{"id":881,"date":"2015-03-11T15:39:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T19:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vapc.org\/?p=881"},"modified":"2015-03-11T15:52:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T19:52:37","slug":"fire-ice-really-cool-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire and Ice: A Really Cool Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Martha Steger<\/p>\n

\"Martha<\/a>

Martha Steger in her wet suit.<\/p><\/div>\n

At Iceland\u2019s Blue Lagoon this past September the geothermal pool\u2019s green-blue, misty warmth enveloped me. Soothed, I looked out over permafrost in the distance and pondered the erupting Bardarbunga volcano far away in central Iceland — venting lava and fumes in earnest for a month.<\/p>\n

As neat as the exotic locale was, I decided it didn\u2019t have anything on my homegrown experience last Christmas of a polar-bear dip in the Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 You’ve read about the benefits of cold-water showers for improving circulation and strengthening immunity, right? \u00a0Well, not to let our 40-year-old daughter get too far ahead of me with her first polar-bear dip in the Hudson River during Christmas 2012, I took up her challenge last year in the shoals of the Atlantic Ocean (she took the attached images as proof). One big difference between us was that she wore her skimpy summer swimsuit for her dip, whereas I requested a full wetsuit from Santa for the family gathering on Chincoteague and Assateague islands.<\/p>\n

Santa forgot to bring insulated gear for the feet — no problem, I discovered, because after 30 seconds, I didn’t know I had toes! \u00a0The adroit surfer riding the 20-foot waves off the Atlantic continental shelf wondered what my silly screams were all about, I\u2019m sure — especially as he was nonchalantly taking tumbles directly into the waves while I was trying to avoid immersing my head.<\/p>\n

That wetsuit is back in the closet, but I hear it scratching to get out. I dreamt that at least several VPC members are looking for a polar-bear dip off Assateague this winter \u2013 so let me know (Steger4@Verizon.net) if you\u2019d like to join me!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Martha Steger At Iceland\u2019s Blue Lagoon this past September the geothermal pool\u2019s green-blue, misty warmth enveloped me. Soothed, I looked out over permafrost in the distance and pondered the erupting Bardarbunga volcano far away in central Iceland — venting lava and fumes in earnest for a month. As neat as the exotic locale was, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nFire and Ice: A Really Cool Christmas - VPC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fire and Ice: A Really Cool Christmas - VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/42804826486\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"VaCommunicators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-11T19:39:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-11T19:52:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Wet-suit-11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"962\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"436\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"VPC\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62\"},\"headline\":\"Fire and Ice: A Really Cool Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-11T19:39:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-11T19:52:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":305,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/Wet-suit-11.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/fire-ice-really-cool-christmas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fire and Ice: A Really Cool Christmas - 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