By Greg
I think Trenna’s Darwin letters to my parents convey a lot of the colour and light of our two year stay at the top of Australia. If you haven’t caught up with them I suggest you start them HERE.
There were a few stories from that period that weren’t covered by Trenna’s letters, so I thought I’d cobble together a bunch of them in this post.
We moved to Darwin so that I could … Read the rest ... “The Green Salad Sandwich Maker, and Other Darwin Stories”
Trenna loved reading, and she loved writing. She also loved, a lot, but for many years this was very often unrequited.
She tells in the Kitchen Tapes, HERE, of the dozens of love poems and letters she wrote to Murray Malski.
Trenna also kept a notebook during her high school years and wrote poetry in it.
Whilst Trenna was alive I was … Read the rest ... “Angsty Teenage Poetry #1”
By Greg
This is just a short anecdote to cover an incident at Craig House that I don’t think made it into The Kitchen Tapes recordings. As those oral histories were never completed that isn’t all that surprising.
We both just ran out of puff.
“Now everybody – pay attention!” Matron was her usual stern self, or maybe even a bit more on edge this morning. She continued.
“This picnic is organised by the legatees, … Read the rest ... “The Keaver Stich-Up – a Kitchen Tapes Extra”
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”
By Greg
This story was inspired by the picture above, which Trenna had captioned “Us, happy and relaxed @ Crowded House gig”.
One thing I wish Trenna and I had done a little more of together was attend concerts.
In the 1970s and some of the 1980s Trenna and I had, seperately, attended concerts by a LOT of international acts. However, once we were together, for many years we tended not to do that.
That changed in 2010 when … Read the rest ... “Crowded House – Happy and Relaxed”
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”
by Greg
I can still remember it clearly, really clearly. I took Trenna’s hand and looked into those enormous brown eyes.
“Do you like me?” It sounds pretty stupid now but I had to find out what was happening inside that complex brain of hers. I couldn’t believe how well things seemed to be going between us.
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead she took a sip of her glass of Moondah Brook Chenin Blanc, her … Read the rest ... “The Earliest Days of Trenna AND Greg – Part 1”
By Greg and by Trenna
This series of transcripts starts here.
The Post The 1973 Diary – Part 12 contains the last of the daily entries in Trenna’s hand written diary.
However, towards the back there is a section for “Accounts” where Trenna has put some figures down. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it is an attempt at budgeting.
Good on her for trying when she was just 15 … Read the rest ... “The 1973 Diary, Extra Bits”
If you’ve missed it, this series starts here.
Tuesday 17 January 1995
20/288 Casuarina Drive
Nightcliff NT 0810
G’day Mum and Dad,
Sorry we missed you on Sunday, Mum. How did you and Deb do at the Markets? Is this the first time you have sold stuff there? I can’t remember if we ever did get around to going to the Cannington Markets, I know we had intended to. How do they compare with other markets?
Greg’s going very … Read the rest ... “The Darwin Letters No. 5”
By Greg
NOTE: This post does contain some reference to an alleged sexual assault.
OK, so I confess. I don’t have absolutely all the details of this, but I know a fair bit. I always imagined that in due course, in our many long rambling conversations that more details would emerge.
Some did, some didn’t. And as a result I have been working through a bit of a mystery.
If you have read either the Kitchen Tapes series or The … Read the rest ... “Why She Left Girlock in 1975”
By Greg
1970s music blared from the two tacky speakers inexpertly mounted in the from door cards and dodgily connected to the cassette deck.
The old Holden was stationary in a deserted clearing near the Canning River, not far from Perth.
The women were drinking Brandavino from the bottle, each sipping, girding their loins to help swallow the sweet fortified wine. Then wiping the dribbles from their lips. It was a … Read the rest ... “Underage Drinking and a Police Chase”
This series of transcripts starts here.
Sue woke me at 7.30 and I very unwillingly got out of bed. Had breakfast and then got dressed and left for work.
It was really cold walking to work so instead of taking 15 minutes it only took me 10. Today a new girl is starting her name is Eileen she is about 21 … Read the rest ... “The 1973 Diary, Part 12”
By Greg
If this post interests you there have been three others on this topic. All with things that Trenna tried to help her or my life as we coped with her multiple medical conditions.
I don’t think for a moment that every tip or anecdote will be useful, but I certainly am hoping that people living with chronic illness or … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4”
By Greg
If you find this post useful or interesting you might want to check out two other posts: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna; and Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2.
As the name suggests yet another instalment in a series of posts that tell the things Trenna tried in an effort to make … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3”
This series of transcripts starts here.
GM: There were no entries in the first few days of the month.
I woke up at 6.45 then got up and had a shower and washed my hair. I went down to breakfast.
Work was pretty good. In the morning I had plenty to do, but I wasn’t being rushed, but after I had … Read the rest ... “The 1973 Diary, Part 9”
For an introduction to what these Menu Diary posts are about, please click HERE. And for the reasons why you really should read this series, please click HERE.
Wednesday 30 June. The previous two days we had old standards but on this Wednesday Trenna has prepared Ox Tail Stew! I feel a little guilty that I don’t remember … Read the rest ... “The Menu Diaries No. 17”
This series of transcripts starts here.
I got up at 8.30 and had breakfast. Thank goodness I didn’t have a stomach ache this morning. We went to Janette’s Sunday School. At first we all just sat in the hall and sang songs. Then we all broke into classes but no one came to Mr Nelson’s class so only 2 of us were in his … Read the rest ... “The 1973 Diary, Part 7”
Trenna had no recollection of ever having a birthday party as a child.
I found that hard to take as my family always made a big deal of my birthday, even though it was just 2 day’s after my little sister’s birthday and just 3 days after Christmas.
So when I met Trenna I tried to make birthdays a bit special.
Where possible, and it almost always was possible, I would take the day off work … Read the rest ... “9/11”
By Greg
I recently published Part 5 of The 1973 Diary. In the Comments section, at the bottom of the post our friend Helen has written “I think once Tren met the Gibson sisters and moved into Bey Apartments her life changed dramatically and she had to grow up quickly“.
The Gibson sisters were “the Twinnies” (Sharon and Joyce), and their older sister Rose. In the Kitchen Tape recordings Trenna … Read the rest ... “Why She Left Bey Apartments”