Obituary: Erika Makino, 1928-2025

Erika Makino’s passport photo before she left to spend two years in Peru, circa 1958, age 29

Erika Beatrice Makino, aged 96, passed away peacefully at her home in Redwood Valley, California on February 7, 2025. The cause was respiratory failure.

She was an adventurous person, fascinated by other cultures, languages, and perspectives. A quiet woman with a strong spirit, she always followed her own path.

Erika was born on July 24, 1928 in Reinach, Switzerland, near Basel, to Marguerite (Stehle) and Emil Koenig, a newspaper editor. She had two older siblings, Walter and Rita.

She was 11 when World War II broke out in Europe in 1939. Since Basel is right on the border with Germany and France, one could see tracer fire between Germany and France and hear bombers flying overhead.

One day Erika’s mother bought backpacks in case the family had to flee into the Alps. While the others were deeply worried, it seemed to Erika that adventurous and exciting times were ahead.

Finally the war ended, but food was still rationed for some time. Each member of Erika’s family had a small cloth bag holding their portion of bread for the day, which her mother weighed out on a scale.

Erika attended the University of Basel, majoring in German literature with a minor in history. She focused on Europe in the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. She once said, “It was a bridge to a new age like we are living in now.”

Teaching was one of the few acceptable career paths for women at that time. Not wanting to teach a large classroom of unruly children, Erika decided to go into special education.

But she felt constrained by the narrowness of life in Switzerland. So at 29, she decided to move to the United States, a big country with big possibilities.

Facing a two-year wait for a visa, she headed to Peru, traveling there by freighter. She worked as an au pair and later as a translator at the Swiss embassy in Lima.

Finally, Erika’s US visa came through. Instead of simply flying to the US, she decided to make the trip overland. The journey by bus, small plane and boat down the Amazon River took her three months.

In 1959, she arrived in the US and decided to move to San Francisco. On the day she had just one dollar left in her purse, she was offered a job at a school for intellectually disabled children.

A few years later, she earned a Master’s degree in German at UCLA. There she met and married Motoji Makino, a Japanese doctoral student in nuclear physics at the University of Southern California.

They moved to Claremont, California and then to Santa Monica to raise their three daughters, Annette, Yoshi and Yuri.

In 1971, the family spent five months in Takasaki, Japan, first living with Motoji’s parents in their traditional Japanese home. On their return to the States, the family lived in the Santa Barbara area while Motoji did post-doctoral research at UCSB.

Erika got involved with the women’s movement, forming some lifelong friendships. But the marriage did not survive, and Erika and Motoji divorced.

After Erika’s father died in 1976, she and her daughters moved to Switzerland for a year to spend time with Erika’s mother.

Erika always had a dream of living in the country. On the family’s return to the US, she bought three acres in rural Redwood Valley, near Ukiah in Northern California.

In the spring of 1979, the family moved into their newly built A-frame on a hillside covered with manzanita and madrone trees.

Erika pursued a variety of creative interests, including writing short stories. These often focused on the subtleties of relationships and inner landscapes. In 1993 she self-published a collection called Six of Cups: A Circle of Stories.

Erika loved visiting new places. In her 60s she traveled solo through North Africa by bus, making friends and receiving several marriage proposals. Then she spent several months in Ghana, in West Africa, teaching French.

Later she spent some months living and writing in Antigua, Guatemala, and likewise in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

At 80 she spent a few weeks walking the Way of St. James, a medieval pilgrimage route in Northwestern Spain. She went by herself, wearing a small backpack and gray Crocs.

Erika Makino hiking in Arcata Community Forest, Arcata, California, March 2020, age 91

Around 1997, Erika moved to Arcata, California to help with Annette’s two children, Maya and Gabriel. While there, she was active with the Arcata Zen Group.

In her early 70s she acquired two llamas and trained them to carry packs so she could still go on overnight hiking trips.

Erika moved back to her house in Redwood Valley in 2008. There she developed a passion for making semi-abstract sculptures of people and animals, working in clay and cement. She had a final show of her work in Ukiah at age 88.

When she was 90, she unexpectedly received a generous bequest from her college boyfriend. She was able to build a small art studio, realizing a long-held dream.

Erika was able to live out her final years at home thanks to her daughters, especially Yoshi, her main caregiver.

Through her life Erika always felt comfortable with people from “different realities.” Beyond her professional work, this gift of perceiving other energies allowed her to see past surfaces to understand, accept and appreciate everyone fortunate enough to know her.

Having lived a long and rich life, she said she was not afraid to die; she felt that death would be “like taking off a heavy backpack—and then you’re free!”

Clearly, she does not need a backpack for this next adventure.

Erika is survived by her daughters Annette Makino (Paul W. Blank) of Arcata, Yoshi Makino of Redwood Valley, and Yuri Makino of Tucson, Arizona; her grandchildren Maya, Gabriel, and Enakai; and her niece Karin Franz.

A celebration of Erika’s life will be held at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah on Sunday, June 29 at 1 p.m. Donations in Erika’s memory can be made to Plowshares Peace and Justice Center in Ukiah.

