永
=
丶
+
水
:
Yu the Great just got the most romantic proposal ever! In engine, somebody prepared a water fountain and had a diamond ring floating on a petal leaf float over to her. Unfortunately Yu the Great doesn't know who the ring is from, as her lover drowned in the water fountain earlier that day.
永
=
丶
+
水
:
Mnemonic symbol: as the advertisements tell us, diamonds are forever. I'll represent 永 with a diamond ring.
prefecture / (old) province / (old) administrative division / state (e.g. of US) / oblast (Russia) / canton (Switzerland)
州
=
丶
+
丷
+
川
:
Mnemonic symbol: the red cotton tree, as it is the official flower of 广州 (Guangzhou). A new river (川) formed spontaneously in front of the outhouse (ou1), and James II of England (zh) was barely able to climb on a red cotton tree (州). Other animals are happy about this development: a mean crocodile (丷) is floating on a petal leaf (丶) towards the red cotton tree.
Sherlock Holmes (sh) started a supermarket (市) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4), but all he has for sale right now are berets (亠) and towels (巾). He should have opened it at the beach!