Macro mussel

This morning I bought some of the larger mussels to cook under the grill in their shells with breadcrumbs, herbs, garlic and olive oil tonight when friends come to supper. I brought them home and had fun playing with my new lens....maybe getting too close to the mussels, but I want to try it out.

Songs for Tahrir
It's a year since the Arab Spring reached Tahrir square in Cairo (and I blipped some of the books and papers that connect me to Egypt). I've read some pieces written for the anniversary, but nothing I've read so far has the immediacy and sense of hope for the future (even though there is much still to be achieved) of Reem Kelani's programme Songs for Tahrir, recorded when she met Egyptian musicians and political activists in Cairo, and broadcast on Radio 4 on Wednesday. Definitely worth listening to if you have half an hour to spare. As I write this I'm listening to Reem Kelani's CD of Palestinian songs Sprinting Gazelle that I bought several years ago and hadn't listened to for a while, so I was glad of the reminder of that too.