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For a much fuller account of Erika’s life and more photos, see An Adventurous Spirit - Erika Makino’s Life Story

An Adventurous Spirit - Erika Makino's Life Story

Erika Makino in the Arcata Community Forest, Arcata, California, March 2020

In March 2020 I helped my mother Erika, then 91, to write the story of her amazing life.

— Annette Makino

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Erika Makino was born on July 24, 1928 in Reinach, outside Basel, Switzerland to Marguerite (Stehle) and Emil Koenig, a newspaper editor. She was the youngest child of three.

She was an adventurous person, fascinated by other cultures, languages, and perspectives. A quiet woman with a strong spirit, she always followed her calling and her own path.

The Koenigs lived in the countryside close to the city of Basel. Cows were pastured next door to the family home. Although her parents shopped and worked in town, Erika didn’t experience the city until she was five years old.

She spent much time playing outside, weather permitting. She has said that the cherry tree in the back yard was like a friend and recognized her. She loved to play in the sandbox with her brother Walter and sister Rita, building mountains, tunnels and roads.

Her first memory was of lying in her crib in the garden. Her unfamiliar great-aunts wanted to pick her up, but Rita protected her. When their mother returned from the house, both girls were crying.

Erika had a desire to travel from an early age. She had a picture book showing two Chinese people sitting on the ground, eating what looked like pink worms with sticks. It depicted other countries as strange and uncouth, but when Erika saw those pictures, she knew she wanted to travel to such strange  places.

In 1939 when she was 11, World War II broke out in Europe. Since Basel is right on the border with Germany and France, everyone was afraid that Hitler would invade at any moment. It was a very unsettling time. From Basel one could see tracer fire between Germany and France.

In all the darkness of those years, Erika had a happy moment. Her mother bought backpacks for everyone in the family in case they had to flee into the Alpine region. While the rest of the family was deeply worried, it seemed to Erika that adventurous and exciting times were ahead.

Years later when the Americans joined the war effort, a sigh of relief went through Western Europe. Everyone thought the war would be over in two weeks, but it would take two more years.

At night Erika woke to the drone of allied bombers flying overhead and dropping their loads over Germany. A few hours later, they returned; a vision of bombed houses, fire and screaming people haunted Erika.

Finally there was peace, but food and clothes were still rationed for some time. Gasoline was scarce also, but few people had cars then. Doctors and other people who needed to drive to make a living received a fair amount.

Erika remembers seeing a man carrying a box of eggs. Eggs were especially precious, and he must have saved his rations for a long time. He stumbled. In no time, a group of pedestrians stopped and observed the mess on the sidewalk with dismay and compassion.

Bread is a key component of most Swiss meals, so having very little bread was hard. Each member of Erika’s family had a small cloth bag holding their ration of bread for the day, which her mother weighed out on a scale.

Households were required to grow as many vegetables as possible, so Erika’s family planted potatoes in their lawn. All the parks were planted with food too.

Swiss teens had to help the war effort. The summer she turned 13, Erika was sent to work at a farm near Basel, where she helped the farmer’s wife in the fields and kitchen while the men were away protecting the border.

She enjoyed the field work like building  “teepees” with four sheaves of grain pushed together. She remembered how wonderful it was hiding inside those little huts when she was a child.

There were very few machines at that time, and the groaning, swaying wagons loaded house-high with sheaves of grain were pulled by horses. Erika remembers the huge butts of those animals; sometimes the farmers stepped on them with their boots.

She attended the Basel Mädchen Gymnasium for high school, where she developed an interest in foreign languages. As was typical for college-bound Swiss students, the study of foreign languages was required. She studied French for eight years, English for five years, and Italian (as an optional subject) for three years. She taught herself Spanish and later also Japanese from language records.

She attended the University of Basel, majoring in German literature with a minor in history. She focused on Europe in the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance (15th century). “It was a bridge to a new age like we are living in now,” she said.

She spent a year studying and polishing her French in Paris, reachable by a four- or five-hour train ride from Basel. She rented an apartment on an upper floor of a building in the Place Pigalle, which she only later realized was a bordello. It was so inexpensive to live in France after the war that she paid a month’s rent with a cheap Swiss watch.

Career options for women were limited at that time: being a teacher was one of the few acceptable paths. Not wanting to teach a large classroom of unruly children, Erika decided to go into special education. She earned a certificate in the field from the “Heilpädagogisches Seminar” with some classes taught at the University of Zürich. After college, she began working with intellectually disabled children.

Erika’s passport photo for her trip to Peru, circa 1957

At 29, when she had saved enough money, she decided she wanted to emigrate to the United States. “It was the land of the future,” she said. “Everything exciting came from America. Everything was so new, not so stale. It was fresh air. Through a chain of lucky circumstances, I was able to go there.”

Erika was following in the footsteps of her grandfather who lived in the US for several years around 1880 and whose journal she had read with interest. It sounded quaint to her but alluring.

Her brother Walter had written a dissertation on the US Constitution, which led to him getting a scholarship to Yale Law School. He then worked in a legal office in New York. His boss strongly supported immigration, and agreed to sponsor Erika by depositing $20,000 in a bank, even though he had never met her.

