Lilacs, no friends - Day 687 (Yr 2, Day 342)

Bismarck, ND

The lilac branch we hung upside down from a cabinet over the couch last week dried very nicely, so we decided to proceed in drying as much as we can.  We collected 8 more branches yesterday which are now hanging on all the cabinets over the couch and fireplace/tv.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it, though besides make little fragrant sacs or steep for tea (need to look into the effects of that first, to make sure it's safe to drink straight).  I saw a recipe for lilac honey which I think I'll also make.

And an observation on making friends here in this campground: it is extremely difficult, which is hard for me - the social butterfly that I am.  I guess that because it's not a tourist town, most people just come here as an overnight or 2 day stop-over, en route to somewhere else.  Most people arrive late in the day (after 4:00), so the park is mostly empty when I take my morning and afternoon walks.  They get hooked up and settled in, and then do "the camping thing" -- picnics and campfires, take walks, kids use the playground, people playing tennis and basketball.  Lots of activity seems to happen between 5:00 and 9:00.  Unfortunately, those are my off hours.  Mitch gets home, after a 10 hour shift and 8 miles of walking, around 4:30 and needs to decompress.  I'm usually still working until 5-5:30.  Then I need to make dinner and we watch tv together until bedtime at 9:00 (when it's still light out!).  Somehow, going out to try to meet people during those hours just doesn't work for us.  However, now that he doesn't work on Fridays, we might attempt to do this on a Thursday night.  If nothing else, maybe have our own campfire?