On 14th February 2009 Leang and I were “spicing up” our Valentines night by attending a concert in Chiang Mai, Thailand which was billed as “Romantic Italian and Spanish classical guitar serenades”.
However, when parking the family truck at the concert hall, we suddenly both looked at each other, as across the road from us there appeared to be a “gantry” being set up on the University entrance drive-way. In unison we said, “That must be a start/finish line for a race event.”
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
Macey Fraser and the Wellington Phoenix have mutually agreed to terminate the remainder of her contract with the club. The talented midfielder made seven substitute appearances for the Phoenix in their history-making 2025-26 Ninja A-League season after sitting out the... The post Fraser farewells the Nix appeared first on Wellington Phoenix.
It’s an 11-peat of titles for the St Mary’s College First XV, but this one will be shared. St Mary’s, winners of the Wellington schoolgirls title every year since 2015, and Taita College contested a thrilling 27-27 draw in the final on Wednesday night at Porirua Park. St Mary’s now go on to play Manukura...
During her Museum and Heritage Studies placement at Katherine Mansfield House & Garden in June 2026, Claire Ranby took a particular interest in the interior decoration of Katherine Mansfield House & Garden and what it can tell us about trends at the end of the Victorian era and beginning of the 20th century.
