"I think that in my Hometown Memories collection, I've established -- at least to my own satisfaction -- that you can go home again. Perhaps not with a boy's innocence and enthusiasm, but certainly with an adult's fond memories and deep appreciation for the gifts of community, of belonging, of shared values and dreams that are the essence of the hometown experience.

Hometown Morning is the sixth and final look at my boyhood hometown. I was a paperboy, so I knew the morning rhythms of my town. My paper route took me into the heart of my hometown and introduced me to the infinite variety of human experience. That's why I call the last work in this collection Hometown Morning. I see it as a beginning, rather than an end. After all, I met my future wife Nanette on my paper route. And, for me, that was the beginning of all good things."

--- Thomas Kinkade