fingerprints on my lens

She asks if she can take pictures with my camera. I almost say no. I always say yes. She holds it correctly. She leaves finger prints on my lens. Anouk usually photographs objects. Ava photographs people. If I ask them what flavour ice cream they want, Anouk will say chocolate. Ava can never decide. I secretly hope they’ll choose vanilla so it doesn’t stain their clothes. The chocolate stains don’t wash out. I let them have it anyway. All of my tea cups used to be white. Now I like looking in the cupboard & seeing a few odd ones. Not the plates & bowls. They are still just white. I usually choose a cup that isn’t white. I like the blue one. Ava loves her ballet class. There’s never a chance to speak to the other girls during class, but at home she refers to them as ‘her friends’. Anouk loves ballet class too. She sings the songs from class when she’s in the bath. Ava asked if we could get my pastels out. We filled papers with colour. It got messy. It was the prettiest mess. Ava misses the magnolia tree from the front yard of our old home. She loved to climb it. It would bloom & then leave petals all over the lawn. They can’t pass a type writer with out pressing all the keys. I think I want one. I can’t pass a vintage store without looking for records & other things I imagine I might find… and love. I always tell Pete I’ll only be a minute. We both know I’ll be much longer. I love the nostalgia of marbles. I never buy them. I imagine if we had some they would all find a new home under our lounge. Ava once found a green marble. She carried it around for 2 days. I kept reminding her not to let her baby sister get it, in case she put it in her mouth. That’s probably the real reason I haven’t bought marbles. We don’t know what happened to the green marble. It’s probably under the lounge. They eat pumpkin soup like it’s dessert. It’s home made. They make soup in the yard together with dirt & water. They stir & stir & occasionally dig up a worm. It scares them & fascinates them. They ask if it can be their pet. They play schools. Ava calls me ‘Mrs Lisa’. Anouk calls me ‘Mr Lisa’. The ice cream makes them sticky. The ballet shoes get walked through the gravel car park. The paint doesn’t wash out of sleeves. We clean off the mud & they go out & play in it again. The new becomes old & loved all the more. The spring flowers disappear as quickly as they arrive. The light is golden for only a moment. She asks if she can take pictures with my camera. She won’t always leave fingerprints on my lens.
(personal iphone images by Lisa Jay photography – Lisa & Pete)