This year it was flapper night in the gym. Karin dazzled in a thousand yards of fringe and The Great Gatsby played silently all through dinner, distracting Bob Peterson and Bob Tate. I, on the other hand, concentrated almost exclusively on Lee Peterson’s serious diamond necklace and earrings. I told her I’d bid them up if she’d donate them next year. The look she gave me said some things are just not for sale.

Wendy Resnick looked adorable in a dress she’d bought in the junior department of Burdines several years ago. Who else can say that? Ann and Rick Cameron got the ring with colored stones she wanted. Flori Roberts was animal-printed and attending with neighbors Tom Perkins and Robert Stuffings, who designed the Asolo lobby renovation. I told Bob I love the red carpet. Joan Brand knocked me out with a dress whose color couldn’t be described. She said it was lime, but it was really chartreuse, though a close friend kept teasing it was bilious. Gloria Moss bid on 20 different things. Gillian Eagan and Erik Hanson had their eye on the life-size baby rhino in white porcelain, but Deb Knowles swore she was going to buy it for Sharon Weiner’s house-warming present. Deb was lurking at the bar throughout the live auction, on the phone with Sharon, who kept saying, “No, no, no!”

Celebrity auctioneer Michael Klauber exhorted the entire room to stand up and pledge a thousand dollars a couple for a haute dinner with Kim and Charles Githler at their Villa Solstice in October to support children in foster care, and it was nice to hear licensed auctioneer Neal Van De Ree move things along so fast you had no idea what he was saying. Karin told me that, for some people, getting through the live auction can be painful, but on this night everybody was in a great mood. After all, it was the last big one of the season. Whew.