I’m feeling nostalgic for my teens. When I was in high school, summers were lived on the beach. The walk there, about 2 1/2 miles, included crossing a drawbridge. I often waited on the bridge while it opened to let a sailboat through. And while I waited, I looked at the cars.

Sometimes I was with my friend Kathy. In those days, she was never without a bouquet of dried flowers. She would walk among the idling cars and offer flowers to the drivers through their open car windows. (Hey, it was the ’60s. Flower power and all that.)

Thinking of flower power reminds me of all the beautifully painted cars we saw. (You could even buy flower decals if you didn’t trust your artistic ability.) Boy, I miss those decorated automobiles. Many were VW bugs and buses, something like these (you can click on the smaller photos to enlarge and see credits):

 

Here are some less vintage designs:

Jamie Janett still does this work:

 

So does Drew Brophy:

But this car, featured at the Denver International Airport in 2012, blew me away:

I’m so impressed, I’ve been researching Huichol art. I’ll post about that soon. I promise.