Maggie Mayall:

Spent the first 2 weeks in April in Australia. Got to be on the road with my husband and his band. First time I've done that in 28 years without children in tow! Had a lot of fun with him and, of course, got to be a "guest artiste." Chose an Australian band's song, "Howlin' At The Moon" by the Bondi Cigars, which was VERY well received by the crowds! Actually, I heard incredulous surprise in their appreciative response! I've been doing that song since the early 90's, when John handed me their CD. One of the unusually GOOD cd's out of the hundreds he gets handed every year.

Anyway, I also ticked off a couple of bucket list items: Climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Bicycled and Kayaked on the Gold Coast, and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef! Mission Accomplished!

The tour ended in California, where I joined the band once again. Here is a link to the pretty-good YouTube recording of "Howlin' At The Moon": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQHJe6pAMQ8

WINTER SOLSTICE
by Maggie Mayall

Worn-out browns and faded golds
Say Time has run out, Autumn is old
The wind sings "Winter" in my ear
She pricks my cheek with a chipped ice tear

But there is a rose on the rose bush there
She clings to vines that have long been bare
A lonely trophy of a timeless Spring
Confronts the threshold of Wintering

Today was a race against time to cut back my rose bushes before the big El Nino rains set in. There was just no way I was going to spend the next week and a half or so looking out my kitchen window, rain coming down, at the sad state of affairs of my garden! I'm a good two weeks late (for California, anyway)! This is a job I usually do on New Year's Day, but we were traveling this year. And then life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing.

So I'm out there, nose running, glasses slipping down my nose, cursing my gardeners, who are about to get fired now that I've had a good up-close-and-personal look at the tangled mess of a jungle out there. Out with Alphonso and in with Jaime, because I know a guy who knows a guy.

At the same time, I waxed nostalgic thinking about my dear mother-in-law Beryl. She taught me to be bold and brutal when it comes to cutting your rose bushes back every year. Don't be afraid. The more courageous you are, the more the roses will love it. Isn't that [...]

Hey, everybody!
Let's have some fun!
You only live once
And when you're dead, your done
So let the Good Times Roll!

Thank you, Louis Jordan.

Have started the New Year off with a bang. We were in Maui as the clock ticked down. John was sitting in with Mick Fleetwood and his band featuring old friend Rick Vito. It was a lot of fun. Alice Cooper was there and rocked us into the New Year. They treated us great at the Mala Restaurant in Wailea.

Last year, sadly, MadAsHellClub went defunct. It went dark. I was enjoying writing my monthly column called "The Tour Bus Is On Fire," about what it's like to live in my shoes--usually funny, sometimes messy, sometimes sad, sometimes kind of normal and sometimes weird. And I was enjoying reading what the other writers on the site were getting up to as well. Ah, well...While I try to figure out where to put my writing energy next, I think I will post some of the 35 essays I wrote so far here, on the News/Journal page.

John and I celebrated our 28th [...]