Fanciful Observations | Fort Bend Focus Magazine

By Patti Parish-Kaminski, Publisher

Surfside, Florida where even the garbage receptacles are fancy.

I like fancy things. Fancy things are typically pretty things – ornamental, elegant and yes, costly. Now everything in my world doesn’t necessarily have to be fancy for me to appreciate it – likely Mr. Kaminski would not agree with that statement – but I do fancy a fanciful situation. I suspect most girls do.

On a recent jaunt to Florida, my travels took the term fancy to an entirely new level. Posting up in a small beachfront town, my expectation was for some much-needed R and R. I had been running at my usual Mach 10 speed of light, and I needed a minute. Little did I realize that my destination was the epitome of fancy – right down the trash cans. Pardon me, I should say garbage receptacles. More fancy.

Let me just clarify: The city of Surfside, Florida is nothing like the city of Surfside, Texas. There’s no Kitty’s Purple Cow, which I recently learned closed a few years ago, and the beaches are pristine. There’s no brown water, brown sand or rubbage on the shoreline. I hardly knew how to react seeing such glorious beaches stateside. There were actually seashells along the seashore – fancy, pretty, unbroken seashells.

If the shoreline wasn’t fancy enough, the town and its surroundings are the very definition of fancy. The mall – y’all know I went to the mall – Bal Harbour Mall, is an open-air extravaganza akin to a lush, tropical rain forest with the best form of wildlife: abundant, fancy retail. Anchored by the mother lode, also known as Neiman Marcus, this girl was definitely in her element on a virtual shopping safari. The mall touts itself as one of the highest grossing retail centers in the world – the entire world! I could live there – forever – quite happily.

We walked everywhere in Surfside. It’s just that pretty. The streets are clean; no rubbish in sight. The cars are new, well-maintained and spotless. I’m wondering if it ever rains there? The people are friendly and quite fit and fancy. Even in workout attire, the folks look amazingly well put together.

It did cross my mind that Surfside might be heaven, and we just didn’t know. It was that fancy, that welcoming, that appealing. Now the streets weren’t paved with gold, but I have never seen a more pristine city. There are art installations on the avenues, lush landscaping, and no kidding, even the trash cans were fancy.

To say I fancy Surfside is an understatement, as I do fancy the fancy. See y’all next week – on the porch!

Patti Parish-Kaminski