ICAD #14 and a challenging day

My last day at work before my holiday and it turned out to be very busy but very productive.  It was the first day in a very long time that I was busy in a 'normal' way instead of being beasted by the customer and by other departments/ individuals who are supposed to be supportive. It started with an early phonecall with my boss, who recognised that I was very stressed and fed up with the diabolical environment and the frequent unwarranted verbal attacks from the customer and who wanted to be reassured that I wasn't going to walk out on very short notice (unlike Andy who decided on Wednesday not to renew his contract on Friday!!). 

It turned out to be a challenging day in other ways - after last nights trauma of the couple on the next table explaining the horrors of planning their wedding with hideous family members, leading to them cancelling the honeymoon and moving the wedding venue, tonight's distress came from the couple on the table behind us who were quite obviously splitting up because he was an arrogant insufferable tosser who wouldn't compromise and she was trying to stay true to herself and steel herself to break it off.  Their 'discussions' were loud and very emotionally charged, and she was in tears several times.  She was projecting her distress very strongly and I actually ended up in floods of tears myself (she was literally back to back with me, our chairs were practically touching).  When she excused herself to go to the ladies, I actually left the table to go and see if she was alright.  She told me she was fine and thanked me - she was very surprised and touched that I had approached her.  A strong woman!

We got home late but I still wanted to paint so I used a quote that had appeared on my facebook wall earlier in the day - as with yesterdays photos, the camera doesn't really do it justice, but I'm pleased with the effects.  I may play with this some more in a larger version and spend more time on it :-)

 

My sunflower seedlings are doing very well so I decided to take a chance and plant them out this evening, instead of dragging them back home with me and coddling them for another couple of days before putting them out.  Transplanted 15 seedlings into individual pots, watered them all well, put them onto the sheltered side of our patio and left them to their own devices for the week, hoping for the best, lol.

They're a bit spindly and weak, and I had to gently remove the seed husks from the smaller ones so the leaves could spread out and catch the light, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed they survive the next few days without me :-)