Erika learned there was a two-year wait for her to obtain a visa to the US. Rather than wait in Switzerland, she decided to spend the time in Peru, where many Swiss people lived. She wrote to the Swiss Embassy in Lima and they offered to help her find work.

She took a boat down the Rhine to Holland and from there a freighter to Callao, the port for Peru. In Lima she worked first as an au pair to a family of German-Austrians. They were Jews who had fled Europe shortly before World War ll. They hired Erika because she could speak German with their children.

Later she worked in the Swiss Embassy in Lima doing translation, especially Italian into German, and office work.

She traveled extensively around Peru before there was much tourism, including to Machu Pichu and Cuzco, the old capital. She remembers lines of Peruvian women in brightly colored skirts and small bowler hats, spinning wool on a spindle while walking.

When her US visa finally came through, Erika was just about to get a good job as the director of a school. Oh well!

Erika, second from left, on a boat on the Amazon River, possibly in Peru, circa 1960

Instead of simply flying to the US, she decided to make the trip to the North overland through South and Central America by bus, small plane and riverboat. She took her time, spending several days in some towns, especially in Guatemala. The journey took three months.

When she finally arrived at the US border in Nogales, Arizona and saw the US flag, it was exciting. She knew she was about to begin a new life.

However, there was a delay: “No immigrants after 5 p.m.” She was disappointed and went back to a hotel, wearily lugging her suitcase.

The next morning, a customs employee took Erika to a private room, where she had to undress to show that she wasn’t taking anything illegal across the border. Erika thought it was strange. It seemed the lady was interested in her wardrobe, her nude body or perhaps she wanted to humiliate her.

The fast and clean American buses, the plump, straight walls of the houses, the orderly streets and sidewalks were astonishing.

Erika decided to move to San Francisco, where she first stayed at the YMCA. It was a shock to be in the US. People didn’t smile at strangers. They seemed cold and reserved compared to the friendly people of South and Central America.

She rented an apartment and began looking for work. It was difficult. On the day she had just one dollar left in her purse, she was offered a job at the Lucinda Weeks School for intellectually disabled children. Erika was surprised that the director didn’t want to see her diplomas, certificates or letters of reference; this trusting, intuitive approach struck her as uniquely American.

After two years in the US, she was accepted as a resident. After five years she was able to apply for a citizenship. The prospective citizens had to take an examination. She realized that she was supposed to know the numbers of the amendments. She passed with flying colors anyhow.

Erika frequently visited the foreign student center of the University of Southern California. There she met a German student, Bob Goss, who introduced her to his wife Edith. The two women became friends for life.

Bob informed her that colleges were looking for teaching assistants to instruct German, but they had to be graduate students. So Erika applied to UCLA. When the admissions office studied her certificates, they advised her to go straight on to earn a Ph.D. Erika declined and limited herself to a smaller load, going for a master’s degree in German Studies.

Erika with daughter Annette, circa 1965

In her mid-thirties, she decided she wanted a child and figured that she could always get married later. She had a romance with a foreign grad student and in 1963 her daughter Annette was born. “Holding this baby in my arms was the happiest day of my life,” she said.

Erika and Annette lived in graduate student housing at UCLA while Erika finished her degree. An Indian woman, Mohini Pai, had a child of the same age and the two mothers arranged babysitting together.

Erika and Annette often went on Sierra Club hikes around the Los Angeles area, mother carrying Annette in a baby backpack.

Erika learned to drive in Los Angeles, with a baby in the back seat and a car that would stall in the middle of intersections. She often had to call a tow truck.

One of the most frightening events of her life was when she entered a freeway for the first time. In the rear view mirror she saw Annette standing up, having freed herself from the straps of the baby seat. As soon as she was able, Erika stopped, parked and adjusted the straps, her heart still beating in fear.

Erika and Motoji Makino on their wedding day, 1965

In 1965 Erika married Motoji Makino, a Japanese doctoral student in nuclear physics at the University of Southern California. They had met at a party for foreign students a few years earlier and gotten to know each other because Erika was interested in learning Japanese.

There was a broken table lamp in her apartment. Erika’s previous suitors had noticed it was broken and quit using it; Motoji immediately ran downstairs to his car, got out his tools, returned and fixed the lamp. “I thought, I’m in good hands with a guy like that,” she said.

The young family moved to Santa Monica. Soon there were two more daughters, Yoshi in 1966 and Yuri in 1967.

Erika with her daughters Annette, Yuri (in Erika’s arms) and Yoshi, Santa Monica, 1968

In 1971, when their house on Idaho Avenue was about to be demolished and Motoji was on an assignment on the East Coast, Erika and the girls moved to Takasaki, Japan for five months.

At first they lived with Motoji’s parents in a traditional Japanese home. It was a difficult dynamic for Erika: the in-laws didn’t want a babysitter for the children—a stranger in their house—but also didn’t want to babysit. Things went better when Erika and the children moved to a small house next door and had more independence. Motoji joined them a few months later.

On their return to the States after five months, the family lived in Santa Barbara in an elegant home with ocean view owned by one of Motoji’s professors. Later they moved to the nearby suburb of Goleta.

