My beloved neighbourhood ----------- Balmoral Bay in the south of Brandon

It turned out to be another spectacular hoar frosty morning when I rushed outside with my French easel . The magic hoarfrost which formed overnight transfigured every  thing mundane  into something so ethereal! I decided to put a large piece of canvas , 19"x38" onto my easel to capture the panoramic view of my neighbourhood street of Balmoral Bay where I have lived since the summer of 1998. Of course it is Easter Friday the classical music from CBC Radio 2 reflected the spirit  of the special day. With Mozart's requiem in the air from my MP3, I started to paint while my thought starting  to drift into a kind of reverie going back to our early years  when we started to call this neighbourhood our home! I remember that particular sunny afternoon when my wife and I started to unload our stuff onto the patio when we heard the most welcome greeting from our  next door neighbour Betty and Roy whose beautiful radiating smile instantly confirmed our choice of a new home on Balmoral Bay! Soon after we moved to Balmoral Bay, I became a new Canadian citizen. I was working then for Green Acre school and the new citizen ceremony was held in City Hall and what made that ceremony so special and so unforgeable was all the grade five students from Green Acre school came to sing O Canada on that occasion. I will never forget that the very next day our neighbour across the street Carol knocked on our door and greeted with  a special cake decorated with Canadian maple leaf to congratulating me on becoming a new Canadian citizen. Now so many years have passed : right before  Roy passed away , we the whole family went over to say  final goodbye to him in hospital. I remember the radiating sunset outside mingled with sadness in us that day. I have painted for almost 10 years now on a daily basis and most of the time painting right in this neighbourhood. Maybe deep in me unconscionably I have been trying to capture a sense of sweet home in every piece of my works with my unreserved love and passion. The sight of Fengping, my wife,  coming  back from the Easter service jolted me out of my memory and made me realize that I had spent two hours on the painting already.