Oh My Gosh, It’s October!

Well I’m trying to post here to see if it will go through with my pictures. I am almost at capacity and I really don’t want to pay for more space. I’ve already deleted a lot of photos so who knows what my past posts look like. So time consuming to check them.

Anyway, did a fun thing with my daughter and her fiance recently. We have a really historic mansion with some gorgeous gardens about 20 minutes down the road from us and I have never been there before so when I saw an ad for an event they were having I thought it would be the perfect time to go check it out. You may have heard of the place. It’s called Filoli Gardens and in 2023 President Biden took a walk around the gardens with Chinese President Xi.

A while ago I read that there was a troll exhibit in the garden and it looked intriguing. Then I read that they were having a Halloween event called Nightfall. Then I knew I had to go.

We got there just before the sun set and were greeted by the first troll, Ranja Redeye. There were TONS of carved pumpkins all in the field. Then we walked through a gate to get to the trail. There we met Sofus Lotus, the Listening Troll. That is my husband standing next to her. I think he’s whispering in her ear, “How did I get trapped into this?” LOL. Truthfully, it was a little hard on him because there was a lot of walking on uneven ground which is not good for his back or legs. He made it through though. There was a group of scarecrows standing in a field. Reminded me of the movie “Children of the Corn.” There were colored lights on the trees and as the night got darker it really started to come alive. There was a huge pumpkin decorated ring that you walk through to get to the main area. Once it got dark it almost looked like a ring of fire.

We came across a group of banana slugs. It looked so cool. There were a lot of other scenes too, including a forest of mushrooms all lit up. Those reminded me of the display in Golden Gate Park that I saw when I did the Illuminate SF A to Z. There was a spot to get a beverage and sit down for a spell by some fire pits if you wanted. It was there that we came across my Spirit Troll, Kamma Can, the Treasure Troll. She can see the potential in any little scrap to turn it into something beautiful! We ended up back at the main entrance and it was spectacular. It was a great evening and lots of folks were there with their kids dressed up for Halloween.

After I got home I looked up the trolls and it seems that we missed one because we only saw 5 and there are 6! I guess I will not see it because the trolls are going away on November 11 and I don’t think we can get down there again before that. I know my hubby won’t go because it took him a day or two to recover from this visit. Poor guy.

I know that Filoli (which stands for Fight, Love, Live) has a Christmas display as well so I think my daughter and I will check that one out because we didn’t go into the mansion on this visit at all and it was decorated too. I was feeling bad for my husband so we stopped once we had made it back to the main area.

Well it looks like I’m able to get this post through without hitting the wall. Thank goodness. Have you heard of the Filoli Gardens? Have anything fun like that in your neck of the woods? Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Oh My Gosh It’s October

Just to complete this series, here is the final post about our trip to Seattle:

https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/10/oh-my-gosh-its-october_7.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Oh My Gosh It’s October

Not sure how long I’ll be able to do this but here is my latest post on Blogger.

https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/10/oh-my-gosh-its-october_6.html

We took a Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Seattle. Reminded me of when I went through SF looking for the oddities.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Oh My Gosh It’s October

I am almost out of storage here and don’t want to pay for another upgrade right now so I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

For now, here’s my latest on Blogger. We take a cruise around Seattle’s waterfront.

https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/10/oh-my-gosh-its-october_5.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Oh My Gosh It’s October!

Hello and welcome to my ongoing series of adventures in Seattle. As you may remember, my husband and I took a recent train trip from the SF Bay Area to Seattle, Washington. I am writing about it as part of the October Ultimate Blogging Challenge.

Until I figure out how to make the simulcast work, I’m just gonna link my blogspot blog here. Please check it out if you get a chance!

Tomorrow is a tour of the Seattle Harbor.

Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Oh My Gosh It’s October!

Day 2 of my Ultimate Blog Challenge and recap of our trip to Seattle. This one is about the Space Needle.

https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/10/oh-my-gosh-its-october_2.html

Gotta figure out that IFTTT bit. That’s what happens when you step away from the blogging bit for a while. The whole thing changes and you gotta learn it all over again!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Oh My Gosh it’s October!

Hi folks. I haven’t posted since May! I’m trying to get into the habit again and I’ve joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge for the month of October. I am trying to use IFTTT to simulcast my Blogger posts but it looks like this one didn’t go through so I’m gonna link it here:

https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/10/oh-my-gosh-its-october.html

It is the beginning of the story of our recent train trip from the SF Bay Area to Seattle, Washington. Hopefully tomorrow’s post will go through automatically.

Here are a couple of the photos from the first part of the trip. It takes 23 hours to travel from our area to Seattle.

Check out the full story by clicking on the link above. See you tomorrow.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Memorable May

Well we’ve come to the end of the month of May and also the end of the journey for Bill’s mom. She passed yesterday morning. I was there with her until the end and even though she didn’t quite make it to her 100th birthday (July) she definitely gave it quite a ride.

This is her shortly after we brought her down to live next door to us on December 31, 2022. Fortunately she made her wishes known to us and we are not left wondering what to do. Arrangements have already been made for cremation and she will be buried next to her husband. There is not a lot of personal stuff to go through and her finances were all in order. 

When I see this picture, though, I realize how far she had declined in the past year. At the time this was taken we were going on weekly trips to the library and the grocery store. For the last year she has had no interest in reading at all and she rarely left the house. Our last outing was in March to get biscuits and gravy for breakfast. She loved her biscuits and gravy. 

Anyway, just wanted to put this out there as the last few of my posts have been updates on her. She will be missed.  

from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/05/memorable-may.html
via IFTTT

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 17 Comments

G is for Getting Along

Hi all, just wanted to give an update and thank you all for your support. My MIL is in a skilled nursing and rehab facility so she is getting great care and is slowly improving. She fell and fractured at least one rib, was having trouble breathing and had a slight infection. Our hope is that with the physical and occupational therapy she will be able to come home soon. I am going to see her at least once a day, usually around a meal time so I can help her get situated and make sure that she has everything she needs. That takes a good few hours, but I don’t mind. You may or may not remember that she used to live in Oregon and when she needed us we’d have to get on a plane and fly up there. This is much easier than that! The nursing home is near the ocean so I get to see this when I visit:

In addition I got in a lot of transcription work which is my “real” job when I’m not blogging or working in the studio. I am so grateful that I am able to do this work from home so that even if I have to spend some extra time with MIL, I can still do the typing. Sometimes I’m up until 10 PM but I’m in my jammies so it’s all good. 

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone again for the well wishes and who knows, we still have half a month left, maybe I’ll be able to do a couple of catch up posts or even extend it past April. It’s my blog and I can do what I want, right?  

Have a great week everyone! 

from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/04/g-is-for-getting-along.html
via IFTTT

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 10 Comments

F is for Forgive Me

 Hi all – I am afraid I may not be able to keep up with the A to Z this year. I had to take my mother-in-law to the ER twice since Friday and she has been admitted so I need to be with her. If I can I’ll try to do two posts in a day to catch up but family first, right?  It will also mean that I probably can’t comment as much on others. So sorry about that! She’s going to be 100 in July and I’m going to do all I can to make sure she gets there! 

from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2025/04/f-is-for-forgive-me.html
via IFTTT

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 14 Comments