The women’s movement was exciting and new at the time. Erika got involved with the Santa Barbara chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Meanwhile, the marriage did not survive. Erika and Motoji divorced in 1973. Years later, Erika regretted the break she had initiated. “The trouble was that we—I—didn’t communicate,” she said. “The divorce was the worst mistake I made in my life.”

After Erika’s father died in 1976, she and her three daughters moved to Switzerland for a year to spend time with Erika’s newly widowed mother in Basel. Erika worked at an institute for epileptic children in Zürich and commuted back to Basel every weekend by train.

Later Erika and her children moved into a small commune in the  village of Russikon in the Zürich area, not far from her job. “I found it interesting to get to know all different types of people,” she said.

Erika had always had a dream of living in the country. On their return to the US, Erika started looking for a piece of land to buy with a small inheritance from her father. Meanwhile, as she was not working, her savings dwindled. It was such a stressful time, she threw up almost every day.

After many months of searching, she bought three acres in rural Redwood Valley, near Ukiah in Mendocino County, Northern California. The girls were so tired of the endless search, they didn’t even want to come out of the family’s red VW bus to see the land.

To save money while a small prefab A-frame house was constructed, the family lived first at a campground and then at the home for intellectually disabled men where Erika had started work teaching them life skills.

Although Erika’s position was state-funded, the home was run by a group she had never heard of called People’s Temple. While living there, Erika and her girls were shocked and horrified by the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. Staff members at the home lost their children and other loved ones.

Erika’s home in Redwood Valley, California from 1979 to the end of her life.

But the spring of 1979 was also a happy and exciting time. Erika and her daughters moved into their new house on a hillside covered with manzanita, madrone and oak trees. This remained Erika’s home for the rest of her life.

She pursued a variety of creative interests, including writing semi-autobiographical short stories. These often focused on the subtleties of relationships and inner landscapes. In 1993 she self-published a collection of her work called Six of Cups: A Circle of Stories.

Besides frequent trips to Switzerland and other parts of Europe, Erika loved visiting new places. In her 60s she traveled solo through North Africa by bus, making friends and receiving several marriage proposals along the way.

Erika with young friends in Algeria, 1988

From Tamanrasset at the end of the bus line in the south of Algeria, she proceeded via a truck loaded high with dates. As the only paying passenger, she was allowed to sit next to the driver. A couple of locals travelled on top of the dates.

The crossing from one civilization to the other was astonishing. In contrast to the somber veiled females in the south of Algeria, suddenly there were women wearing colorful dresses.

The trip offered her a grim picture of the effect of climate change on land and people. A local man in Timbuktu, Mali, showed her around. With a sweeping motion of his arms he said, “In a generation or two all this will be covered with sand.” There was sadness and resignation in his voice.

Erika, center, in Duasi, Ghana, 1987

Erika heard of a work camp in Ghana for foreign students who were building latrines. Participants had to pay a fee. There was plenty of work but the tools were scarce and a soon as one person put down their shovel, three other students jumped up to grab it.

“We slept in dorms and I remember the mouse that ran over my face and woke me up,” she said. A few weeks later, she got a job teaching French at the International School in Accra, Ghana.

A few years later, Erika spent some months living and writing in Antigua, Guatemala. She had a task there. A young Swiss from a family she had befriended had died in that area years earlier. She found his grave, had flowers planted and the inscription on the stone repainted. She felt compassion for the young tourist who died alone in a foreign country.

Erika with grandson Gabriel, 2005

Not long before Erika’s granddaughter Maya was born in 1997, she moved to Arcata, California to help out. While living in Arcata, she was active with the Arcata Zen Group. She made close friends while living on their property and hosting events.

When her grandson Gabriel was born in 2001, she moved in with Annette’s family to help care for the children, living with them for six years.

Erika with her pack llamas, Shandy (left) and Dancer (right), at Mad River Beach, Arcata, California, 2003

In Arcata Erika had two llamas whom she trained to carry packs so she could still go on overnight hiking trips. Over seven years, they became good companions.

At age 80 she took a few weeks to walk the Way of St. James by herself. This is a medieval pilgrimage route in Northwestern Spain that had always fascinated her. She went by herself, wearing a small backpack and gray Crocs.

“Sometimes in between hostels, I was all by myself, and I felt the power of the landscape and of the trail that had carried countless pilgrims over centuries,” she said. “It was impossible not to be awed.”

From Spain she flew to Thailand for a couple of months of travel, and then on to Japan, a place she loved.

Erika with a semi-abstract cement sculpture of a dinosaur, 2003

Erika developed a passion for making semi-abstract sculptures, mostly of people and animals, working in clay, cement and adobe. “I had always admired sculptors, but thought it was only for people who had talent—not me,” she said.

She had once taken a ceramics class at the Mendocino Art Center. “I found this activity wonderful, I would like to do this for the rest of my life, but then I didn’t do it for about 30 years, and only when I was 80 I started doing it every day.” She had several exhibits of her work in Ukiah, California, the most recent at age 88.

On Erika’s first day at the University of Basel, a young man started chatting with her in the lobby. This was the beginning of a 70-year friendship with Arthur Rath.

