Onslow and Miss B

It is always with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to summer, and today is officially its final day. Despite some very uncomfortable days as we experienced our hottest summer on record here in Br...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2017/02/goodbye-to-summer.html

Wow!  Looks my last post telling you I was back to blogging was a bit premature. Here's what happened. After I came back to Australia and wrote my last post in October, I headed back to Papua ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2016/03/tropical-garden-inspiration.html

I'm back!! Or nearly back. It's so long since I blogged, I have almost forgotten how.  It all started at the end of last year; I thought I had a 6 month overseas contract about to start, but it ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2015/10/teaser.html

I thought I was on track for Garden Bloggers' Day back in January, but even though I had selected my photos and written a few lines, something went amiss. So here we are, uncharacteristically ear...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2015/02/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-february-2015.html

I love our Brisbane summers: sultry days and fragrant nights, with a wild late afternoon storm often marking the divide. The colours of our summer are red, white, and blazing blue skies as on my...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/12/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-december-2014.html

In my previous post on the Great Ocean Road (click here  to visit), I mentioned the wonderful cottages where we stayed in Apollo Bay. We had one of the front rooms looking out to a little priva...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/11/kookaburra-cottages.html

I am home on leave from work at the moment, and since I have been so remiss with my blogging this year, it is providing the perfect opportunity to catch up. A few posts back I shared memories of...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-great-ocean-road.html

What a difference a month makes!  Last Bloom Day only one of my daylilies had flowered; this month probably three quarters are out.  I have been conscientiously noting which ones and retagging...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/11/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-november-2014.html

It's mid-Spring in the garden here at Casa Bella. One of my daylilies has been very cooperative and had its first blooms of the season just in time for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. However, I ha...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/10/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-october-2014.html

  Australia has many magnificent national parks, ranging from tropical rainforest and the coral cays of Capricornia I shared previously (click here ), to the harsh beauty of the Outback. Wil...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/09/wilsons-promontory.html

It is a sign of the times - but hopefully only temporary - to see that I have only managed 9 posts so far this year, when I used to sometimes post that many in a month. But the blog is not ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/09/garden-heroes.html

It seems my posts are few and far between lately.  Life is busy, and time management is proving a challenge. Hopefully I can make amends today, especially to the gardeners out there, in this po...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/05/byron-blues.html

After travelling north to visit the reef, my UK visitor Jayne and I split up briefly in November. She headed for the bright lights of Sydney, while I got stuck into a big freelance project with ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-mornington-garden.html

In my first February post (you can revisit by clicking here) , I shared some of the day trips I took with a friend visiting from the UK. Because Jayne was in Australia for six weeks, we also ha...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/02/travelling-north.html

Here at Casa Bella our thoughts are with all those affected by extreme weather, from the UK's floods and North America's freeze, to the heatwaves and bushfires in South and Western Australia. I a...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/02/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-february-2014.html

One of the many wonderful things about having a friend from London staying with me for six weeks was the opportunity to share some of my favourite places with her. It was Jayne's first visit, ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/02/day-tripping.html

This is the final instalment of my visit to New Zealand in October. I flew into Dunedin in the South Island, and after catching up with my niece, I booked a wildlife cruise and tour around the ne...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/01/otago-peninsula-and-garden-at-lanarch.html

I can't remember where or when I first heard of Stewart Island - perhaps a travel program or nature documentary - but I can remember storing away the name and thinking 'maybe, one day...'  I ha...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/01/stewart-island-and-bluff.html

In my last two posts I wrote about beautiful Dunedin, New Zealand, where I headed for a week's holiday to visit my niece at the end of September last year. While Bethany was busy with classes,...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-catlins-road-trip.html

Dunedin was established in the first half of the nineteenth century and settled by Scottish immigrants, including the nephew of the poet, Robbie Burns. Its name derives from the Gaelic for Edin...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2014/01/dunedin-botanic-garden.html

When my eldest niece Bethany announced after she finished high school that she was heading to the University of Otago in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island, I very promptly assured her tha...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2013/12/spring-in-dunedin.html

It has been such a long time between posts. After my Indonesian interlude last year, I thought this was the year to consolidate on the home and garden front.  I struggled unsuccessfully for mo...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-spring-that-was-garden-bloggers.html

I had reluctantly set yesterday aside to do the paperwork for my tax, but brother Tony called on Friday and said he was heading to the 7th Australian Native Orchid Society conference and orchid s...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2013/08/australian-native-orchid-society.html

'Head on down. The orchids are just about to peak.' I'd phoned brother Tony to ask if a friend and I could stay overnight with him and the lovely Leanne and use their home outside Ballina as o...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2013/08/orchids-and-authors.html

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a new Nikon SLR, and I couldn't have wished for a lovelier place or more cooperative models to test it on than Heron Island and its wildlife, particularly ...

http://onslowandmissb.blogspot.com/2013/07/feathers-and-flora-on-heron-island.html