Writer’s Block - Trenna Mahney

Why There Haven’t Been Any New Stories Lately

I am very conscious that I haven’t added a post to this website for a couple of weeks. This is very unusual. Since I created the website 19 months ago I’ve contributed every week, and on average about two posts per week.

So What’s Happened?

As I have written previously (for example, HERE), the TrennaMahney.com website serves many purposes. One of those is to help me in the grieving process.

Grief is such a weird thing, absolutely non-linear, and quite unpredictable. By writing stories of Trenna I have kept her to the very forefront of my mind. As I am recalling stories and writing them down I am constantly thinking of her and seeing her in my mind’s eye.

It helps me cope, and in fact makes me feel fairly good about all those times we had together. The website I am sure has helped me immensely.

The Guardian Australia

Many of you will know that on Sunday 8 October 2023 The Guardian Australia published the story of Trenna and my first date. You can read it HERE.

The story was on The Guardian’s Australian, UK, American and European sites. Someone from The Guardian later told me that the number of people who saw the story was “huge”. I could tell it was very well read as the visits to this website spiked massively on that Sunday and have continued at a higher rate ever since.

Along with the stories were wonderful comments that the Guardian’s readers made on the story, and also very many messages to me which came through the Trenna website. I was kept very busy reading those messages and in many cases replying to them. I have also reread the story several times over the last couple of weeks.

I think what happened is that that interaction with readers has served a similar purpose to me writing new posts. I really haven’t felt a need or an urge to write new posts.

I’m now getting the itch back, but there is another problem. I’m on holidays in London, and will be for a few more weeks. I’m spending all day tramping around the streets, and then each evening either going out or slumping exhausted in a lounge chair.

Concerns

Several times I have felt quite guilty that I haven’t been adding to the site, and capitalising on the boost from The Guardian article. But I have now come to terms with my conscience and I’m saying here that there may not be any new posts until late November 2023.

If you have read everything on the site, thank you. If not, here is an opportunity to catch up!

If you come back in late November I am sure you will find more content, or if you sign up for my VERY occasional newsletter I’ll notify you when I restart.

It is quite possible that some time in the next few weeks I will get the urge AND the time to write a new post or to finish one of the dozen or so I have started but not finished. If that happens I will certainly put it up as soon as it’s ready.

See you in a month!

Greg

The Earliest Posts

Living With Your Spouse

Feb 10, 2022 2010s, Carer, Collected Wisdom, Coping, Featured, iPad Knowledge, Love and Marriage, Marfan 1 Min read

The distinctive colour was to help her find it on her iPad when the document was minimised. As far as I can judge, our relationship was a pretty good one. It was based on love and an abundance of shared values. Nevertheless, Trenna was always looking to improve things. About

The Kitchen Tapes

Feb 28, 2022 1960s, 1970s, 2010s, Craig House, Featured, GFS, Kitchen Tapes, Marfan, Mofflyn Homes 3 Min read

Growing up in Perth in the 1960s and 70s by Greg Mahney Trenna always liked to tell a story. She knew that her life story was interesting and that some people could find comfort in hearing how she coped with what life threw at her. We had talked about it for a

The First Recording

Mar 2, 2022 1960s, Kitchen Tapes, Marfan, Mofflyn Homes 15 Min read

Recording #1 of The Kitchen Tapes 9 April 2018 [GM: This recording of 9 April 2018 was the very first in a series of 24 recordings] THM: The nineteen sixties were a decade of huge change for me and … for the world. “…so my childhood was in some ways

Eulogy

Mar 3, 2022 2020, Craig House, End of Life, Eulogy, Grief, Marfan, Mofflyn Homes, Mourning 14 Min read

A Celebration of Trenna’s Life – 15 January 2021 By Greg Below is the eulogy I delivered at the Celebration of Trenna’s Life (her funeral). In due course I will do another post explaining what I wanted to achieve from the event and how friends and family helped me to organise

Soundtrack of Trenna’s Life

Mar 3, 2022 2020, End of Life, Eulogy, Love and Marriage, Mourning, Music 11 Min read

By Greg Setting Some Context On 15 January 2021 a celebration of Trenna’s life was held. I wanted to hand out a postcard which had a picture of Trenna and a couple of links to a playlist I developed after Trenna passed away a few weeks earlier. I then put up a

