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NEWS&VIEWS by Jacqueline Bennett

Posts tagged “Jacqueline Bennett”

A Joyous Holiday Season

Posted on December 23, 2014

By: Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   With the arrival of Ole’ St. Nick mere hours away, I have been reflecting on what a joyous holiday season this has been. It began with the Manchester Road Race where I bumped into a good friend followed later that afternoon with Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Mike & Melane (held at their daughter Maryann’s house – my niece.)   Maryann and Melane had put together four tables in the dining room to seat all of us. Melane and the two girls, Maryann and Michelle, then spent days preparing for the holiday company, some of whom drove down from New Hampshire. It was a lovely day.           Soon enough it was time for the Gingerbread House Exhibit at Wood…

Categories: Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut, Holiday Traditions, Holidays, NEWS

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Santa’s Workshop at Wickham Park a Storybook-Like Delight

Posted on December 22, 2014

Story & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Santa’s Workshop at Wickham Park is a storybook-like delight. For more than 30 years, this annual event has been transforming a hilltop cabin at the park, located on the East Hartford and Manchester townline in Connecticut, into a holiday treat providing an authentic feeling of the North Pole and Christmas to some three generations of families. “It’s about bringing (Christmas) back to old family values. It’s important to us that everything remains the same,” said Chelsea Lowe, a staff member at the park. According to Lowe, Santa’s Workshop has welcomed nearly 150,000 visitors since it first opened and is seeing third generations of families return. She added that the philosophy of simplicity and authenticity comes from the top, Jeff Maron, park director. Santa Claus, the main attraction,…

Categories: Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut, Christmas traditions, NEWS, Parks in Connecticut, Santa Claus, Santa's Workshop

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Mom’s Recipe Box: Hamburg Dressing – the Crowning Glory of My Mother’s Holiday Recipes, Plus New England Pumpkin Pie & Cinnamon Sugar Treats

Posted on December 19, 2014

            Hamburg Dressing – the Crowning Glory of My Mother’s Holiday Recipes   For me, and I would dare say all of us who grew up enjoying it, the aroma and taste of my mother’s hamburg dressing is quite simply the aroma and taste of Christmas and the holiday season. Assuming it was safely in Mom’s recipe box, the first Christmas after her passing in 2010 I went in search of her hamburg dressing recipe. It was nowhere to be found – leaving those of us who loved it so, to try and recreate the formula. Each of us could vividly recall Mom/Nana standing vigilant by the stove with her black, iron skillet – which had belonged to her mother…

Categories: American culture, Cooking, Family, Food, Holiday family recipes, Holiday Traditions, Holidays, NEWS, Recipes

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Scarves on Windham “Frog Bridge” – Sign of the Holiday Season in Northeastern Connecticut

Posted on December 17, 2014

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   A distinctive splash of red twirled around four gigantic green frog sculptures, perched atop spools of thread on the “Frog Bridge” has become a whimsical sign of the holiday season in northeastern Connecticut’s Windham county. Upclose, at a distance, front view or rear view, one might say the frogs in scarves visual – jumps out – to greet travelers.   Flurries playfully accented the 11- foot-tall bronze statues following a recent, early December snowfall, likely among the first of many snowflakes that will descend throughout the coming winter. The bright red scarves clearly bring holiday warmth to these creatures from the deep.     Four frogs squat, one perched on each corner of the bridge spanning the Willimantic River and Windham rail line from Pleasant Street (Route…

Categories: American history, architecture, Bridges, Folklore, New England, NEWS, sculptures, Signs of the Holiday Season

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Gillette Castle Marks a 100th Anniversary in Holiday Style

Posted on December 15, 2014

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Decorated in holiday style Gillette Castle in East Haddam, Connecticut is marking the 100th anniversary of its construction. Stone formations border a pathway to the castle where pine sprigs adorn exterior sections of the 24-room “medieval-looking” mansion. Actor, director and playwright William Hooker Gillette had it built, beginning in 1914. It took five years to complete this exquisite structure on his 184-acre estate atop a hill know as the “Seven Sisters”, overlooking the picturesque Connecticut River.     According to guides at the castle during a December 14 visit, Gillette designed the castle and influenced most every aspect its of contents. Its features include “near vertical stairways”, built-in couches, intricately carved wooden latches on some 47 doors – of which no two carvings are…

Categories: American history, architecture, Castles in the United States, Connecticut Parks, NEWS, Theater

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Mom’s Recipe Box: Holiday Encore & More from Candy – Pumpkin Cake, Banana Bread, Peanut Butter Bread and Cranberry Walnut Bread!

