By Ashley Lodato
The other day I chatted with Frankie Waller and she reminded me of a couple of events coming up at the Winthrop Barn in the next few weeks: the membership meeting on Monday (March 30) and the ladies’ tea party and fashion show on April 11. The fashion show will feature local models sporting outfits from many of the valley’s clothing boutiques. It’s time to crawl out from under the fleece jackets, ladies, and begin thinking about some lighter clothes for summer and spring!
I wonder if any of the featured fashions will be flapper dresses? I ask this because invitations for Little Star’s May 16 auction are apparently going in the mail soon, to give guests plenty of time to source their costumes for the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” theme.
This particular theme has been a long time in coming. Molly Patterson and I worked on three Little Star auctions together over the past eight years and during the theme brainstorming phase, someone would always suggest a Roaring ’20s theme.
Molly and I would listen politely to the proposal, but as soon as we were alone Molly would fix me with her signature stare and say, “Ashley, girls like you and me don’t look good in flapper dresses.” And we would giggle and with the authority vested in us as auction coordinators we would choose some other theme.
So now that Molly and I are farther removed from Little Star’s auction leadership what do they do? They go and choose a flapper theme. It’s OK; whether or not you wear a knee duster to the clip joint, you’ll hit on all sixes as long as you’re togged to the bricks.

Little Star Montessori School students made a rainbow fruit platter to celebrate the school’s 33rd birthday.
In other Little Star news, the school celebrated its 33rd birthday this week, with an all-school circle on Monday. The students made a rainbow fruit platter, complete with a Cool Whip yellow sun, pound cake stars, whipped cream clouds, and a rainbow of strawberries, mandarin oranges, grapes, pineapple, and blueberries. “A child’s dream dessert,” says school director Dani Reynaud.
More birthdays to acknowledge — Monday heralded a milestone for farmer Sam Lucy: half a century. Sam’s friends roasted and toasted him with the usual clever accoutrements of advancing old age, such as ear trumpets and large-font pill containers, but the overwhelming sentiment was serious — a recognition of life’s relative brevity and an acknowledgement of the simple fortunes of health, family, friendship and community. L’chaim.