He was a German Jew who had managed to escape from the Nazis but sadly lost many of his family members in the holocaust. Arthur had fled from Germany to Holland, to the north of France, to the south of France, always running from the invading German army. When he arrived in Switzerland he finally felt safe.

At age 90 Erika received an unexpected inheritance from Arthur. With the money he left her, Erika had a small yurt built on her land to serve as an art studio for making clay sculpture, realizing a longtime dream.

Through her life Erika always felt comfortable with people from “different realities.” Beyond her professional work, this gift of perceiving other energies allowed her to see past surfaces to understand, accept and appreciate the people she met.

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The Makino-Blank family in December 2025 in Arcata, California. Back row, left to right: Gabriel, Paul, Annette, Maya. Front row: Enakai, Yuri, Erika, Yoshi

Erika died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Redwood Valley, California on February 7, 2025. The cause was respiratory failure. She was surrounded in her last days and moments by her daughters Annette, Yoshi and Yuri. She was 96.

Having lived a long and rich life, Erika once said that she was not afraid to die. She felt that death would be “like taking off a heavy backpack—and then you’re free.”

Erika is survived by her daughters Annette Makino (Paul W. Blank), Yoshi Makino, and Yuri Makino, her grandchildren Maya Makino, Gabriel Blank, and Enakai Makino, and her niece Karin Franz.

Erika Beatrice Makino
July 24, 1928 - February 7, 2025

Erika with granddaughter Maya, her llama Shandy and Maya’s bearded dragon lizard Stardust, 2004

Erika with daughter Yuri and grandson Enakai, Tucson, Arizona, 2014

Left to right: Annette, Yuri, Erika and Yoshi Makino, Arcata, July 2023

Drop, cover and hold on

My view from under the coffee table

I was standing in the closet on Thursday morning when my phone started screeching. A couple seconds of confusion, then strong shaking. I quickly crawled under an oak coffee table to ride out a very scary earthquake. Everything rattled and swayed, and in the hot tub, my husband Paul got sloshed around. I was still under the coffee table when my phone squawked again, this time with a tsunami warning.

But thankfully, though it was a 7.0 shaker just 63 miles away, there was very little damage and no tsunami. The only casualty we sustained was a taper candle that fell over and broke. This was a far cry from the 6.4 earthquake here two years ago which seriously damaged dozens of houses, knocked out power to 70,000 people and broke our water pipes, plaster and dishes.

earthquake cleanup
all the cobwebs
left intact

Between the shaking ground, the destructive plans of our president-elect, and governments from France to Syria unexpectedly collapsing, much is in upheaval these days. Sometimes it seems the earthquake mantra, “drop, cover and hold on” should apply to the rest of life too.

a long day
of watching the world burn
his steady breathing

To add to the general madness, holiday season is upon us! If you still need to do some gift shopping amidst all this (gestures broadly at everything), here are a few ideas from the Makino Studios shop. There are mini-calendars (here’s to the two customers who just bought a combined total of 32 of these!), 70 card designs, a dozen notecard sets, matted small prints, larger custom prints, original art, books of art and haiku and stickers for stocking stuffers. May these gifts bring a little peace and beauty into the lives of your friends and family

Meanwhile, good luck staying balanced on this swiftly spinning orb—and here’s hoping your holidays are simply grand!

warmly, Annette Makino

redwood tree non-traditional holiday card - collage of giant redwood (457)

$5.00

2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage

$12.00

holiday notecard set - snowy woods with rabbit

$20.00

Book of art and haiku: Water and Stone

$25.00

A New Resonance 13: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku

$20.00

Original art: Many of the paintings and collages in my online gallery are for sale. Collages start at $280 and are ready to hang.

fog-shrouded coast - print

from $25.00

redwood blessing - small signed and matted print

$18.00

contented cat sticker

$4.00

Makino Studios News

Free shipping through this Sunday: I’ll cover your shipping within the US, no minimum order, through this Sunday, December 15. Enter code PEACE2024 at checkout.

Holiday shipping deadlines: For arrival on or before December 25, please place your order no later than Tuesday, December 17. The mail has been slow these days, so even sooner is safer.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: I’m looking forward to connecting with people face-to-face this coming weekend, Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main hall.

Made in Humboldt Fair: This event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA is running through Dec. 24. There you can find my books, signed and matted prints, 2025 calendars and notecard sets.

