Through the Keyhole - January 2026

 

Through the Keyhole JANUARY 2026 Take a break from your day... Not your typical company OR newsletter

“Follow the chain where land breaks into keys and the highway finally surrenders to the sea.  Roosters roam without clocks, sunsets are treated like sacred events, and the compass needle has nowhere left to point. At America’s edge, time loosens its grip and the last key opens nothing — except escape.”  Can you guess the location?   Happy New Year! 2026.   Time doesn’t pass — it disappears.   One minute you’re planning for “someday,” and the next you’re wondering how the year already ended. Days feel long, but somehow the years move like they’re late for something. Weeks blur. Seasons change quietly. Suddenly a song from five years ago feels like yesterday, and something that happened yesterday feels distant.   We measure time with calendars and clocks, but that’s not how it’s experienced. Time is felt in small moments — a familiar laugh, an old photo, a place that hasn’t changed even though you have. It slips by while you’re busy living, not while you’re paying attention to it.   The strange part is you never notice time flying until you stop and look back. Then it’s gone — not wasted, just used. Spent on routines, relationships, and moments that didn’t feel important at the time but somehow became everything. Time flies because it’s not meant to be held. It’s meant to be lived — and by the time you realize how fast it’s moving, it’s already reminding you to hold the moments a little closer.   And enjoy the New Year's party or dinner you plan to attend.  And you can leave at the stroke of midnight.  It's ok.   Cheers!

Moving from 2025 to 2026 is basically a calendar refresh, not a personality upgrade.   At midnight, nothing changes. You don’t suddenly love salads. Your problems don’t vanish. And yet every year we act like January 1st is a magical reset button that turns us into organized, hydrated people with gym memberships we’ll actually use.   New Year’s resolutions are funny because they assume the date fixed us. As if your brain wakes up and says, “Ah yes, new year. I hate carbs now.” By February, we’re renegotiating with ourselves like, “Okay, not five workouts a week — maybe walking counts.”   The gym already knows this. January is their Super Bowl.   The truth is, you don’t need a new year to change anything. You need motivation, boredom, or a random Tuesday. So here’s the real resolution for 2026: be the same imperfect person, just with slightly better excuses.   Happy New Year — same you, new number. 🥂

Windows 11 Snap Layouts Windows 11 Tech Tip: Use Snap Layouts to Work Faster   If you’re juggling multiple windows, stop dragging and resizing manually. In Windows 11, Snap Layouts make multitasking effortless. Just hover your mouse over the maximize button (top-right of any window), and you’ll see layout options instantly. Click the layout you want, and Windows will guide you to fill the rest of the screen with other apps. Why it’s useful: Keeps your desktop organized Makes comparing documents easier Saves time when multitasking You can also open it with Win + Z. Once you start using Snap Layouts, it’s hard to go back — it’s one of Windows 11’s most underrated productivity features.

Guess the Location Game Last month the winner of the guess the location game was Michael Daugherty who guessed the right answer.  I appreciate all of the participation.  THANKS FOR PLAYING!

ANSWER: Nashville, TN

“This country capital finds villain hiding in ash.  Home to endless Bachelorette parties, cowboy hats and lots of boots.  If you don't like country music, you should avoid this place.”  If you don't like country music, then you will not like Nashville...   They call it Music City, but that undersells it. Nashville hums. You feel it in the coffee shops where someone’s writing a heartbreak anthem at 9 a.m., in the grocery store where the cashier might play the Grand Ole Opry that night, and on Broadway, where every doorway spills live music like it’s oxygen.   What makes Nashville special isn’t just the stars — it’s the almost-stars. The ones hauling guitars in the rain, playing three-hour sets for tips, believing deeply that tonight might be the night. That belief gives the city its pulse. Even if you don’t love country music, Nashville has a way of making you love the idea of music — of people chasing something honest.   And then there’s the food. Nashville hot chicken isn’t a meal; it’s a rite of passage. It’s crunchy, fiery, slightly reckless, and often followed by the realization that you’ve made a mistake — a delicious one. Pair it with sweet tea, because this city understands balance.   Nashville also has a surprising softness. Tree-lined neighborhoods, front porches, and strangers who still make eye contact. It’s Southern without being stuck in the past, creative without being pretentious. A city where a songwriter, a tech worker, and a bartender might all sit at the same table and actually talk.   History lives here too — not behind glass, but woven into everyday life. From the Ryman Auditorium’s creaking pews to Civil War sites and old recording studios, Nashville remembers where it’s been while constantly reinventing itself.   Most of all, Nashville feels alive. It’s loud and gentle, ambitious and neighborly, gritty and welcoming — sometimes all at once. You come for the music, the food, or the weekend, but you leave with the sense that this is a place where stories begin… and sometimes, if you’re lucky, where they find their chorus.   I have not been there since I was a teenager but I remember thinking that the Grand Ole Opry was Grand Ole BORING...but the chicken was good.  So there's that.

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Nashville Chicken... ~ 3 minutes

Old School New Years Eve...

Matthew McConaughey picks up a woman in 40 seconds...

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Gloria Estefan has a daughter Emily and SHE IS AMAZING

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Love Actually Ending.

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The True Story Of Dashrath Manjhi

The Man Who Carved a Road Through a Mountain In a small village in Bihar, India, lived a poor laborer named Dashrath Manjhi. His village was cut off from the nearest town by a massive rocky ridge. What should have been a short walk required a dangerous, winding journey of more than 30 miles.   One day, Manjhi’s wife was badly injured while crossing that ridge. Because medical help was so far away, she died before she could receive treatment. Her death broke him — and then it changed him.   Manjhi made a decision that sounded impossible: he would carve a road through the mountain himself.   With no education, no funding, and only a hammer and chisel, he began cutting into solid rock. Villagers mocked him. Officials ignored him. Some called him mad. But every day, for hours, he chipped away at the stone. Rain, heat, illness — none of it stopped him.   He worked like that for 22 years.   Slowly, impossibly, the mountain gave way.   When he was finished, Dashrath Manjhi had carved a path 360 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 25 feet deep, reducing the travel distance from 30 miles to just 9. His village was finally connected to the outside world — to hospitals, markets, and opportunity.   Manjhi never became wealthy. He never sought recognition. He only wanted to make sure no one else suffered the way his wife had.   Today, the road still exists. People walk it without knowing the full cost of every step — the years of loneliness, ridicule, and physical pain it took to create it. Determination doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it taps — one small strike at a time — until even a mountain has no choice but to move.

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Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients: Meatballs 1 lb ground beef ½ lb ground pork ½ cup breadcrumbs ½ cup milk 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 egg ½ tsp ground allspice ½ tsp ground nutmeg Salt & pepper to taste 2 tbsp butter or oil (for frying) Sauce 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 cups beef broth ½ cup heavy cream 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional) Salt & pepper to taste Optional Garnish Fresh parsley, chopped Instructions: 1. Prepare Meatballs Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs and milk. Let sit 5 minutes. Add ground beef, ground pork, onion, egg, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix gently until combined. Form into small meatballs, about 1–1.5 inches in diameter. 2. Cook Meatballs Heat butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown meatballs on all sides (they don’t need to be fully cooked). Transfer browned meatballs to a baking dish and bake 10–15 minutes to finish cooking. 3. Make Creamy Sauce In the same skillet, melt butter for the sauce. Whisk in flour and cook 1–2 minutes until lightly golden. Slowly whisk in beef broth, scraping up browned bits. Stir in heavy cream, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard. Simmer 3–5 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Combine & Serve Add baked meatballs to the sauce and simmer 5 minutes to coat. Garnish with parsley. Serve with mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or lingonberry sauce.

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