The Second Recording

Mar 3, 2022 1960s, Kitchen Tapes, Mofflyn Homes 13 Min read

Recording #2 of The Kitchen Tapes 10 April 2018 GM: OK we’re recording. It’s the 10th of April 2018. Mofflyn THM: Right. We’re back at Mofflyn Homes, some more things have come to my memory. In our cottage the older children looked after the younger children. They had responsibilities. Younger children had to be

The Recce-Vite

Mar 3, 2022 2010s, Carer, Coping, Heart and Lung Failure, iPad Knowledge, Love and Marriage, Marfan, Medical, Visually Impaired 1 Min read

A little bit of fun is better than none by Greg Trenna became aware at some point around 2010 that she was getting out of the house less and less – it was often pretty hard. But she didn’t want to lose touch with the city in which she lived. And she

The Wellington Earthquake

Mar 3, 2022 2010s, Coping, Featured, Love and Marriage, Marfan, Medical, Travel, Visually Impaired 10 Min read

By Greg Business Class Travel – It’s Not For Everyone In November 2016 my then employer, Advocare Inc, gave me the opportunity to go to a mediation conference in Wellington, New Zealand. Travel was becoming increasingly difficult for Trenna. Her eyesight was very bad and her pain management was not going well. We

The Third Kitchen Tape

Mar 5, 2022 1970s, Kitchen Tapes 15 Min read

Recording #3 of 24 Recorded 12 April 2018 GM: This is a recording of Trenna Mahney made on the 12th of April, 2018. Tren, let’s talk about the time you lived down near the Old Mill. 19 Mill Point Road THM: Alright, OK, well that was 1975. I was heading to being

“Please allow me to introduce myself…”

Mar 6, 2022 Craig House, GFS, Grief, Love and Marriage, Marfan, Medical 4 Min read

About This Site and About Trenna Mahney By Greg Mahney A quick note before you start. If you have read the “About” page of this website you can ignore this particular post as the contents is the same as on that page. If that’s you, just scroll down. About Trenna You will learn

The Fourth Kitchen Tape

Mar 7, 2022 1970s, Kitchen Tapes, Music, Recipes 24 Min read

Recorded 13 April 2018 Before we Start [GM: As the title suggests, this was the fourth of 24 recordings done at our kitchen bench in Kensington, Western Australia. As part of the preparation for putting it on this website, in February 2022, I asked our friend Helen to read through this transcript

Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna

Mar 9, 2022 Carer, Collected Wisdom, Coping, Featured, Marfan, Medical, Travel 20 Min read

by Greg A Need to Cope with Life This is a list of some of the strategies Trenna adopted to try to cope with life and her many medical issues. She didn’t have a specific list of these items. This is just the things I remember us trying. I’m expecting (hoping?) that

Moshing With Black Sabbath!

Mar 9, 2022 2010s, Coping, Featured, iPad Knowledge, Marfan, Medical, Music, Visually Impaired, Writing 8 Min read

By Greg and Trenna Reliving the Experience Looking through Trenna’s iPad I came across the document she wrote to review/record the Black Sabbath concert we went to along with a friend, Adrian. It was the first time I had read this piece since 2016. It immediately brought back memories of a really

Andy Warhol

Mar 17, 2022 2010s, Travel 0 Min read

By Greg I started to watch The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix last night. It reminded me of two instances when the great artist and the great woman connected……. Trenna at the Western Australian Art Gallery – 16 December 2012. https://videopress.com/v/6svI2nFw?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Starring Helen and Trenna. Melbourne 2016.

