A Polar Bitannic Expedition!

My brother Mark is one of my heroes.  He's three years younger, a lot smarter, and a lot funnier.  When we were kids living in Northern Virginia, he came up with all sorts of weird stuff.  When we'd get a good snowfall, we'd all suit up and head out, and this was known as undertaking a "Polar Bitannic Expedition!"  We imagined all sorts of rugged hardship,

but were usually back inside withing 20, max 30 minutes.

Against all meteorological odds, it decided to snow in Raleigh (yes, Raleigh!) today, and to make those odds even steeper, it snowed more than they predicted!  

They have closed schools around here for the threat of snow that never even happened, so this was pretty cool.

After accomplishing anything worthwhile we could think of, by evening Paula and I were beginning to suffer the early stages of Febrem cameram, or by its common name, Cabin Fever.

"Time for a Polar Bittanic Expedition!" she bravely exclaimed, pulling on all sorts of rarely-used anti-cold clothing.

It really was beautiful outside, with the snow still falling softly.

 The neighborhood looked magically different.

Paula's gardens napped peacefully.

I think we were out for even longer than the Polar Bitannics of my youth, come to think of it.  However, it's still nice to get back and warm up your toes.

North Carolina has a great solar snow removal system.  Everything shuts down for a day or two, the sun comes out and it all goes away.  The city only has three snow plows, and I'm not making that up.  However, it's fun while it lasts.

We hope that your Expeditions go as well.

Dave & Paula

PS  I still can't figure out where he got the 'Bitannic' thing, but the grandkids even say it now...