Beanie's Recipe Book.....

 I've been hearing rumours that we're going on A Big Trip next for Andrea's birthday and she asked me to make her a Cooking Book.  So I decorated a piece of watercolour paper with watercolour paint and plastic-wrap on the top to get a funky cover (above) and then painted some Indian Khadi paper for the inside pages.

 I've been collecting recipes and so far, have six of them written in.  Now, the fun part about this cooking book is that the pages are different sizes and colours!!!!!

And I used washi tape, stickers and an empty tea bag wrapper to store some shop receipts!!!

So far, I'm about half way through the book....!!!

This is fun...!

#AJO Paying it forward

I read a lovely story in the UK papers the other day - from the Daily Mail online version - all about random acts of kindness.

Read here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2434640/Alyssa-ONeills-wish-Starbucks-pumpkin-spice-latte-inspires-pay-forward-campaign-world.html

And pass along as desired!!!

Movie Review - "Taras Bulba"

Movie review number16

PLOT

This movie starsYul Brynner as the Chief of a Cossack Tribe on the Stepps of the Ukraine (or it might be Russia!!) and Tony Curtis as one of his sons.  It starts with the Cossacks joining forces with the Polish to kick out the Turkish Ottoman empire from the Stepps.  The Cossacks win, but the Polish take over the Stepps instead and really piss off the Cossacks.  The Cossacks then emigrate from the Stepps to make little villages all over the place because they don't want to be under Polish Rule.  The Polish then open their Universities to the Cossacks to try and make friends with them and Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) sends his two sons (one of which is Tony Curtis) to the Polish University to try and infiltrate their politics.  The two brothers immediately get picked on by the Polish students, and taken in for whippings by the Priest professors.
Tony Curtis then catches sight of a Pretty Polish Girl (Christine Kaufmann) who is the daughter of one of the Top Officials of the town.  They fall in love....... except Christine's brother finds out and really hates it because Tony Curtis is a Cossack, enemy of the Polish.  Christine's brother is also a student in the university, and he picks a fight with Tony Curtis & HIS brother...... except Tony Curtis wins the fight by accidentally killing Christine's brother!!!  OH NOOOOO!!!
Tony Curtis and his brother escape the Polish town by the skin of their teeth (getting wounded in the meantime) and ride their horses all the way back to the Cossack village.  Taras Bulba finds that Tony Curtis is injured, and declares war on the Polish in revenge.  Loads and Loads of Cossacks join the fight, and they end up surrounding the Polish town, preventing any food getting in.  The Polish they start starving, and the Bubonic Plague breaks out inside the town!!
Tony Curtis breaks into the Polish village to try and smuggle Christine Kaufman out but he gets caught, and they want to burn Christine Kaufman at the stake for helping a Cossack!!!  Tony says no, if I help you get food, will you let her go?  And they agree.  Trouble is, when Tony Curtis gets out of the town, Taras Bulba finds him..... AND SHOOTS HIM!!!!  OH NOOOOOO!!!
There's also a mad horse chase at the end when half the cossacks get bored waiting outside the Polish village and bugger off home, but then the Polish escape and chase after the remaining Cossacks, but then the first lot of Cossacks hijack them..... WHAT HAPPENS??????
You'll have to watch the movie!!
(Ed's note: This movie was filmed in Argentina, and it's where Tony Curtis met Christine Kaufman for the fisrt time, just as his marriage to Janet Leigh was falling to bits.  Tony and Christine later married in real life)

RECOMMENDED
Yeah, this is a good movie to watch on a wet Sunday afternoon!!

SCORE 

Beanie says 7 squeaks out of 10!!

RECOMMENDED SCOOBY SNACKS
Barbecue'd sausages!!  And Beans too if you want to fart a lot!

Updated Non-UK drain covers

 The ones above and below were found in Bremen, Germany by my friend Hammie!!  The one below, if you put a coin through the slot in the middle it plays songs for you!!!!  Isn't that great!!!

My friend Emily in Australia emailed me this photo of a drain cover in Wellington, New Zealand!!!  Isn't it brilliant!!!  I'm going to add this in to my collection...!!

 We found this drain cover in Lille, France, in March 2013!!

 I found these ones in Brussels in February 2012!  This shell isn't really a drain cover but it's still rather pretty!!  So far, all these are European except for one.

That's the last Brussels drain (above)!!!

Recently, I got some mail art from a friend called Kaz who lives in Japan.  Kaz sent me a picture of a man hole cover!!!!!

I can't remember where he said it was - I think it was either Japan or LA, but I'll check and update this update later!!!

Hammie went on holiday a while ago and sent me this picture of a drain cover he found!! 
These are French!

Hammie sent me two more pictures today - he found more drain covers on his camera!!  This one is from Amien in France...

And this one is also from Amien in France!!!

Last week, Andrea got out some old photographs from a trip she took to Barcelona.  She went there before she met me, which is why I didn't go.  But she showed me a picture of a Spanish drain cover she found there!  It has lots of little pictures all over it!!!

 She also showed me this picture in Barcelona.  She found this on the pavement/sidewalk but she's not sure if it's a drain cover or not. 

She says it might be a fancy sundial or something...

My friend Hammie went on vacation in the Brittany area of France (August 2011).  Because he knows that I like looking at drain covers, he took lots of pictures of different French ones and said I could post them here!

I'm not sure what towns they're in but maybe he'll tell us!

This one looks like a telephone cover!!

A circle inside a rectangle!  We don't get those in England!

This one's almost a Fleur De Lys design!!

A spotty one!  It has measles!

That looks a little bit like the English Gas covers...

I think Hammie said these three are from St Malo.....

Wow!!  Those are pretty!!  Thank you for sending those, Hammie!!!

 

This one was recently found in Prague, Czech Republic by my friend Sullivan McPig (he has his own blog too, listed on right).  He took a photo of it specially for this collection!

I found this one (above) in Groningen, Holland back in February 2011 and has the Martini Tower on it!

These ones are from Groningen, too!