Oh, how the playcationers love to party in Apsen and few embrace the social swing there more enthusiastically than H-Town's summer expats. Their dance cards are filled with luncheons at the Little Nell or Maroon Creek Golf Club, cocktails at swankiendas on Red Mountain and dinner at any number of the resort town's stellar eateries.

And then there is the partying with a purpose, an exercise observed by any number of Houston-based non-profits that take their dog and pony shows to the banks of the Roaring Fork in the summer months. Most recent and most venerable in the lineup of organizations committed to friend-raising in the Rockies is M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Monday night, Barbara and Gerald Hines once again opened their riverfront gardens to more than 200 supporters of the University of Texas entity. The Asian-themed evening of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres served as sophisticated prelude to M.D. Anderson's 14th annual Making Cancer History seminar, held Tuesday at Aspen Meadows Resort.

Addressing the high-level gathering was M.D. Anderson president Dr. Ron DePinho, who continued the drum beat of the center's mission at making a comprehensive assault on cancer. He was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Lynda Chin, chair of the Department of Genomic Medicine, and Andy Futreal, Ph.D., internationally recognized expert in genomic medicine, who joined M.D. Anderson just three months ago from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England.

Although this was an informational gathering, Barbara Hines contributed one of her paintings (yes, she is very talented) as a single silent auction item. The "Maroon Bells Lake" work was purchased by high bidder former U.S. ambassador to Denmark Stuart A. Bernstein of Washington D.C. Several of the artist's works were on display in the party tent where the program was held.

Notables in the mix included Jeffrey Alan Marks and Ross Cassidy of Bravo's Million Dollar Decorator, UT board of regents chair Gene Powell and wife Dana, Leslie and Jack Blanton Jr., Dr. Veronica Selinko-Curran and Mike Curran, Diane Lokey Farb, Denise Monteleone and Marlene and Fred Malek.