St Valentine's widow spider
In honour of Valentine’s Day this post will look at the wonderful world of courtship in the spider genus Latrodectus, more commonly known as the widow spiders. Readers of my previous post will recall this genus includes species such as the American black widow (Latrodectus mactans), the Australian redback (L. hasseltii) and the New Zealand katipo (L. katipo), all
Margaret Stoddart, Roses, 1920s
In Europe during the 1300s February 14th was thought to be the day when birds paired off to mate. This date was originally an ancient Greco-Roman pagan festival, and was later called St Valentines Day Feast by the Church. Since the 1300s, on February 14th each year, roses (and flowers in general), have been widely accepted as gifts and Saint Valentines Day is now
Jane Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility’ in the late 1700’s / early 1800’s where the décolletage was in vogue, and Shakespeare was writing in the late 16th Century where women […]
Fulltime in the Hardham Cup final. Wainuiomata are the 2024 Premier 2 Hardham Cup champions, beating Paremata-Plimmerton 24-19 in the final at a fine but breezy Porirua Park early this afternoon. It was close throughout, but it was a 76th minute long-range penalty to first-five Andrew Wells that put them 10 points up and make...
Six champions were crowned at Porirua Park this afternoon. A round-up of the action that we covered follows. JUBILEE CUP They’ll be Harkin about it all summer. Old Boys University won a Jubilee Cup final for the ages on Jerry Collins Stadium. OBU won 27-21, holding off waves of Tawa attack on their own goal...
By Scott MacLean All roads lead to Porirua Park for Finals Day tomorrow. There are six finals being played across two fields. A preview of the day’s action is below. Premier Jubilee Cup Tawa (4) vs Old Boys University (1) Referee: Jamie Fairmaid For the second time in three years sides that met in the...