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
Visiting Auckland University Professor, Art Historian and Author Leonard Bell will give us wonderful insight on both the art of Gordon Walters (1919-1995) and the writing of Francis Pound (1948-2017), in particular his just-published monograph on Walters (Auckland University Press, September 2023) and the circumstances of its writing and publication.
Following on from his recent sell-out talk, geologist, paleontologist and Emeritus Scientist Hamish Campbell returns with a unique opportunity to join him for a guided day trip of Wellington’s significant […]
Joe Faleafaga with the match-winning try for the Wellington Samoa Men’s team in their match against the Samoa Sports Club. Photo: Andy McArthur. Round-up by Steven White. There were two matches played in Wellington today. At Kilbirnie Park the Wellington Samoa Senior Men’s side held on at the death to beat the Samoa Sports Club...
We are at the threshold of the month of the Rosary. The origins of the Rosary seem to date back to when a popular equivalent to the prayers said throughout […]
