Flash!

Addressing a room full of contentious U.N. delegates? That's easy. Setting yourself apart from a crowd of seasoned partygoers and world travelers with your charm, charisma and mastery of small talk in two languages? Now that's hard. But by all accounts, Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, made a warm connection with the nearly three dozen people who attended a dinner in his honor at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, after he delivered a thought-provoking speech at Florida Gulf Coast University.

At the dinner, a "relaxed" Gorbachev gave "a great, long toast" that included an eloquent nod to all the women in the room, says Denise Cobb, who attended with her husband, Brian, an FGCU trustee. Also at the dinner were Adria and Jerry Starkey and Stephanie and Fred Pezeshkan as well as Gorbachev's daughter, Irina Virganskaya.

Software bigwig Arthur Allen had a private audience with Gorbachev as Allen's corporate Gulfstream flew the statesman to California a few days after the speech. Gorbachev was eager to talk to Allen informally about Russia's tech industry. What surprised Allen about the global giant? "He's hysterical," Allen says of Gorbachev, whose deadpan sense of humor-including a joke about Russian mail-order brides-came through even in translation.

The Ritz's staff is keeping mum about what Gorbachev did in the days between his speech and his departure, but judging by how tan, rested and ready he looked when he boarded the plane, it appears to have involved a lounge chair and beach umbrella. Who will be the next big coup for FGCU president William Merwin and provost Bonnie Yegidis, who engineered this appearance? Bono? Bill Gates? Stay tuned.

A tale of two kitties: Neapolitan Kitty Sachs dotes on Max, her sleek, silky Burmese cat, but she's willing to share the love. For eight months, Sachs and Max have been paying weekly visits to Hospice of Naples' patient George Van Essen. They're part of the organization's volunteer pet therapy program, PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Souls), which includes Max, its only feline, as well as 16 dogs and a bird named Roger. (Presumably Max and Roger are never in the same room.)

The 87-year-old Van Essen, a longtime cat owner, marvels at the way the eight-year-old Max is willing to simply sit on his bed with him for hours. "He makes me feel better," says Van Essen, although the rounds of cards he and Sachs play help his state of mind, too . Hospice of Naples founder and former Neapolitan Glenna Hayhoe was in town this spring. A delightful spirit, Hayhoe can be proud of where her vision of more than 20 years ago has led.

Required reading: As promised, the Naples Children and Education Foundation released its long-awaited monograph, A Study of Child Well-Being in Collier County. With it, NCEF trustees can use the tens of millions of dollars generated by its Naples Winter Wine Festival to address needs in a systematic way, explains 2006 grant chair Ned Sachs. This year Sachs and 2006 auction chair Donna Solimene presided over the distribution of $6.7 million to 18 local children's charities.

Another wine fest trustee, Mary Susan Clinton, calls pal Donna Solimene "the ultimate party planner," not just for her wine-fest feats but for carrying off a big surprise. Clinton's late-January birthday coincided with this year's wine weekend, but a couple of months later, Solimene whisked Clinton and friends Regina Noch and Heidi Farrugia off to Napa Valley. There they visited Shari and Garen Staglin, Deborah and Bill Harlan, Theresa and Tom Wajnert, and Elizabeth and Clarke Swanson. Best present? Indulging in wines from these vintners' private cellars.

Hot potato: A Porsche was again the high-ticket item at the Neighborhood Health Clinic's annual block party, which raises funds for the clinic's mission of providing medical care to the working uninsured. Last year longtime supporters Pat and Vince Foglia won a Porsche Carrera in a raffle at the party and promptly donated it back to the clinic. (Pat won't even admit to a fleeting vision of herself in the spiffy black number.) This year dedicated clinic volunteer and 28-year Naples physician Robert Tober and a couple of friends pooled their money in back-and-forth raffle ticket purchases to make sure that the clinic got the maximum dollars out of the prize, a Porsche Cayenne.

Confident that they are leaving the clinic with a passionate core of volunteers, Neighborhood Health Clinic founders Nancy and Bill Lascheid both retired from active duty this spring. Also to be missed in the Gulfshore: 20-something dynamo Brandee Bryant, who is moving with her husband, Bob, to Pinehurst, N.C., to be closer to their parents, as Baby Bryant, due June 3, makes the family three. As the director of the Edison Festival of Light, Bryant presided over parades that featured TV heartthrob James Denton (cousin to Fort Myers notable John Sheppard) and hometown singing sensation Baby V.

Seen on the Gulfshore:

Big-hatted, fifth-generation Colorado cowboy Kip Gates, hip-deep in a crowd of women and talking up a trip to his dude ranch at a pre-Gala-for-Treasures get-together at Seacrest mom Jan Goldsmith's home. (The winning cowgirls on auction night: Goldsmith, Judith Liegeois, Sandra Figge and Marissa Hartington.) . Burt Bacharach cutting up with Marti Bryant, Cheryl Giattini and other Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation supporters at RedFish BluFish. Former WKRP in Cincinnati cutie Gary Sandy in Mark Danni's revival of Mack & Mabel.

And heard:

. "I have keen ears, and I heard this lady here say, 'She must have had plastic surgery.' For her, I have some of my beauty products." Naomi Judd, passing out goodies at the luncheon for the Shelter for Abused Women & Children. (Those who received CDs and DVDs appeared more grateful than the lady in question.)

. "We know him. He likes us. He thinks we have done a wonderful thing." Myra Daniels on why art world legend Thomas Hoving gave her Naples Museum of Art exclusive rights to his revealing interview with Andrew Wyeth on the famous "Helga pictures."

. "I'd love to trade him for Jimmy Carter," Arthur Allen, comparing Mikhail Gorbachev to one of our own most visible senior statesmen.