Dede Sophie

 People’s First Party candidate, Kessy Sawang has been declared member-elect for the Raikos open seat in Madang Province this afternoon, while the 11th Parliament sitting was in progress. Kessy Sawang toppled United Labour Party candidate and incumbent MP, Peter Sapia with a difference of 735 votes. She was declared after the final exclusion, polling10, 888 votes, ahead of Sapia who polled 10,153 votes.  Meantime, Kessy Sawang is the second female candidate to be declared in the 2022 national election. The first woman to be declared for the 11th Parliament was the new Member-elect Governor of Central Province, Rufina Peter. Rufina Peter and Kessy Sawang are both first-timers to enter Parliament. NBC news / PNG Today Next :  James Marape re-elected Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea

With the overnight temperatures starting to drop now that autumn (fall for our American viewers) is upon us we need to make sure that we have all of our cacti and succulents in the right place moving forward for winter. A good part of our cacti and succulent collection will overwinter or winterize in the unheated greenhouse but that is because the ones which weren’t capable of surviving the freezing temperatures died out a few years back when I decided I didn’t want them in the house (Lorna doesn’t know that and is very unlikely to read this either)!  However, we are thinking about putting them into next year’s show against the local chapter of the The British Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS) so I am going to have to put the work in this year to make sure that that at least some of our plants are of show quality, and that means sorting out the greenhouse and bringing the tender specimens inside for protection.  So why not follow us on our journey as we campaign to kick the BCSS in