow early this season? It's possible — we're tracking a system looming this Thanksgiving weekend — but you'll have to stay tuned to your First Alert Weather Team for weather updates to find out.

While most of the week should be cool and clear for driving, the first signs of snow could be in store for the trip home over the weekend.

MASSACHUSETTS— Multiple forecasts point to a difficult Thanksgiving travel week for parts of the country for millions of Americans who plan to travel for the holiday.

Nearly 80 million Americans are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest travel period of the year. They will mainly drive to their destinations, but about 5.84 million will fly.

Those taking air travel could see delays and cancellations at busy hub airports in the Northeast due to windy and potentially stormy conditions, as well as in San Francisco because of rain and low clouds, forecasters predict.

The long-range forecast for Massachusetts suggests clear and seasonable conditions for road travel leading up to the holiday, with a chilly Thanksgiving itself, and a chance for the first snow of the season in the days that follow when folks are making their way back home.

The National Weather Service is calling for just a 30 percent chance of rain on Tuesday with a high near 54 degrees and a sunny day on Wednesday — once known as the "the busiest travel day of the year" — with a high near 46 degrees.

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Things will cool down for Thanksgiving itself but it appears that it will remain mostly dry with highs near 40.

The tricky part comes in the days that follow Thanksgiving with long-range forecasts calling for precipitation that could turn wintry in at least some parts of the state with highs in the 30s both next Friday and Saturday.

In its six- to 10-day outlook, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said conditions are favorable for above-average rain for most of the country through the end of Thanksgiving week. Exceptions are parts of the Pacific Northwest, far Northeast and the extreme Southwest and Southeast.

AccuWeather suggests turbulent weather systems from one coast to the other could bring rain, wind and perhaps snow to some major cities during the travel period.

Early travelers may see flight delays and cancellations due to a couple of brewing storms — a bomb cyclone-fueled atmospheric river slamming parts of California and the Pacific Northwest, and a potent winter storm expected to deliver needed rain, and perhaps snow, to the Northeast later this week.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the busiest days on the road, the eastern half of the country is expected to be wet, with rain and snow across the Great Lakes, and rain in the Northeast along the Interstate 95 corridor. Stormy weather could persist in some parts of the east on Thanksgiving Day.

In its Thanksgiving travel forecast, The Weather Channel predicts most of the interior U.S. will be dry this weekend, but turbulent weather on the West Coast and in the Northeast could cause some airport hub delays on Saturday due to high winds.

The private weather company said that while forecast models don’t depict a major winter storm, parts of the East and West could have to contend with wet holiday weather due to weaker weather disturbances.

A pre-Thanksgiving weekend forecast from The Washington Post said a dozen states from Wisconsin to Maine and as far south as the mountains of North Carolina could see heavy, wet snow later this week. Temperatures could also turn sharply colder in those areas by week’s end as the first outbreak of Arctic air reaches the eastern U.S.

The best chances for accumulating snow are at high elevations in the mountainous regions of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, according to The Post.

The storm system is expected to move into Canada by Sunday, but the cool, windy weather will remain in the eastern U.S. Those areas are at increased risk for stormy conditions, potentially disrupting mid- to-late Thanksgiving week travel plans. However, The Post said the timing and intensity of that storm system is uncertain.

Also, a new series of storms next week could whip up rain, snow and wind along the West Coast, and Arctic air could move into central states late next week.

Five Massachusetts towns have declared a state of emergency due to the continued fire activity across the state.

Town officials in Boxford, Middleton, North Reading, North Andover, and Danvers announced that a state of emergency has been declared in their communities as of Thursday.

The declaration authorizes and directs town officials to take appropriate action to respond to this ongoing situation, including what they deem necessary to utilize and coordinate the services, equipment, supplies, and facilities of existing departments, offices, and agencies or the community, both locally, regionally, statewide and nationally. This can include "extraordinary actions" for the purposes of emergency management to prevent minimize, or mitigate damage to public health, safety, or general welfare of residents in these five towns.

The declaration of emergency will remain in effect until a notice is given by the select board.

Extremely dry weather has left firefighters battling wildfires in recent weeks.

According to a press release from the towns, there have been 403 active fires reported in the Commonwealth in November, with over 1,063 acres burnt. There has continued to be an elevated fire risk as level 3 critical drought conditions exist in the region with nearly 8-11 inches of rain deficit.

Bay State communities have battled unprecedented brush fires in recent weeks and have needed state and mutual aid assistance, including fire personnel from neighboring states.

The brush fires are "causing hazardous impacts, including smoke impacts, falling trees and dead snags within burned areas alongside other risks to firefighters, loss of forest stock, obstruction of roadways, damage to buildings and infrastructure in burn areas, damage to fire equipment and rolling stock, and a great financial burden," town officials said.

According to town officials, they are acting upon advice from their fire chiefs and emergency management director in determining that the wildfires pose a present, reasonable and imminent danger to public health, safety, or general welfare fore residents of Boxford, Danvers, Middleton, North Reading and North Andover, or their property.

No new fires were reported Thursday, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation said at 5 p.m.

"The precipitation will mean a couple days without new fires starting," the DCR said in a statement. "Once the precipitation stops and surface fuels dry out again the chances for new starts will increase. The existing deep burning fires will continue to hold heat and will not be extinguished by this event."