Although we have had fantastic sunshine in the UK for months now, we have been without rain until the last week or so. Yesterday, before leaving home, the rain was as strong as I have ever seen it and the thunder was so loud and long that it scared all the local dogs and me.

But the rain has been good all round I see when I wake up this morning in France. The sheer amount of green I can see all around me keeps catching me unawares and I seem to spend most of the day staring dreamily at leaves and absorbing the sunshine and their colour.

I wonder if as well as being part seasponge I am also part plant and gain energy from the sun in a similar way to photosynthesis? Is it possible to get energy from colour? I spoke about this recently whilst answering questions and am convinced in some way that looking at colour has a very definite physical and emotional effect on me. I feel like I eat it in some way. Or maybe dropping that box on my head the other day is finally taking effect!

Inbetween thinking I'm a plant, looking at new-born kittens, and swinging on the garden swing, there is much chatter and excitement. Not only is it my mum's birthday (and soon the last surprise guests are here and we all had managed to keep it a secret) but it's seven weeks today until my little, baby sister gets married. With all us three sisters, my mum and my niece all in the same house, for the first time in a long-time, you can only imagine the wedding, clothes, make-up, shoes, kittens, serviette, place-setting, cushion, nail varnish, hat, invitation and jewellery based chatter that is occuring. The men in the house all seem to have thought it best to disappear somewhere to leave us to try on numerous outfits, swap shoes and tips and generally dissect every possible combination of clothes, shoes and accessories.

Before long even we tire of this and decide to make the most of the scenery and go for a long walk.

The recent rain has done its magical work all around us and we walk through the overgrown paths dodging brambles and nettles (not always successfully) and looking out for wildlife. Being city-folk we have no idea what most of what we see is and find ourselves stopping constantly to stare at a leaf or cow in wonderment.

The last time we did this walk was in December and being non-walking, non-countryside dwellers we made the fatal mistake of heading out late in the day with no sensible provisions. Fortunately being young-about-town types we had our cameras and mobile phones with us which came in useful as we used the flashes and screen lights to navigate our way back home in the dark. Today in the daylight the woods look very different and slightly less scary.

Once back home we inspect bruises and laugh at mud on clothes (being in daylight we discovered doesn't reduce the risk of slipping in mud) and begin to get ready for our birthday night out at Le Clos Du Moulin.

Unfortunately I left my camera at home but needless to say we all looked gorgeous and the food was great. A combination of poor French and devil-may care attitude results in me eating snails and some kind of raw meat both of which I enjoyed and the fine food and conversation continued late into the night.