Life in the Army of Occupation

Here's an American soldier's hand-drawn postcard. I'm assuming it's from World War I because of the uniform, but I can't say for sure. Any thoughts?

Mermaids!

If only you could travel back in time, you could enjoy a cocktail at the famous Mermaid Room of the Hacienda Bar in Fresno, California. The Fresno Bar was probably inspired by the Weeki Wachi mermaid show in  Florida, but unlike the Fresno mermaids, the Weeki Wachi ones are still there. The difference is that now they have tails and bikini tops and really look like mermaids.

If you don't have time to go to Weeki Wachi Springs State Park to see the mermaids, you can click on the link and see pictures of them cavorting underwater and flirting with a submerged Greek statue of Adonis. They also do underwater dance routines with the American flag and with Kermit the Frog. You can even join them on Facebook.  Here in Oregon, none of our state parks have mermaids. They must be extinct here, so I'm glad that Florida is preserving theirs. Out here, we just have trees, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, and stuff like that.

Here's the back of the first postcard:

Hey, it's Postcard Friendship Friday, so head on over to Beth's blog, The Best Hearts Are Crunchy, and check out all the other fun postcards.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Beautiful colorful cars and buildings and a bright blue sky. And look at that big wide street. In fact, the back of the card brags about the width, stating that like all Salt Lake City streets it is: "132 feet wide, allowing ample room for parking on either side and plenty of room for driving."

Oh, if they just could have seen into the future. We thought that was progress, but we also discovered that designing everything for the automobile made it very difficult for people to walk anyplace, and actually ended up being detrimental to downtown businesses. It's also a lot of money for pavement (on land that could be used for something else),  a lot of radiant heat during hotter months,  and a headache for storm water management when it rains or there is substantial snow melt. A 132-foot wide street may be inviting for a car, but it likely to strike fear in the hearts of potential pedestrians. Do you see any crossing signals here? It makes me wonder what we are doing now in the name of progress, that will be seen as folly in the future.

It's difficult to redesign an urban grid, but in a situation like this it could be a great opportunity.  With 132 feet, you have plenty of room to add a planted center median to serve as a pedestrian refuge and also offset reflective heat from pavement.  You still have plenty of room left for wide sidewalks and bike lanes.