The second exhibit in my Museum of Me is A Collection... this will undoubtedly be a permanent, rotating exhibit because there are lots of Collections. Ahem.

This is a collection of mice, and it's one that I infrequently add to myself.

It's all because of my dad... he called me MOUSE from infancy; it stuck through childhood and well into adulthood. He's the only one who ever really called me by that nickname, but everyone knew it... and that's how this collection was born. Because if I'm called Mouse, then I must like mice... and collect them. Right? Whatever. I have a collection of mice and I love them all!

This one (above) is the smallest. He's one of three that I bought (often in threes), though I can only find two right now. They used to hang out on my computer keyboard but Malina-Little-Magpie-Hands found them, so who knows? (She's something else!)

This is the second-smallest, standing 1" tall, and not in the group photo because I forgot about him! (They're mostly HIMs.) And this one I also purchased myself -- just last year, in fact, at a gift shop on the North Shore -- with full approval, if not encouragement, from Rusty & Kate. There's a lot I like about this one... size, heft, shine, and that tail.

This one was a gift from my mother. She never called me Mouse, but she's one of the largest contributors to the collection! He is also made of some sort of metal and has a nice weight.

This roly-poly one feels like stone, and is signed on the bottom. His little ears & tail are made of leather.

I'm pretty sure this one was also from my mom... from mother to daughter, one mom to another. (I don't think Dad ever gave me a mouse.)

If any of my mice was a HER, it would be this one. And this one is also signed; seems made of glass. Those big eyes! and ears! and what looks like a single tooth! the roundness to the belly! He's really sweet.

This is a "gumdrop" ornament with "almond half" ears and a "licorice" tail. I bought this one year when everyone got a gumdrop ornament of some sort.

This one is also made of metal -- brass, I believe -- and is the lone survivor of what once were three -- they were all different sizes, and I think this is either the smallest or the middle one. These "note holders" were a gift (and rarely used as such).

But this one, also metal, is from a pair of bookends, and they are definitely used for the intended purpose! In fact, I only nabbed one of them because the other could not be called from duty. I love these hard-working guys.

And now we come to the last two mice in the exhibit... priceless treasures.

Made of porcelain by my Grandma Blum, and bearing the mark. Poured by Grandpa, finished/painted by Grandma. I love the painted claws and those poor gigantic chipped ears! My grandparents had an at-home ceramics business out of their home for years after retiring from their day jobs. Grandma was a pretty talented artist, and also a born teacher. I have quite a few pieces made by them, but this one is hands-down my favorite.

The last treasured piece in this MoM exhibit was made by first-grade "Maddie," aka MADDY! With it's enormous ears and nose, and that curling tail, she knew even then what I liked!

A few of these pieces reside on the bookshelf (not far from the piggy bank that was subject of my first MoM exhibit), a couple in my computer/workroom, but the majority are in the "Depression Glass Cupboard," which holds all manner of treasures, and gives you a big fat clue about the subject of at least one future exhibit.

Thanks to Kym for this wonderful idea, the Museum of Me! It's fun to look at, photograph, think and write about these things that are part of ME.

Last month, Kym introduced her Museum of Me and that kind of stuff is right up my alley, so I'm joining in (and doing a little catching up)!

The inaugural exhibit is:

The Oldest Thing From My Childhood Still In My Possession

I'm pretty sure that would be my Lefton piggy bank! Have you ever seen a sweeter face? She's never had a name because she wasn't really a "toy"... she's just "my Lefton piggy bank."

Like Kym, the backstory is fuzzy... I know she was a gift, and I think it was for my 6th birthday, but I don't remember from whom.

I do know that she was maimed almost immediately! Like, within minutes. It could have been me that dropped her, but the depths of my memory tell me that it was one of my three (at the time) siblings and the fireplace hearth also plays in that memory.

So, y'know, she's never been very good at holding money. I did keep the rubber stopper in there for YEARS, even though any money deposited could (and often would) fall right through her missing leg.

She's always been sure-footed, though, even with only three legs. And from some angles, you can't even tell that she's damaged.

I gave her a bath for these photos, as I've done from time to time, and I'm always very careful to preserve the Lefton sticker. There are little felt disks on the bottom of each foot, too.

Some of her floral decorations have been damaged, but none is missing altogether.

The curl of the tail, the iridescent glaze...

...those amazing flowers.

A quick search on eBay and Etsy resulted in a few very similar -- sometimes much more decorated (either originally or after-market), but I will always like mine the best!

And here she is in situ on the top of a bookshelf next to some of my dad's turned wood vessels, a sideways Big Ben/Parliament cookie tin that was Rusty's mom's "sewing basket," a ceramic pumpkin that my Grandma Blum made, and on the shelf right above a photo of Viv & Maddy, and one that I took 10 years ago in Scotland. (There is much museum fodder on those shelves!)

That face, though (even in a blurry photo).