The Kitchen Tapes #5

Mar 18, 2022 1960s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes, Mofflyn Homes 20 Min read

Recorded 14 April 2018 GM: OK, so we’re here with Trenna Mahney. It’s the 14th of April, 2018. Tren, you were going to tell me about when you left Mofflyn Homes and went off to Craig House. THM: Alright. It is a blurr. That time in my life was lost to me

Eulogy Part 2

Mar 20, 2022 2020, Carer, End of Life, Eulogy, Grief, Marfan, Medical, Mourning 3 Min read

Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s oldest sister, Nancy Seckington-Baker at the celebration of Trenna’s life. Eulogy Greg has shared his story of Tren’s story. He has stressed I have 5 minutes. We have endless, wonderful stories of our sister Trenna. A truly life WELL LIVED. However those stories are for another

I am Stuck

Mar 23, 2022 End of Life, Heart and Lung Failure, Marfan, Medical, Mourning, Snippets and Vignettes, Visually Impaired, Writing 0 Min read

A screen shot from Trenna’s iPad [Note from Greg: I don’t think for one moment that when Trenna prepared this piece on her iPad that she just added a nice picture to the top. I think the fact that she is standing on an island (Staten), with the rest

Eulogy Part 3

Mar 23, 2022 1960s, 1970s, Craig House, End of Life, Eulogy, Grief, Mourning 3 Min read

Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s friend, Helen Rice at the celebration of Trenna’s life. Eulogy I met Trenna in October 1967 when I moved to Craig House a hostel for Legacy children.We bonded instantly as we were the youngest at Craig House at that time. She became my closest

The Kitchen Tapes # 6

Mar 25, 2022 1960s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes, Marfan, Mofflyn Homes, Visually Impaired 16 Min read

Recorded on 15 April 2018 Primary School Days GM: OK, today is Sunday, the 15th of April 2018, I’m with Trenna Mahney, and she’s going to continue telling us about her memories of her past. Tren, last time we were talking with you you were on your way to school … THM: I

THE Rolling Stones Concert Part 1

Mar 31, 2022 2010s, Love and Marriage, Music 5 Min read

By Greg The time had to come in the life of this website when I had to write about THE Rolling Stones concert. For one reason I have HUNDREDS of photos Trenna and I took at the concert, and for another, Trenna and I had such a good time. The Very Earlier

Commencing the Darwin Letters

Mar 31, 2022 1990s, Darwin, Love and Marriage, Writing 9 Min read

By Greg, and then Trenna Trenna and I lived in Darwin the capital of the Northern Territory from 1995 to 1997. Darwin, for our international readers is well and truely in the tropics. This is our copy of Microsoft Word Version 5. It came with 5.25″ floppy disks, 6 printed manuals,

The Kitchen Tapes #7

Apr 1, 2022 1960s, 1970s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes 14 Min read

Recorded 19 April 2018 Meals at Craig House GM: OK, today is the 19th of April 2018, with Trenna Mahney. Tren, can you tell me whatever you can think of about Craig House. THM: Well, Craig House was quite posh in some ways. It was formal in that we had to dress for

THE Rolling Stones Concert – Part 2

Apr 2, 2022 2010s, Love and Marriage, Music 8 Min read

By Greg As the title suggests, this is the second part of the story, the first part is here. Near the Stage So there we were, in the tongue pit with Tren’s great friend Sue, who she probably hadn’t seen for a couple of years, and Sue’s sister, Judy. “Ahhh! You’ve got the same

Floor 7 1/2

Apr 8, 2022 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, 2000s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes, Travel 3 Min read

… and Trenna’s Voice, Recording Kitchen Tape No. 8 By Greg, and then Trenna’s own voice The popular-culturally literate among you will immediately be thinking “Being John Malkovich”. What’s this got to do with Trenna? Well…. I have decided that in most cases I’m NOT going to put the original sound recordings on

Tape 8 from the Kitchen

Apr 8, 2022 1960s, 1970s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes 16 Min read

Recorded on the 20th April 2018 Mainly About Meals [GM: Before we start. Also see the post “Floor 7 1/2” as it contains a player to hear “Tape 8 from the Kitchen” spoken in Trenna’s own words.] GM: OK, today it is Friday the 20th of April, 2018. Tren, yesterday we were

A Burger with a Peace Rally, and a Watch on the Side

Apr 10, 2022 1980s, Featured, Love and Marriage, Snippets and Vignettes 6 Min read

By Greg Palm Sunday, 27 March 1988 Here is a special bonus post, because it is Palm Sunday today. Neither Trenna nor I were religious, but there is a story related to this day that Trenna and I always remembered. Setting The Scene I got together with Trenna at the very start of

Introducing the Menu Diaries

Apr 13, 2022 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, Menus, Recipes 7 Min read