Posted on December 12, 2014

                Holiday Encore & More from Candy – Pumpkin Cake, Banana Bread, Peanut Butter Bread and Cranberry Walnut Bread!   I enjoy baking. It’s a feeling of accomplishment and anticipation of sharing. My Pumpkin Cake became a favorite to bring to family Christmas gatherings. I also would bake one for my school colleagues during the holidays. It’s my idea of a terrific recipe – easy to make and it can serve many people! The Banana Bread is my mother’s recipe. The bread always smelled good while it was baking as the aroma permeated the kitchen. Not every holiday, but often enough, Mom baked Peanut Butter Bread. I also bake it once in awhile and decided to add it to this…

Categories: Baking, Family, Holiday family recipes, Holiday Traditions, Holidays, NEWS, Recipes

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An Untold Word About Gayle King – CBS This Morning Anchor

Posted on December 11, 2014

By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com CBS Rising http://t.co/l44XFNoaOs via @wordpressdotcom — newsandviewsjb (@newsandviewsjb) December 11, 2014   It is in ‘unseen’ moments that people often reveal themselves.   Several years ago before Gayle King became a co-anchor on CBS This Morning – (read CBS Rising as retweeted above) – she was a local news anchor for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut. As such, she was invited to read to the children at Keeney Street School in Manchester, an elementary school in a Hartford suburb where my sister taught grade two. I don’t recall the exact date but what stayed with me was this account about Gayle relayed to me by my sister.   On the same day Gayle was scheduled to be at the school, hot news was breaking in regard…

Categories: Gayle King, NEWS, Television News Anchors

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Mulberry & Manchester – What’s the Connection? Historical Society Hosts Holiday Open House

Posted on December 9, 2014

      Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Mulberry, mulberry, mulberry. A Mulberry tree is the centerpiece of Manchester, Connecticut’s town seal, Mulberry Street Pizza or “The Mulb” is a popular downtown restaurant and a “Mulberry Tree Gift Shoppe” sign greets visitors to the Old Manchester Museum.   So what’s the connection between Mulberry and Manchester?   “A lot” David K. Smith, curator of the Manchester Historical Society, Inc. said during a holiday open house held December 6 throughout the town’s Historic District. “Silkworms would only eat Mulberry tree leaves,” Smith continued.   As soon as Smith uttered the words “silkworms” and “Mulberry leaves” the connection became crystal clear. Seemingly anyone even slightly familiar with the history of Manchester knows the Cheney Mills…

Categories: American history, Cheney Brothers, NEWS, Silk Mills

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Mom’s Recipe Box: The Elopement! – Ma’s Baked Bread & Aunt Anna’s Ice Box Cookies

Posted on December 5, 2014

                  “Ma’s Baked Bread” leads off the family holiday recipes I will post through the month of December – Jackie        “The Elopement!”   I never knew my maternal grandparents “Ma & Pa” because, as readers of newsandviewsjb know I am fond of mentioning, I am the youngest of seven with a big gap between my oldest siblings and myself – so I missed out on knowing some of the family who had passed on. Nevertheless, I have heard many a story about them.   One of my favorite “Ma & Pa” (Delia Roberts Generous & Henry Generous, Sr.) stories is of “Pa and his baseball” and “the elopement.” In his later years Pa worked on the…

Categories: Baking, Christmas traditions, Cooking, Family, NEWS, Recipes

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Snow Cleared For Thanksgiving Day – Always Fun – Manchester Road Race

Posted on December 3, 2014

Story & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Snow and freezing rain that fell just twenty-four hours before did not halt the 78th Manchester Road Race in Connecticut on Thanksgiving Day, November 27. Nor did temperatures in the mid-30 degree range keep some 15,000 registered runners – plus the strays who fall in after the event gets underway – and thousands more spectators from turning out. Town crews thoroughly cleared Main Street and once again the race started promptly at 10 a.m. as it does each year. A glitch with the sound system’s playing of the national anthem left the crowd to finish singing the “Star-Spangled Banner.”   As always, the Manchester Road Race was fun. Half the enjoyment of this 4.748 mile competition is seeing the costumes in which participants show up – from Stove…

Categories: Holiday Traditions, Holidays, New England Sports Events, NEWS, Thanksgiving Road Races

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