My hair is bold like the chestnut burr; and my eyes, like the sherry in the glass that the guest leaves.

Emily Dickinson's description of her eyes has always intrigued me, and I always remember it when I see a few drops of sherry or brandy left in a glass.

The glass in the photo below is one of the "old everyday things" that I have been tagging. I have two of these, and one of my oldest memories is of looking at these two little glasses in my mother's china cabinet. The story as I remember it is that these little glasses are one of the few mementoes of Germany that my great-grandparents brought with them when they emigrated to the United States. Imagine having not much more than two fragile glasses to remember your past by!

Much of the gilt has worn off; we still use them occasionally.

And whenever I look into them and see a few drops left, I think of Emily Dickinson and her eyes. Is this the color she was thinking of?