For various reasons, we feel the need to reorganize Sjölinds. Unfortunately, we have to temporarily close the factory space to do so. We were hoping to ease into this over the coming weeks, but circumstances wouldn’t allow it.
We apologize if this causes a disruption in your day and hope you can understand we’re trying our best to regain pre-pandemic consistency.
The downtown location hours will not change, aside from possibly adding Mondays.
Thank you for you patience, Tracy and Chris
If you are looking for a Swedish cultural event, this weekend at Folklore Village they are having a Fall Swedish Music and Dance Weekend. If you go to https://folklorevillage.org/fall-swedish-weekend/ there will be all the information you need to participate. It is a beautiful location, especially in the fall and they always do such a beautiful job with all of their events.
Peace, good health and good fun, Tracy
I was hoping I could announce that we are starting up our on-line store again. Unfortunately, we can’t reopen the on-line store at this time. We just don’t have enough staff to run the on-line store and since it has been shut down for a couple of years it is a whole big thing to rebuild the structure again. I am so sorry to all of the people who have asked me about it. I will stay hopeful that we can reopen that part of our business at some point in the future.
As my friend Jean Lind would say, “You really don’t have any control.” So this is me making an effort to pay attention to what is open to me and letting go of the rest.
Peace and good health, Tracy
I am often asked how to pronounce the name of our business, Sjölinds (shoe-linds). It is a family name that comes from Åland, a group of 6,700ish islands that sit between Sweden and Finland that divide the Baltic Sea from the Gulf of Bothnia. The islands are owned by Finland, but speak Swedish. It is a demilitarized, autonomous nation with about 35,000 people. My grandpa called us Swedefinns.
Naming my little chocolate house (like a coffee house, but focusing on chocolate) was rather easy given Mount Horeb’s and my Scandinavian heritage. The most recent family last names I had to choose from were Hanson and Sjölind. Hanson is so much easier to say but Sjölinds has just a bit more sparkle (and easier to find when googling).
To celebrate my Åland heritage I’ve introduced the Åland pancake. It is a pancake that is baked in the oven and served with strawberry jam and whipped cream. That pancake and a good strong cup of black coffee you can almost smell the sea air and hear the waves hitting the rocky shores. You can find the Åland pancake at our downtown Mount Horeb store.
This coming weekend in Mount Horeb is our annual Fall Festival. There will be music, handmade crafts and of course food. Come visit Sjölinds while you’re here.
Peace and good health to you and yours, Tracy
I hope everyone is getting off to a great start to the new school year. I think the Jewish calendar has it more correct than the Christian Gregorian calendar that we use. This last Saturday was Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year. To me, fall always feels like the season of new opportunities and a great time to assess our harvest of the last year; a time to let go and start again. A hopeful season of resetting.
To celebrate the season, I made chocolate apples; chocolate apples filled with treats. I just put the last of them out. So if you have a teacher that you want to give a special treat to, they will be available for about the next week. Then next week we start putting out all of the Halloween treats.
Peace, good health and blessings for the new year, Tracy
And happy birthday to our Milly!
When you have a small business you are always solving problems. Some problems are mechanical, this week the coffee brewer and last week the air conditioner. Some problems are supply chain related; if they don’t have cocoa where else can I get cocoa. Some problems are emotional, so emotional. Well, this is true for all of life.
A couple of years ago I was reminded of one my early hero problem solvers, Dr. Dudley E. Flood. He started out as a middle school teacher (in my opinion all middle school teachers deserve hero status) in North Carolina in the 1960’s. He then moved on to help racially integrate schools and improve the quality of education for everyone.
Dr. Flood says all problem can be solved by asking three questions: What?, So what?, Now what?
I think this formula is absolutely brilliant. Just thought I would pass it on in this problem filled era.
Peace and good health, Tracy.
We are still open at both locations and it looks like we will be able to stay open this fall at the Factory. We were worried that with Erin and Brie headed off to college and Lorenz, Olivia and Lucas heading back to college we were going to be too shorthanded to stay open. However, Mary and Quinn will be working more hours and we have been able to hire another person. Yea!!!
Our location hours are: Downtown, 209 E. Main Street, Tuesday thru Sunday, 7:00A.M. until 2:00 P.M.
Factory, 150 Lillehammer Lane, Monday thru Friday, 6:30 A.M. until Noon
We are so happy to be able to keep offering both locations. Thank you to the wonderful people we work with and thank you to everyone for your interest in and support of Sjölinds.
Peace and good health, Tracy
Today, something I hold on to when I am a bit overwhelmed: When things are at the worst, they are sure to mend. from an English proverb.
Peace and good health, Tracy