Publication credits: “earthquake cleanup” - Frogpond; “a long day” - Presence

To kneel and kiss the (soggy) ground

“this small corner” is an 8x10 mixed media collage made with paper, acrylic paint, colored pencil, ink and glue on cradled wood panel. It is part of the 2025 Makino Studios calendar of art and haiku. © Annette Makino 2024

I’m normally a pretty upbeat person, but I’ve been feeling heavy and down of late. The election results have left me grieving for the alternate future I’d hoped for and dreading the changes under the incoming regime.

election night
slowly unclasping
my pearls

Meanwhile, the bomb cyclone and atmospheric river here on the Northern California coast have kept us mostly housebound for the past week, with brave forays to jump-start the generator or take brief walks between storms.

cold winter rain
the swollen creek also
rushing home

Combined with ceaseless rain, the short, dark days of late November are not helping one bit. Who decided it was okay for the sun to set before 5 p.m.?! The daily loss of light only deepens my melancholy.

mourning dove
the ancient sorrow
in my bones

To combat this gloom, I’m making a conscious effort to focus on everything that’s still good in my part of the world. And what better time to cultivate an attitude of gratitude than Thanksgiving?

this small corner
of the universe . . .
twitching whiskers

It really helps to list all my blessings. For one, though my hair is grayer now, in many ways I feel healthier and fitter than I was fifteen or twenty years ago when I was working full-time and raising two children. Back then it was a challenge just to get dinner on the table, let alone work out and walk in nature every day. Now I take pleasure in my improving strength and balance in tricky yoga poses. And I appreciate that my legs willingly carry me for miles.

Annette Makino and husband Paul W. Blank on the Oregon Coast, October 2024.

I’m also thankful for Paul, my beloved mate of 33 years, a brilliant, funny and kind partner through weather fair or foul.

shore pines
bearded with moss
his laugh lines

We are very fortunate to have warm and easy relationships with our two adult kids. They are interesting and delightful young people who actually seem to enjoy spending time with their ancient parents (within reason). I’m also blessed with a close-knit extended family (hurray for tension-free holidays), a comfortable home and a vibrant community in a beautiful part of the world.

And I’m especially grateful for the gift of meaningful work. In the past I’ve held positions where I felt valued but not essential, meaning someone else could step in and do the same job. And the work, though worthwhile, wasn’t my personal passion. But as Chief Cook and Brush Washer at Makino Studios, I now create art and poetry that no one else could make because it is an authentic expression of my being, borne of my unique life experience.

It means even more that my art resonates for others, providing a bit of beauty and insight in a world that sorely needs both. With zero paid advertising, I sell more than 15,000 cards a year. Though that is barely a rounding error for Hallmark, I see each card as a little spark between two people, helping them express their caring for each other. My calendars, prints and books, often given as gifts, play a similar role. I’m honored to be a vehicle for those connections.

My poems also seem to speak to people: a recently published haiku sequence about losing our dog Misha, called “At the Exit,” garnered heartfelt responses from readers who took the time to email, comment on social media or tell me in person how much it meant to them.

So this season, I give special thanks to you, my supporters, for giving me a sense of purpose, for the gift of right livelihood. As the Sufi poet Rumi said, “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Makino Studios News

Calendars, books and notecard sets are among the Makino Studios items offered at 15% off through this Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024 with code THANKS2024.

Thanksgiving sale: Cards, notecard sets, calendars, books and prints are all 15% off in the shop through this Sunday at midnight. Enter discount code THANKS2024 at checkout. Good on orders of $20 or more while supplies last.

2025 calendars: For the 12th year running, my mini-calendars of haiku and art are still just $12 each (or $10.20 if you catch the Thanksgiving sale). These beautiful little calendars make great gifts for friends and family!

Notecard sets: Browse several designs of holiday and everyday notecard sets. These come eight to a box with eight kraft envelopes.

Greeting cards: You can find 70 single cards in the card section of the Makino Studios site, including some holiday designs. Note that some designs are almost sold out at the moment.

Holiday shipping deadlines: For arrival on or before December 25, please place your order no later than December 17. The mail has been slow these days, so even sooner is safer.

Made in Humboldt Fair: For Humboldt County folks, this event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA is running now through Dec. 24. There you can find my book (Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku), signed and matted prints, 2025 calendars and notecard sets.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: This fair takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. This is my only in-person event this season. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main hall.

“It’s complicated”: A year ago I wrote this post about the uneasy history of Thanksgiving, which is relevant again.

Thanks: I always appreciate your feedback, whether by email, in person or on social media.

Credits: Haiku in this post were first published in tinywords, The Heron’s Nest and Wales Haiku Journal.

Finding a warm community

software update
the maple releasing
its obsolete

                       l

                            e

                                       a

                                v

                       e

                            s

“software update” is 11x14, made with acrylic paint, paper, pen and glue on cradled wood. This is a page from my 2025 calendar. A card version reads, “have a wild and crazy birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024

I had a wonderful time at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway last month! It was four days of marinating in all things haiku with fellow poets in beautiful Seabeck, Washington.

Since the conference theme was maps, I recruited my geographer husband, Paul W. Blank, to lead a “Walk on the World” session with his giant maps that show the world at 16 miles to the inch. It was great fun wandering across Eurasia in our stocking feet! Many haiku emerged from his session and others.

The schedule was packed with presentations and “Write Now” exercises, many on the theme of maps and travel. Featured guest Crystal Simone Smith shared her moving haiku inspired by 19th century fugitive slave ads; she also led us in exploring new haiku approaches.

The Seabeck Haiku Getaway always includes a kukai, a contest of haiku written at Seabeck that is judged by the participating poets. I was honored that both of my submissions placed, tying for first and sixth. Here is my first-place poem:

Geographer Paul W. Blank, far right, explains the big maps at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in October 2024.

