Pippin with Bedside Stuffed Animals and Mickey Mouse

Lately, I've been rearranging stuff from my childhood bedroom into my newer house. I took my old stuffed animals that sat in a crate beside my bed and organized them in a row on my loft bed. Among my stuff is a Mickey Mouse clock that Grandma Rose had sent to me for Christmas from Carnegie, Oklahoma. I think I was in sixth or seventh grade at the time, because I remember earlier getting a Minnie Mouse watch from her in fifth grade. I came back to school after Christmas Vacation, and found out that so many classmates had also gotten Mickey or Minnie Mouse watches for Christmas. They were a very popular present that year. This Mickey Mouse clock in the pictures below complemented my Minnie Mouse watch. Both quit operating eventually, but I loved having my Mickey Mouse clock on my bedroom wall. I'd think of Grandma Rose every time I'd see it. After Grandma Rose died on October 9, 2000, I told myself that her spirit is still smiling down from me from the Mickey Mouse clock.

It was rather hard for me when Daddy dismounted it from the wall where I had always known it to be in my childhood bedroom. I did not really know where to put it in my house now that I was on my own, but it was nice to hold Mickey Mouse in my lap a few nights ago and think of Grandma Rose. Pippin sniffed it before lying right beside me on the floor that night. I decided to take Mickey Mouse upstairs, even though there was no mount for me to hang it on right now. I thought of above the window ridge, but that was too narrow. I then discovered a nice place on the window sill right above my stuffed animals. Mickey seemed to be a very nice addition to my stuffed animals. Pippin had hurried upstairs with me, and was now resting right in front of my stuffed animals and my Mickey Mouse clock. I thought they would make a good photograph together. I had to go downstairs for my camera and thankfully Pippin remained on my bed. It was rather a challenge to take pictures without a flash without getting them too blurry or too dark, but I wanted to keep the nighttime effect. Looking at Mickey's position on my windowsill, I now imagine that Mickey was alive and whole, and had climbed up a ladder outside my house to peer into my second story window. He seemed to be enjoying having Pippin and me right there.

Back on the computer, I did plenty of photo editing to try to make the pictures light enough so people could see them better without making them too bright and changing the cozy mood of the pictures. I noticed that the brightness of the pictures changes from computer to computer, depending on the computers' brightness settings. The pictures also would appear darker in the daytime than they did at night. That has made editing a challenge. I hope the results are satisfactory. The third picture is my favorite. I think Grandma Rose would have enjoyed this scene. She had a cat of her own.