White table full moon dinner enchants Bethesda residents

NIEU-BETHESDA —The full moon happened to fall on a Saturday this month, and Nieu-bethesda residents Suzette du Plessis and Hanna van Heerden decided to make the most of this opportunity where so many elements came together to make for a perfect event.

The weekly supper that usually takes place at the Sports Club was shifted to the next door home of Piet and Suzette du Plessis. A long table, covered in white linen, was placed between high 'walls' of iceberg roses that flowered perfectly on that magical evening.

Guests, dressed in white, arrived at 7.30, laden with carefully prepared platters of delicious food to share. The only light at this time twinkled warmly from countless ancient Consul jars found in a storeroom on Doornberg farm, from which layers of Karoo dust had been carefully washed.

Glasses of white wine clinked in the darkness and it was difficult to discern one person from the other. The moon always rises a little later in Bethesda - the valley slopes are high - and by the time it arrives it is large and bold and shines as brightly as a newly minted R5 coin. As the moon slipped over the feminine hills of the valley, a soft sigh of amazement befell those who became enveloped in her bright, enchantingly silver light.

The evening was warm and as the moon rose to its zenith, friends old and new chatted and laughed late into the night. Stories of the old people of Bethesda were regaled. One could feel their presence in that place - so close to the old school and trading stores where they lived in a different era.

That night, in Bethesda, time was slow and languid. It seemed to stand still under the full moon amongst the white roses as beautiful memories were made.