A New Series of Posts Based on Trenna’s Records of Evening Meals A New Career and a New Kitchen In 1990-91 Trenna and I employed builders to do our first home renovation. Trenna had recently resigned from her job at the Hospital Benefit Fund (HBF) and therefore had the time to

The Menu Diaries No.1

Apr 13, 2022 1990s, Menus, Recipes 4 Min read

March 1992 Rissoles, Rumah Batik and Sunday Sessions The first thing I notice about this menu sheet is that there are a number of crossings out. I think at first Trenna was drawing up the sheets with what she expected we would be eating. Then when circumstances changed she had

Number Nine, Number Nine…

Apr 15, 2022 1960s, 1970s, Craig House, Kitchen Tapes, Visually Impaired 17 Min read

This Kitchen Tape Recorded on 21 April 2018 GM: OK, today is Saturday, 21st of April, 2018 and I’m with Trenna Mahney. Tren, you were going to tell us a bit more about Craig House, I think? THM: Alright. The main house – I was talking about the kitchen and the back

The Menu Diaries No. 2

Apr 15, 2022 1990s, Menus, Recipes 2 Min read

April 1992 Anzac Day and Hungry Jack’s Saturday 4 April. “Ragaletto”! A pasta sauce from a jar!? Could this be right? Then I remembered that when we were first together and both working it wasn’t uncommon for us to have Dolmio brand pasta sauces from a jar. On this

Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2

Apr 16, 2022 Carer, Coping, Heart and Lung Failure, Marfan, Medical, Snippets and Vignettes, Visually Impaired 13 Min read

Strategies and tips used by someone with a degenerative condition and chronic illness By Greg Things Trenna and I Tried, That Worked in no particular order This is the second part of this list. For the first part please click here. I’m already working on part 3 as things we have done in the

The Menu Diaries No. 3

Apr 21, 2022 1990s, Menus, Recipes 2 Min read

May 1992 Nibblies, and Scones for Dinner Monday 4 May. Steak with green pepper sauce, herbed spud, beans, carrots. Tren describes it as gluggy but yummy. She is referring to the green pepper sauce. I haven’t had it for years. It was made with peppercorns that came in a

The Kitchen Tapes No. 10

Apr 22, 2022 1960s, 1970s, Kitchen Tapes 18 Min read

Recorded 22 April 2018 Early Years at Craig House and with the Andersons GM: OK, today is Sunday 22nd of April, 2018. We are with Trenna Mahney. I think Tren you wanted to talk a bit more about the early years at Craig House. Craig House THM: Right. I don’t really remember getting to

11 – Trenna’s Favourite Number

Apr 29, 2022 1960s, Kitchen Tapes 18 Min read

The Eleventh Kitchen Tape Recorded 4 May 2018 Greg’s Notes: During this recording Trenna started to remember more details about her very early life as she cast her mind further and further back. You can “hear” this is some of the sentences in this transcript. At the end she told me that

The Key to Happiness and Fulfilment

Apr 30, 2022 2010s, Collected Wisdom, Coping, Featured, iPad Knowledge, Snippets and Vignettes 0 Min read

Intro by Greg, Wisdom by Trenna Here is another pearl from Trenna’s iPad. It looks like she started it on 27 April 2016 (at 10:31 am) but then didn’t edit it again until 31 May 2017. (How nerdy is that detail I’ve given you?!) PLEASE NOTE: It is a

A Trip to the Psychiatrist

May 1, 2022 2010s, Carer, End of Life, Heart and Lung Failure, Medical, Snippets and Vignettes 3 Min read

By Greg & Trenna This wasn’t the first time that it was suggested that Trenna might need to see a psychiatrist. See also this anecdote from when she was a child. The recent post “The Key to Happiness and Fulfilment” got me thinking of a visit to Trenna’s cardiologist, which ended

4 replies on “Writer’s Block”

Thank you for the stories and thoughts. I am so happy she had a good long life with you. She is watching over you now and waiting until you meet up in heaven. God bless you for sharing

Thank you Kay. They are comforting thoughts. Greg

Take the time you need! I hope you continue not to feel guilty, thank you for sharing all these wonderful stories!

Thank you Jill. That’s nice.