Apologies

Life has been difficult for a few weeks now. Am beginning to turn the corner but it is hard work.
Our latest guest arrived on Saturday. She is on her own with two cats and a dog and drove from Germany. Her car broke down not far from us! The garage she was taken to ( which we know) kindly brought her, the animals and all her gear here! Yesterday they brought back her car fixed! She is with us three weeks and is a lovely lady who speaks a little English. I had prepared a few German phrases for her arrival which made her smile!
Him indoors went back to the UK last weekend for a reunion come birthday bash. It gave me space to think about things.
My sil who lives next door with our daughter has for sometime suffered from severe depression. They have now been here for nine months and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Much like with all of us who have experienced a complete breakdown, depression is never far from the door. It is the peace here and the relative isolation that has helped.  This means I cannot force the sale of this property. I am now making a conscious decision to bury my negative thoughts and re engage with life here. I very much hope that things will be easier when work begins on my house.
The finishing touches are being done to our roof as I type this. It has been a long haul but at last we are just about there. The last two days we have at last emptied out the duck pond and cleaned it. I cleaned out the pump and filter and today the waterfall and filtration is working again. Another thing that cheers me up. For some time now, whenever I have wanted help with anything it has always been the Gites must come first. This has added to my unhappiness. I am not very good at putting myself first! This morning I have cleaned out and refilled the goose pond. I used our new pump which is very effective but due to my mismanagement was sprayed with the contents of the goose pond! Have now showered and my clothes are in the washing machine.
The latest in my green projects is going well. I have bought a lot of inexpensive crochet cotton and am knitting cleaning cloths. Colored for general cleaning and white for washing up. I have also bought some flannel and terry fabrics to make paperless kitchen towels. An idea I found on Pinterest. I also have oilskin cloth to make a bag to put the dirty cloths in whilst they wait to be washed.
Small sponges are used here but they do not last long. It also occurred to me that there was a time when things like kitchen roll did not exist.
My dream always was to be as self sufficient as possible and rid us of as many chemicals as possible. I am now back on track with that. I am pleased with how far I have come.