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Today was a very fun, not that busy day, which makes me wonder why I'm so extremely tired now.

This morning we went to the Raleigh farmer's market. On the way we noticed that gas prices had gone up again. I think we're going to have to stop going out there just to browse the plant vendors. It's a longish drive and it's just getting too expensive.

In any case, I was glad we went this morning. Because the heirloom tomato people were there. Yay! Every year we plant a couple of old reliable hybrids -- Better Boy and Super Sweet 100 -- and we experiment with a couple of heirlooms. This year we're trying Brandywine and one we never heard of called Paul Robeson. We liked Paul Robeson the singer so why not try his namesake? We also got Sungold, famed as the best-tasting cherry tomato ever. It's a hybrid, not an heirloom, but hard to find, so we were glad the heirloom tomato people had it.

We also got a pint of strawberries, poblano peppers, a couple of unusual eggplants, an adorable dwarf soloman's seal, and a couple of drought-resistant native plants we're going to put down by the road. Including Carolina Lupine which I'm looking forward to trying. The Archer Farms guy told us they thrive on neglect. And they'd better, conditions being so bad down there.

After the farmer's market we had lunch with D. and S. at Udupi, a vegetarian Indian place in Cary. Which was excellent. The only negative was the dining room was a bit hot. It seemed like maybe they didn't have their a/c running yet; they had even opened the front doors to cool the dining room down, although it was in the 80s outside.

In the afternoon we were both feeling full and indolent. I got the show notes from my dad for the Memorial Day radio show we're planning, and got started on music selection. It's fun to pick out songs that go with the various stories. Then in late afternoon when it started to cool down, I sprayed insecticidal soap on some irises that had got aphids, planted most of the new plants, and started weeding around the roses. Which need it so very badly. I feel terrible every time I look at them. They're doing so well out there, confounding predictions by growing and blooming without fertilizer or pesticide or fungicide or any care at all. The least I can do is keep the weeds from overrunning them completely.