Janet - Master of the Marker (Letter from Paula)

I feel some stealing coming on.

Not sure about that zip code placement. To be kind to the PO, she could have abbreviated California and put the zip code under the city/state. However, I can see that it looks better to fill that space.

Note how Janet took the two main colors on the stamp.

Added green - because green goes with everything and added the pale blue and orange.

Very nice color pallet.

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A couple days ago, our dear pen pal Paula from Sam's post office in Hudson, NH left this wonderful comment on the blog post that had her fun envelopes. I'm guessing that not many people go back through the comment section to see if they missed anything - and I know many of you will appreciate hearing a story direct *from the trenches.* 

I edited out the part where Paula apologized for the length of the post. And yes, Paula, we would love to see photos of the mail you have received.

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Hi Jean, I was SO excited (and nervous) to see my envelopes here. Thanks for including me. :-)
Christmas at our PO was crazy... Due to CDC guidelines, when I got the beginnings of what turned out to just be a NASTY headcold (and not covid), the PO put me on paid leave. For 10 days. I was out from Dec 14 til Christmas Eve, so I missed most of the insanity at the retail counter. But even before the 14th, I saw lines that actually, literally went out the door... and halfway down the strip mall. 

And as you can imagine, my cold ended up being the first domino in the parade of absences in the office. Some people did test positive, but as far as I know, none of them were seriously ill. However, the clerk staff at the sorting unit was reduced to as few as 2 people for most of the peak season. 

Our office is mostly back to full staffing now, mailing volume at the retail counter is back to a normal level, and we are pretty much caught up. Here. In Hudson. The larger sorting facilities are still behind, and working through the backlog as quickly as they can, but customers are (understandably) upset with the delays. I cringe a little bit every time a person approaches me at the counter without a package or letter... they're just scrolling through their phone, looking for a tracking number.

You guys have been so nice and so fun!! We've gotten lots of decorated envelopes from artists here, and we love them all! I'll send in a few pictures soon (if you want to see) and thank people by name... credit where credit is due, right?  I'll continue to check the blog every morning. You are an enjoyable part of my daily routine now. xoxo

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Thank you from me, too, to the people who sent mail to our hard working postal workers in New Hampshire. And thank you, Paula, for the update.