My father turns 60 this month so we (my brothers and I, plus our families, of course) gathered at my parents’ place in West Virginia for a work weekend—our birthday present to him.

We’ve done this before. It’s kind of our standard birthday gift. But it’s a fun one. He and Mom make the rounds between my house and my brothers’, helping out with whatever needs helping out with, so it’s nice to turn the tables and return the favor.

This time around, we fixed, scrubbed, tilled, mended, built, weeded, dug, hauled, mulched.

At the end of the day, there was a tour to admire the completed work.

A lot got accomplished, but our work pace was leisurely. There were lots of breaks for visits, hikes, playing, and long lazy meals. In fact, it didn’t feel like we were working all that much.

Or maybe that was just my feeling.

I mostly wandered around with my camera, taking pictures of everyone else doing all the work, though I did spend some time in the raspberry canes. I even have the scratched-up ankles to show for it.

(Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.)

Other activities included:

Also, I managed to almost burn the house down with some waffles.

Sunday brunch was my responsibility, so I made waffles, since that’s what I do on Sundays. Apparently, the three waffle irons were too much for the house’s electrical system and halfway through the meal, the table erupted with shouts of “Fire!” and “Flip the breaker!” and “Where’s the extinguisher!” I had no idea what was going on, except that I could no longer cook my waffles since all the power was suddenly shut off. So while the rest of the family jumped about and flapped their arms, I blew out all the votive candles and shooed the stunned children out onto the porch .

And then I grabbed my camera and took a picture of the deserted table. Deserted by everybody except for one happy, waffle-eating person—the boy who cried fire. Was that a smooth move, or what?

Once the situation was under control, the evacuees were called back in and we resumed our waffle feasting, though with one less waffle maker and with the other two plugged into outlets that weren’t connected to the bad circuit.

And just so you know, burning electrical cords smell like a rotting animal, not like scorched chemicals like you (or I, at least) would expect.

As for the birthday celebrating, it wasn’t a fancy-schmancy affair. We didn’t even have a birthday cake.

Instead, my mom let the kids stick some candles in Saturday’s breakfast sweet rolls, and we burst into rousing renditions of Happy Birthday whenever the mood struck.

And then we drove home through a warm spring rain to our little piece of world that is now a bright Irish green.

The end.

This same time, years previous: our house lately, oatmeal pancakes 

I’ve long been jealous of the people with fancy cell phones, not because I wanted a cell phone, but because I coveted the ability to use instagram and the oh-so-exotic histogram app.

And then yesterday, all this new processing stuff appeared out of the blue in Picasa. Lookie here!

Suddenly, my existence, at least in picture form, feels more weighty. Like it has endured the ravages of time.

Or just a few extra computer finger-taps. Whatever.

(I still can’t do instagram, true, but that’s okay. I’m already having more fun than I can handle.)

In honor of my new photo shop skeelz, I present you with an adapted version of my quotidian series. Eat your heart out, baby.

Just chillin’.

This same time, years previous: bedtime ghost stories, a religious education, butterscotch pudding

In yesterday’s Kitchen Chronicles column, I mentioned corn flour and blueberry scone.

Corn flour is like cornmeal, but in flour form. I researched it to make sure.

I used both cornmeal and corn flour in these scones. I wanted lots of corn flavor with just a little corn texture. It worked.

Dried blueberries are wonderful, did you know? I never buy them and was shocked at how delicious they were. I splurge on chocolate—why not dried blueberries?

As a final touch, I added lemon zest. Because yellow lemon and blue blueberries look and taste great together.

Cornmeal Blueberry Scones
Adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce and Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads (these cream scones)

3/4 cup corn flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup butter
½ cup cream
1/4 cup milk
zest from 1 lemon, about 1 tablespoon
3/4 cup dried blueberries
cream and sugar, to garnish

Put the flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the cold butter and pulse till the butter has broken down into smaller chunks but is not completely incorporated. Add the cream, milk, and lemon zest and briefly pulse.

Dump the contents of the bowl onto a work surface, add the dried blueberries, and quickly bring the dough together into one large ball with your hands—do not knead. If the dough is too sticky (mine wasn’t), add a little more flour.

Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a 6-8 inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Cut each disk into eight wedges. Before baking, brush the scones with a little cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the scones at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. The scones are very fragile when they come out of the oven, so let them set up on the tray for another 10 minutes or so before transferring to a cooling rack. Serve warm.

Yield: 16 scones

This same time, years previous: cherry pie