On the corner of 15th Street and Lorne Avenue stands this apartment. I walked across the snow covered park to paint this view of this particular apartment not because of its striking visual appeal but for the special personal memory it holds for me and my family. After all ,it is the very first place I stayed when I moved to Brandon from China almost 20 years ago. It is through its window I got my first glimpse of Brandon on that unforgettable first morning in June. Though I moved so many times during my four years as an international student to different cheap apartments and houses in Brandon, I finally moved back to this apartment upon my graduation in 1995 waiting to be reunited with my wife and daughter whom I had been separated for almost 5 years! It was before the age of telecommunication and internet in China, and for five years snail mail was the only means of communication available between me here in Brandon, and my family back in China. While standing on the edge of the park across the street painting there, somehow, the first few notes of music from the second movement of Saint-Saent's 3rd Violin Concerto kept on coming back to my ears. It is interesting how one piece of music could so much associated with one particular time period of my life ! It was in this apartment way back in 1991 when I first heard Saint-Saent's concerto which just brought tears to my eyes, I remember.
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