Decades ago, there was a TV station in the Tampa Bay area that had a late night movie hosted by Las Novedades Restaurant. The station went off the air when the movie was over and, every night, the man from the restaurant would toast the viewing audience with “Salud y happy days.” With his accent it sounded more like “hoppy dez” but I’ve never forgotten him, and it still remains my favorite toast.

So next time you uncork a bottle of vino, take time to swirl and inhale and, with that first warm sip, think of me and say Salud.

This image was created from scratch in PhotoShop and was inspired by a holiday oriented ad on TV depicting a party in a home with a fireplace. There was a close up of someone raising a glass, backlit by the fire. Something about the shot captivated me, so I froze the picture and quickly sketched the outlines for the drawing. Once the basic image was set down, I laid in the color and texture and, as they say, voila … unless you’re a Brit, then it would be “Bob’s your uncle!”

As of 28 May 2011, view count is 843.