Manatee Festival Comes to Town!

The annual manatee festival’s happening this weekend, a few steps from our front door. Yipee! On the other hand, we’ll be sending off Z & S early morning Saturday—the first day of the celebrations. Awwww...

I’ve been here close to four years already but I haven’t gone to one of these shindigs in honor of our resident manatees over yonder at Blue Springs State Park.

It’s a shame really because (1) it’s just next door—what’s so difficult about walking a few meters? (2) it looks like fun—music, food, arts & crafts, games, thingamabobs, local celebrities… and (3) it’s for a good cause.

Oh, and (4) my pet name at home is Doogs—short for “dugong” which is Filipino for manatee—so I should be showing some moral support for my namesake.

I kid you not about the moniker!

(My goddaughter who lived with me before I left for America is also called “butanding”, another Filipino word for manatee. It’s a long story but suffice it to say we have the, er, “healthy” body structure of the gentle manatee, heh.)