Photo of the day: No ice bucket required

I got back yesterday evening from a wonderful weekend in Lake Tahoe: a benefit for the 49ers Foundation, which distributes millions of dollars each year to help keep kids in the Bay Area on track.  The event (called the 49ers Foundation Winter Fest) included wine tasting, silent and live auctions, a program of events with 49ers players, coaches and alumni for kids and adults and free run of the facilities at the beautiful Resort at Squaw Creek.

We poured wine at our reception and donated to the dinner and auction, which were great.  But more than that, we'll remember the interactions with the players and coaches, all of whom were notably kind to and patient with the kids.  And the snow.  After a clear day Friday and a rainy morning Saturday, snow levels dropped to us around 4pm on Saturday, and over the next twelve hours we got over a foot of snow.  I grew up in Vermont, where a foot of snow wasn't particularly memorable, but for our kids, who are growing up in California, it was something else entirely.  I'm still not sure their clothes have dried, they were so packed with snow.

Since snow here is so rare, and we'd brought a bottle of our new 2013 Dianthus (it is spring, after all) I played a bit with the juxtaposition of winter and spring, warm and cold, blue-white snow and bright pink wine.  I got several photos I liked, but this was my favorite.  No ice bucket required:

Happy spring, wherever you are, and whatever the weather looks like in your neck of the woods.