By Greg
I thought some readers of this site may find this story interesting. In it I tell you about Trenna’s surgery to have her aortic heart valve and ascending aorta replaced. I intended it to be a stand alone story, but it turns out the memories of those times are still pretty clear in my mind, and a lot happened, so, here is Part 1 of what has turned out to be a two part story of medical success … Read the rest ... “Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 1”
Photos played a very big part in Trenna’s life, especially in later years as her mobility decreased. She spent hundreds of hours sorting, scanning, dating and captioning photos stretching back to her very earliest days.
I therefore take quite a bit of time and care in choosing the photos I use on the site.
Below is a gallery of all the photos I have used so far. I have also created a page that displays all those photos. You should … Read the rest ... “All Photos Published on the TrennaMahney.com Website”
By Greg
My four-part series on The Earliest Days of Trenna AND Greg received a lot of positive feedback, so I thought I would follow it up with the tale of how we got engaged and then married. Well, actually it didn’t really get much feedback, but I liked it, so wanted to tell the rest of the story.
You can also read a little about it in the post The Newlywed Diary.
There are tales to tell in … Read the rest ... “Engagement and Wedding”
By Greg
We were always going to feel a little uncomfortable in this environment. But I felt it was something we had to do – and Trenna was prepared to go along to prove that I was wrong!
It was a Slim Dusty concert at the Perth Concert Hall.
I cast my mind back to our house a month or two earlier.
“Hey, Tren. Slim Dusty is doing a concert at the Concert Hall”.
“So?” Those two letters were … Read the rest ... “Eric Bogle and Slim Dusty – Two Concerts We Remembered”
Intro and extra clarifications by Greg, the rest by Tren
As I’ve said previously … In Trenna’s iPad she has written summaries of each year. As you will see from what she has written she has gleaned the information retrospectively from a wide range of sources.
As I reproduce them on this site I’ll take the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the stories. Trenna wrote these summaries (and there … Read the rest ... “1989”
By Greg
This post has a connection to the Menu Diaries series. If you aren’t familiar with the series, a good place to start would be HERE.
Some of the items and practices I discuss here are mentioned in the series of posts in which I explain some of the mechanisms Trenna used to cope with her Marfan’s Syndrome. That series starts here.
As I have explained a few times, meals and their preparation were central to Trenna’s … Read the rest ... “Tales From Trenna’s Kitchen”
In Trenna’s iPad she has written summaries of each year. As you will see from what she has written she has gleaned the information retrospectively from a wide range of sources.
As I reproduce them on this site I’ll take the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the stories. Trenna wrote these summaries (and there are many of them) to help her and I recall our many experiences. It was probably … Read the rest ... “1988”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Place: San Francisco
Weather: cloudy and sprinkling
Got up at 6 am can you believe that! Caught the bus to San Francisco downtown. We had to get to Fisherman’s Wharf which became quite involved. It took us three buses to finally get to Pier 39.
We bought our tickets for Alcatraz Island. It was … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 9”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Got packed for Las Vegas. We went to The Suburban Mr and Mrs Wijnhamer, Jim, Tony, Toni and me. It took us about five hours to get there. When we arrived we couldn’t believe our eyes, the entire place was a mass of beautiful lights it looked like one big gigantic carnival.
We booked into our motel at about 11 … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 8”
Notes by Trenna, Intro and Extra Information and Stories by Greg
This is another in the “Rough Notes” series. It is a term I made up for this website and describes several documents on Trenna’s iPad where she has accumulated information to help in her effort to tell her story.
This one is just a list of some landmark events from the 1980s. I have used them as a prompt and have added a number of stories and … Read the rest ... “Trenna’s Rough Notes on the 1980s Before Greg”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Caught a cab into downtown Dallas. We saw the Ewing Boulevard but not any Cowboys. Dallas is definitely not as glamorous as it is made out to be on telly.
Date: 18/2/82–21 –/2/82
Place: Dallas – Los Angeles
Weather: 70° F – 86° F and humid
We took a tour to Southfork Ranch. Which was … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 7”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Place: Chicago
Weather: too bloody ridiculous for words
Note from Greg in 2023: For context, from what I recall from what Trenna told me the background to the Chicago visit was as follows.
Toni had met a nice, attractive sailor, Wayne, when he was on shore leave in Perth. They went to Chicago to catch up with him.
However it turns … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 6”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Place: New York
Weather: cloudy and cool
Unfortunately not a white Christmas but certainly a different Christmas from Perth. My presents included three jumpers, one pair of slippers, one bag, powder and a ticket to the Broadway show The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
My Chrissy meal was totally different, too. A typical “ding” … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 5”
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Place: New York and Boston
Weather: New York not bad. Boston cold.
Everything is closed as it’s a public holiday. Bart drove us to Brooklyn Heights where we had a lovely view of New York at night.
Caught the bus to Boston. Stayed the night at the Ramada Inn.
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Weather: fine and warm
We arrived in New York 22nd October. We caught a taxi from Kennedy Airport to Toni’s aunt’s place which cost us 30 bucks. Toni’s aunt is very nice. She [Toni] also has three cousins Bart 22, Antoinette 18 and James 12.
We slept two doors … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 3”
By Trenna
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
[GM: Just so you know. In this series Trenna does mention spending the night with a man … a few times. Nothing explicit is mentioned.]
[GM: at the start of the “My Trip” diary that Trenna was using it had a section for “En Route”. These are the entries written there.]
Left Perth Airport at approximately 12 midnight, about six hours late. First … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 2”
This bit by Greg. The Diary is by Trenna
In this series of posts I will be revealing Trenna’s “Trip Diary” from October 1981 to April 1982. It was actually the first of two trips to the USA. The second was with me, 31 years later in 2013.
This 6 month trip to the USA happened well before I knew her. It sounds like it was a fantastic adventure, and one I’m sure helped … Read the rest ... “The USA Trip Diary – Part 1”
This is the fourth and final chapter in this brief love story. The first part is here.
By Greg
As usual Trenna was ready to go when I pulled my Toyota Corolla Station Wagon into her driveway in Girrawheen. Unfortunately Girrawheen was the exact opposite direction to our final destination but I was so happy that she had agreed to go with me I couldn’t have cared less about the travel.
It … Read the rest ... “The Earliest Days of Trenna AND Greg – Part 4”
This is the third part of this tale of love. The first part is here.
By Greg
I almost stuffed the whole thing up about a week later.
Just think, the 30 best years of my life may have been completely different. This website would have never existed….
Trenna had invited me to a picnic at Walyunga National Park, and she was making all the arrangements. … Read the rest ... “The Earliest Days of Trenna AND Greg – Part 3”
Part 1 of this series is here.
By Greg
Trenna had apparently shunned me at the end of our first date, yet she said she was fine with me calling her?
I replayed the evening over and over in my mind. It had seemed to go so well. The conversation had flowed so easily. And through pure chance I had brought her favourite wine to take to the restaurant.
Apart from the end, the … Read the rest ... “The Earliest Days of Trenna AND Greg – Part 2”