“this time next year” is 8 x 10, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on illustration board. It appears in my 2021 calendar. © Annette Makino 2020.
Once upon a time, my family and I lived in a small town in Northern Italy. It was 2008, and my husband was running a college’s overseas program based in Alba, in the Piedmont region.
That semester, the school provided us with an apartment that was situated near the Ferrero chocolate factory, makers of Nutella and Almond Roche. And just next door to us on the other side was the town’s sewage treatment plant.
Some days the wind would blow from the south, and the air would be filled with the intoxicating smell of chocolate. And other days, the wind would blow from the other direction . . . and the smell was considerably less appetizing.
On this first day of the new year and the new decade, I am thinking about our Alba apartment as a metaphor for life. There is an Arab saying that translates as, “One day honey, one day onions.” Or in our case, “one day chocolate, one day poop.”
We can never predict the future; we only know that things will change. Part of my household recently watched an ultra-low-budget action movie from Uganda with the priceless tag line, “expect the unexpectable.”
We all expect that 2021 will be better than the dumpster fire of a year we just left behind. But all we really know for sure is that “this too shall pass.”
this time next year
the unanswered question
in the owl’s call
Here’s hoping that 2021 brings us brighter days and winds from the south. Happy New Year!
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Sample pages of my 2021 mini-calendar.
Makino Studios News
2021 calendars: Well, the first printing sold out and so did most of the second printing, but I still have a few of my mini-calendar of art and haiku for sale! These feature my Japanese-inspired collages and are $12 each.
Free shipping: I offer free first-class shipping on US retail orders of $35 or more. Use code FREESHIP35 at checkout.