Life in Bluffton during the coronavirus pandemic: It’s a lot like the simpler old days

So here we are in very close quarters. We love our houses but they get smaller and smaller during the day.

Most everything in town is closed to the public. Mothers and fathers are teaching their children at home and for the most part it is going well.

All over the world it is the same. We have relatives in Holland, Switzerland, France and England, and all are counting the days until freedom from the COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown.

In Europe, people are much more active outdoors .... walking, riding bikes that sort of thing ... so they might not be as stir-crazy in many places.

I have been watching old movies. Netflix has me hooked as do the travel and cooking series and the house remodeling channels.

The children ride their bikes around town, usually every day in the afternoon after they have finished their schooling.

In some ways it is like the way it was when we first moved to Bluffton .... a much slower pace.

I have had to cancel several fun things planned for this spring: the Easter Bunny Chat and the trip to Wimbee Creek Farm. When the quarantine is over I will schedule the flower trip again.

Things to do

If you would like to broaden your horizons, download the SkyView app to your phone to view distant constellations, nearby planetary objects and lots of other things. You can gaze at Jupiter, which 500 million miles from Earth, and maybe you won’t feel so closed in.

You could also go through all of your old photos and write on the back who everybody is and when the photo was taken.

There are some fun interesting things you can do with small children that don’t cost anything.

Children love to write, so they could compose little memoirs about their favorite things they have done.

Get everyone up for a walk in the early morning and you will hear birds singing their hearts out.

Rosetta Stone has language lessons that are fun too. My granddaughter Patterson is learning Chinese on one.

We had a Japanese friend who taught my children how to make paper animals “origami “ when they were small, and they loved it.

Have a pizza-making night with all kinds of toppings. It might be a bit of mess to clean up, but they’ll have fun.

I happen to like Brussels sprouts. Publix recently had a sale going on two bags of them for $5. I came up with a recipe that has only three ingredients and takes no time to make. I call it Babbie’s Bird Nests.

Babbie’s Bird Nests

2 bags of Brussels sprouts. Wash and trim, then cut them into ribbons.

2 medium white onions. Slice in half, then slice into very thin ribbons.

4 eggs

In a large frying pan add 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add sliced onions and cook until they are crispy and brown ... don’t burn them ... add Brussels sprouts and cook until they are tender, stirring all the time. In another frying pan, add a little olive oil and fry the eggs sunny side up, adding salt and pepper. Make nests out of the Brusselssprouts and onion mixture on four plates and put a fried egg in each nest. This is quite good by itself or with something grilled. I serve garlic bread with this and, of course, a delicious wine.