It looks like she took it in for a hand cancel - that red circle on the stamp - but why is the stamp slashed and why is there a sloppy *To* and *From* with a sloppy arrow. And one *To* was not enough - there are two of them.
The handwritten *From* is pointing to something that looks a bit postal-ish Glenbeulah, WI - a gateway to a state forest. My guess is that Mary mailed the envelope in Glenbeulah - and then it went by truck to a larger community with a USPS plant that has the big machines with scanners and the machine sent it back to Glenbeulah - and someone at that post office wrote on the envelope and put it back on the truck.
Let's see what we can find out about Glenbeulah. It is near Sheboygan. I love saying Sheboygan.
Glenbeulah is a small, family-oriented and moderately growing village with a mix of residences and small businesses that projects a positive aesthetic appearance. Glenbeulah residents value a small community atmosphere that is quiet and secure. We consider the Mill Pond and the surrounding natural enviroment to be great assets.
Population - 463
I bet it's a lovely little town.
Glenbeulah is a lovely little town just down the road from me, here in Plymouth Wisconsin, and the tiny post office is usually ran by one postmaster, who is my neighbor and a fried of mine. They had a special postmark made up for May 30, 2023 because their zip code is 53023. Apparently the special cancel stamp confuses the postal workers in Milwaukee, where the mail goes from Glenbeulah and they sent a couple of them, like this one, back. She suggested, that if you are concerned about keeping the envelope pristine, that you place it in another envelope. Not advice I will be taking, since the process, the lettering, the stamps, the postmark, etc. are all part of what makes it mail art and interesting. I like "pushing the envelope" with my designs sometimes, just to see what I can get away with 😆
ReplyDeletePS. She said anther postal worker was filling in for her and put all the unnecessary to and from marks on there, she knows how much work goes into an envelope and tries to keep it pretty. She would have just canceled the special 53023 postmark instead.
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