Tokyo alley
I run into
the moon from home

But for me, the best part of the long weekend was deepening my ties to the haiku clan. During communal mealtimes, walks in the woods and late-night socializing, I got to reconnect with poet friends and meet others I’d only known by name. Basking in this community was especially precious to me since I live far from any in-person haiku groups.

Earlier this year haiku poet P. H. (Peter) Fischer and I co-edited the conference anthology for the 2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway. Published by Haiku Northwest, it was distributed at last month’s gathering. Winds Aloft features terrific cover art of Seabeck and six haiku comics by graphic novelist David Lasky, as well as poems by almost all of the 56 conference participants that year. Here’s one of mine inspired by the bigleaf maples at Seabeck:

the last rays of sun
offered back to the sky
yellow maple

As Peter and I wrote in the introduction, “Haiku poets are a special breed. The habit of keenly observing life’s details tends to make people more attuned, thoughtful and appreciative. Or perhaps it works the other way around. In any case, each year this unique tribe gathers at Seabeck to create a warm community of like-minded folks. In the words of physicist Douglas Hofstadter, in this kind of synergy, ‘The soul is greater than the hum of its parts.’ We appreciate everyone who added their own unique hum to the magic that is Seabeck.”

In these turbulent times, we need community more than ever. So on this, my eighth time at Seabeck, I was grateful once again to be welcomed into the fold.

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Makino Studios News

These are just four of the notecard sets on sale at 20% off in the Cards section. Sale ends this Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.

SALE on notecards: I’m offering 20% off all holiday and everyday notecard sets. These come eight to a box with eight kraft envelopes. Normally $20, they are on sale through midnight this Sunday, Nov. 17 for $16 with promo code NOTECARD20. Most of these designs are also available as single cards with words.

2025 calendars: So far this season, more than 500 of my mini-calendars of art and haiku have gone out the door! Still just $12 each, these lovely little calendars make great gifts for friends and family.

Greeting cards: You can find most of my newest single cards at the top of this collection of 70 designs. These cards are made with fiber from responsibly managed forests and the mill uses green energy and carbon offsets. They are printed in Arcata, California by an independent small business and go for $5 each.

Holiday shipping deadlines: For arrival on or before December 25, please place your order no later than December 17. The mail has been slow these days, so even sooner is safer!

Made in Humboldt Fair: This event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Dec. 24. There you can find my book (Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku), signed and matted prints, 2025 calendars and notecard sets.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: This fundraiser for the Arcata Recreation Department’s youth scholarship program takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This is my only in-person event this season and I will be offering some deals and closeouts.

Social: I’ve given up on Twitter/X, but I regularly post art, haiku, news and more on Instagram and Threads as @annettemakino and on Facebook as Makino Studios (links below). See you over there!

Thanks: I always appreciate your feedback, whether by email, on social media or here in the comments.

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Credit: “the last rays of sun” - 5th place tie, kukai at Seabeck 2023; in Winds Aloft: 2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology, Eds. Annette Makino and P H. Fisher, Haiku Northwest, 2024

New cards and calendars galore

Happy October! This harvest season I’m excited to share a release of ten new card designs for birthdays, condolences, holidays and more. You can browse all 70-plus single cards, as well as boxed notecard sets, in the card section.

I am also now shipping my 2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku. The Eureka Times-Standard just ran this fun feature called A calendar tradition on the origins of my haiku calendar, going back to a childhood art project with my two sisters. (Journalist Heather Shelton was inspired by my last blog post/e-newsletter about this history.)

Shipping is free for orders of $35 and up; just enter promo code FREESHIP35 at checkout.

tilted axis
we slide
into fall

2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage

$12.00

funny frog card - you’re so cute and cool but I like you anyway! (464)

$5.00

get well card of love and healing - beach landscape collage (460

$5.00

non-traditional sympathy or birthday card - redwood tree with haiku (459)

$5.00

redwood tree non-traditional holiday card - collage of giant redwood (457)

$5.00

funny playful cat birthday card - tuxedo cat catching autumn leaves (456)

$5.00

sea turtle birthday card - may you live long and well - tropical ocean collage (455)

$5.00

river and ocean friendship card - so grateful to share this world with you (461)

$5.00

funny birthday card of dog playing at the beach - many happy returns (458)

$5.00

non-traditional sympathy card - ocean wave collage with haiku (462

$5.00

beautiful egret birthday card - wishing you a wonder-full birthday (463)

$5.00

persimmons holiday notecard set - wishing you joyful holidays

$20.00

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Makino Studios News

The Made in Humboldt Fair at Pierson Garden Shop runs Nov. 5 through Dec. 24. I will have books, prints, calendars, and notecard sets there.

The Arcata Holiday Craft Market takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room.

I'm looking forward to the Seabeck Haiku Getaway Oct. 24-27 in Seabeck, Washington. Highly recommended for new and experienced haiku poets alike!

Makino Studios orders will not be shipped while I’m traveling Oct. 22-30. Avoid the wait by ordering now!

