Zilla - WWWWinter 2003 (Dec 3 - Dec 12)
This Trip Report is dedicated to the person I overheard talking about "Grandma's Special Box with the Anal Beads" Thanks for the seed of an idea, I didn't do your concept justice, but then again, I didn't get the anal beads
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Grandma {giggle} tell us about when you were young {giggle}
What sweetie? What about when I was young do you want to know about?
{giggle} Tell us about the vacations you used to take
Oh, those old stories. Don't you three ever get tired of them?
No Grandma, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Your vacation stories are the BEST.
Okay, do you want to hear about my trips to Amsterdam and the coffee shops there? Or about the times I used to visit New Jersey and the nude beach there?
Tell us a Jamaica story Grandma! A Hedo story, those stories have drugs AND nudity!
Well <chuckle> not always both, though it wasn't for lack of trying. I remember one year.....
Hooray! but you have to start the story RIGHT Grandma! You have to say "Hedonism is a state of mind, and a very special place..."
Okay, Hedonism is a state of mind, and a very special place. One year Duck and I left the cold northlands in December to visit there. We had gone several times before with a great group of people, the Winter WWW group and we were going to be seeing that group again, but we decided to show up a few days early so that we could start slowly and rev up to the big party atmosphere. Well, it seemed that quite a few of our WWW friends had the same idea so we ended up starting the party early instead!
I remember on our first real night that trip we went out to dinner at Kuyaba with some of the folks. It was a really special evening. The food was all lovely, and there was a Jamaican band singing Christmas songs in reggae style. The group made arrangements to go there again the following Thursday. If I hadn't been doing the Talent Show that night I definitely would have joined them again......I remember at the end of the meal I even got some dessert....bananas flambe over ice cream. Or maybe it was just ice cream with overproof splashed on it and set on fire. The years and the alcohol have taken their toll on the memories......
That was also the year that the Jenny cakes were less effective than usual. In fact, they were pretty useless! Usually a quarter of one would have me up in the boughs of the trees, but this time, there was no effect at all. We weren't the only ones who thought so either. I don't think anyone was very happy with their "famous cake" purchase that year. Before then and since then they have been fine, but that year.....and they didn't even taste very good. Of course, it wasn't regulated there like it was in Amsterdam. I remember one time in Amsterdam...
No Grandma, not Amsterdam! Hedo! You're telling a Hedo story! Tell us about the mornings, Grandma. What did you do during the day?
Okay, you silly brats, I'll stick to the Hedo story. It's just that when you get to be my age, it's a little hard to keep focused. Lets see, my days would start pretty early there. I'd get up around 6:30 and creep as quietly out of the room as I could to go get my spot in the shade. The mornings were such a special time for me at Hedo. Any other time was about being with the group, but the mornings were all about me. I'd go out and sit in my lounge chair. A soft breeze would be whispering over my skin. It would still be a little coolish out, and the beach would be almost deserted, just one or two other people....and in the mornings the pelicans would be fishing right out in front of where I had set up my chair, it was like they were putting on a show just for me. They were even diving in tandem. I think the larger one was teaching the smaller one how to fish, but I can't be sure. I just know that it was breathtaking to watch. Then I would happily lose myself in a book until someone would wander by to talk with me. That was the year of "The Davinci Code". It seemed like everyone I spoke with had either just read the book or was currently reading it. I think I might still have a copy of it if one of you kids are interested. Anyway, around 1 PM or so Duck would come back from his morning SCUBA adventures and we would get some lunch from the beach grill and a drink from the bar. I think that was the year they kept having problems with things, running out of bananas, and not having grease to cook the fries. It was a little annoying at the time, but it only made us appreciate them more when they were available.
That was the year we first had the erotic gift exchange. Since I used to be a lot more self conscious than I am now, I made Duck go get the gift from the pile. Someone else had already pulled a vibrating duck out of the pile so he "stole" that, then later when someone tried to steal it from him, he pouted and everyone started yelling "Party Fowl". I think the poor person who tried to "steal" it didn't know Duck's nickname. There were many good steals and it was one of the more amusing times I have spent with the large group.
One of the other evenings, DennyP had a special dinner arranged for the group in the Italian restaurant. We didn't get our names on the list soon enough and it was all booked up. That evening, I went and flashed them through the window of the restaurant, and they looked at their watch like I was late showing up. In the end it turned out that half the people who scheduled didn't show up! if I had known there was room in there for us, I certainly would have joined them, lobster night or not. And I guess that was when it really hit home for me that while I enjoyed this group of people, and the vacations that I had with them were wonderful, they were still just people. People will always disappoint you, and you will always disappoint them. Its part of life. Mostly they don't disappoint on purpose, sometimes they are just thoughtless, and sometimes the problems are within ourselves and our elevated expectations....
Was Denny mad that people didn't show up for his dinner?
I asked him about it later, he said he wasn't mad, he just felt bad that the resort had put effort into stuff that went to waste. Denny was always a very thoughtful man.
I spent alot of evenings in the piano bar that year too. One evening I was so excited that I started pretending like I had a microphone before the piano player even showed up! I hopped up on a bar and pretended like I was a famous lounge singer. That was part of what I loved about Hedo, things I wouldn't dream of doing in my real life were doable there. I think that was the same evening that I kept taking one of the other guest's pants off of him while he was singing. He was pretty good natured about it. Some of the other ladies and I even made a small habit of singing "Proud Mary" as a group.
That was the year that I entered the talent show for the first time too. I did an act with my friend Debilee. We did a thing to "Sisters" from "White Christmas". I was soooo nervous. It was the hardest noncompulsory thing I've ever forced myself to do. Everyone was so nice, prior when they were trying to calm me down and after, when they were telling me how much they liked it. Would you kids like to do it with me? I'll be Rosemary Clooney, you can be Vera Ellen, and you two can decide who wants to be Danny Kaye and who wants to be Bing Crosby. Ready? Can someone grab the fans? Thank you sweetheart, now Danny and Bing go over there, and we'll go first.
Two three four sisters, sisters there were never such devoted sisters
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