The tale of three sisters and a blank calendar

“egret wings” is 8x10, made with paper, acrylic paint, pen and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the Makino Studios 2025 calendar of art and haiku. A card version reads, “wishing you a wonder-full birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024

First of all, I’m excited to share that my 2025 calendars have arrived! This is the twelfth year in a row that I’ve produced a mini-calendar of my art and haiku (and they are still only $12). I’m so pleased to be able to share the culmination of a year’s worth of art-making with you.

fresh calendar
the squares empty
with promise

But today I want to tell you about the deep roots of this calendar project. I co-produced my first art calendar back in 1976, at the ripe old age of 13. My mother, two younger sisters and I were living in Basel, Switzerland with my elderly grandmother that year. One fall afternoon, my mom brought home a calendar for the following year with a blank space for each month’s image. She asked us three girls to create the art. We set to work with our colored markers on the floor of our shared bedroom. I remember drawing a scene of the birch woods near my grandmother’s house, fiery in yellow and orange leaves. Our mom, who always encouraged our creativity, loved the calendar.

"Another Makino Production" - art calendars by Erika, Annette, Yoshi and Yuri Makino

Back in the US the next year, we three created another calendar from scratch, photocopied it and gave copies to close friends and family for the holidays. We continued to make these every year through our teens and college years, labeling them “Another Makino Production.”

Through the 70s we drew unicorns, butterflies and mimes. In the early 80s these gave way to punk/New Wave-inspired designs and absurdist pen and ink sketches with titles like “Mr. Zapkins Takes a Bath.” When we were in late high school and college, the calendars included portraits of boyfriends and, in the case of my sister Yoshi, detailed assignments from art school. Besides pen and ink drawings, we featured scratch board art, black and white photos and linoleum block prints—anything that would Xerox well.

"Birth of Annette" by Annette Makino, December 1966 (age 3-1/2).

But as we got busy with the rest of life, it became harder to come up with four artworks apiece. One year we stretched our offerings by producing a “special artistic retrospective” that featured some charmingly strange drawings from our toddler days. One depicted my birth, or so I explained at the time. We also included sketches by our mom, Erika, as a guest artist.

Untitled, by Yuri M., produced around 3 a.m. some night in late 1980 (age 13)

Another year, my sister Yuri stayed up till 3 a.m. the night before our deadline, making a sketch of one of her running shoes, laces trailing. It was a decent likeness, but oddly small and pathetic on the page. It looked like the desperate last-minute measure that it was, and we have laughed about it ever since. Though my sisters and I stopped producing our calendar in 1987, my collection is a precious time capsule of our youth.

Fast waaaay forward to 2013, and I created the first Makino Studios calendar of my art and haiku. To my surprise, the 400 calendars I printed that year sold out—even though my customers were not all blood relatives! Over the past dozen years, these annual calendars have continued to earn fans—I love hearing how people ship them to friends around the country and abroad. And my sisters still provide valuable critiques of my works in progress.

November rain
the swaying palms
on the calendar

While my artistic technique has improved since I was 13, I still get just as much pleasure from creating a usable collection of art and sharing it with the world. In fact, I consider the Makino Studios mini-calendar to be a tiny rotating art gallery. Thanks to all who have served as curators by hanging one on your wall! There are no unicorns (or running shoes) in the 2025 edition, but I hope you will enjoy it all the same.

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Makino Studios News

These 2025 mini-calendars measure  5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (5-1/2” x 14” open). The calendar includes an artist’s bio and some background on haiku and haiga (haiku art). These are professionally printed in the USA on substantial paper and saddle-stitched.

NEW! 2025 calendars: Featuring original haiku and Asian-inspired collages of peaceful landscapes and animals, my mini-calendars are $12 each. Special thanks to those who agreed to serve as my focus group, helping me decide which pieces to leave out and which to put on the cover.

New cards coming: Birthdays, sympathy, get well, holiday and everyday—I have ten new card designs coming off the press soon. Check for them around Sept. 25 in the card section of the Makino Studios site!

Free shipping: I offer free US shipping on orders of $35 or more. Just enter promo code FREESHIP35 at checkout.

Henderson Haiku Awards: This year I was honored to serve as one of the two judges for the Haiku Society of America’s flagship haiku contest. Fellow haiku poet P.H. Fischer and I pored over more than 1200 poems to find our favorites. Check out the winning poems and our commentary.

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: Sponsored by Haiku Northwest, this fun and inspiring gathering takes place in Seabeck, Washington October 24-27. I will be there and can highly recommend this annual event for beginning and experienced haiku points alike. P.H. Fischer and I co-edited the conference anthology for last year’s getaway, sparking memories of a great long weekend of marinating in haiku.

Made in Humboldt Holiday Fair: I’ll have Makino Studios wares, including 2025 calendars, notecard sets and books at Pierson’s Garden Shop in Eureka, CA November 5-December 24.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Mark your calendars: my only in-person event of the whole year will take place Saturday and Sunday, December 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. This festive event raises scholarship funds for low-income youth to participate in the City of Arcata’s recreation programs.

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The haiku “egret wings” was first published in Wales Haiku Journal.

“November rain” was first published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America

"The Three Sisters" by Yuri Makino, 1971 (age 4).