If you would’ve told a young Stoney Keeley, growing up in Mount Juliet in the 1990s, that he would grow up to have such a wide array of food options in town, he wouldn’t believe you. Alas, here we are in 2026 and there are Mexican, Thai, and chain restaurants every quarter of a mile. We can now even get our Mediterranean fix at Tholos Mediterranean Restaurant. Tucked away on North Mount Juliet Road behind the Dunkin’ right by the train tracks, you might not even see Tholos if you weren’t looking for it. But, I’ll tell you – it’s worth seeking out.

Aura and I decided to give it a shot a few Friday nights ago, and we’ve been multiple times since. From my albeit limited experience with the Mediterranean cuisine, one thing I’ve always appreciated about it is just how light the meal feels after consumption. Most places I go and stuff my gullet to the brim at on Friday night make me feel as though there’s a greasy bowling ball rolling around in my stomach after the meal. That’s not the case at Tholos, where satisfaction was achieved easily and without popping a few Tums on the ride home.

We started out with the hummus, the freshest I believe I’ve ever had. Aura ordered the chicken shish kabab while I went with the beef gyro plate. Simple ingredients form a classic combination – each piece of the entree speaks for itself, bringing something unique to the dish. Hearty beef and lamb, the crunch of the mixed green salad as well as the onions with sumac and grilled tomato, and the grounding nature of the rice adding balance across the entree makes for a complete dining experience. It was one of the freshest meals I’ve had in Mount Juliet, and it comes highly recommended from this writer.

For more on Tholos, check out their website here.

Photos

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

In case you’ve missed the news, they make a thing called a “carpet rake.”

I learned of its existence from a friend’s father several months ago. We were giving a group a tour around my mother’s new house. She had just had brand new carpet installed and as I was showing it off, I mentioned that she was a bit frustrated with how prominently footprints show on it. That’s when said friend’s father said, “well, you oughta just get one of those carpet rakes.”

“A carpet rake?” I couldn’t believe it. But, I looked it up, and sure enough, you can get one on Amazon for for just $18.25. So, I bought one. It arrived. My mother loved it. I began walking around my house, noticing how bleh our carpet looked. I began thinking it could use a sprucing up. Maybe I needed a carpet rake, too. So…I bought another one….this one for my house. And, I have to say that it’s been a bit of a revelation.

This had to have been what it was like to discover bottled water. It’s so simple. It seems so trivial. Who would think to invent a thing that doesn’t need inventin’ you know what I mean? Why would anyone want to rake their carpet? Well, I’ll say…the more my mother talked about the footprints on the carpet, the more I saw ’em, and the more it started to bug me like it bugged her. I got it. The more I looked at my matted down carpet, the more it bugged me. A carpet rake solves those problems – I went from wondering if it was necessary to thinking I couldn’t live without it!

But, the best thing about owning a carpet rake is the therapeutic aspect of it. I didn’t even see it coming. There’s something incredibly soothing about dragging a tool across a floor repetitively and seeing how it makes your carpet look new. It’s a relaxing, calming activity and at the end of the process, you’re rewarded with the look of new carpet. Amazing. It’s like raking sand in a zen garden. By the time I’m done raking that carpet, my mind is clear and my body feels centered. So, if you need any further convincing, just look at the state of this carpet after a good raking:

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

On a random weekend trip to our favorite local bookstore, Harper’s Books, in lovely downtown Lebanon, Tennessee, my wife peeked around the corner from me holding a copy of this book. “Hey, look…” she said, pointing to the big yellow letters on the front of the book. She’s from New Jersey, and spent many a family vacation in Cape May. A few years ago, she introduced me to the wonder of “Exit Zero.” So, it’s a special place to us, for reasons that are very different than how it’s special to the character in Chip Cheek’s Cape May.

I told her to throw it in my stack. She quickly replied, pointing out that it was a steamy romance novel. I insisted. Why not? Why can’t a burly, hairy bearded lumberjack-lookin’ man enjoy a good erotic scandal every once in a while? I hold no boundaries when it comes to storytelling – if it’s good, it’s good. And, romance is one of the things in our lives that really adds spice to our existence. So, I dug into the story, and once I did, I found it difficult to put it down.

According to Goodreads:

Cape May is a raw, provocative portrayal of a young 1950s couple on the cusp of a sexual awakening, and the temptations that upturn their honeymoon and reshape their marriage.

So, yeah – let’s get this part out of the way early: these people stay fuckin’ in this book. You’re going to need to read this book somewhere in private because it’s probably going to have a physiological impact on you. This is probably too much information, but I probably coulda drilled a hole in concrete with that thang while I was reading this book. It is that steamy.

But, aside from the sexual tension that permeates throughout this book, it’s just a fun easy story. I wouldn’t say it’s light per se, but it’s digestible. I ended up with a certain fixation on our main characters – I couldn’t look away, so to speak…seeing how far these people were willing to go in the name of sexual awakening was quite enthralling. Do I think this is some deep meditation on the human condition? No, but it didn’t strike me as material that was meant to be that. It lands somewhere between ‘erotica’ and ‘a step by step guide for ruining your life in beautiful Cape May.’ If you can have some fun with this story and just let it rip, it plays to our most basic desires quite well, repercussions be damned.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Hello, and welcome in to the latest edition of Yankee Candle Reviews here on SoBros Network. I will be your host – the Fragrance Aficionado of SoBros Network, also the EIC, Stoney Keeley. My passion for Yankee Candle began in 2006, when I strolled into the location in Providence Marketplace in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. I picked up a jar of Autumn Woods, and found it captured the essence of the season perfectly. I’ve been hooked in this…well, you could even call it ‘romantic…’ relationship with Yankee Candle ever since. Today, we’re taking a masculine sniff of the musky and sweet Dried Lavender & Oak.

Spring can be a tricky time of year here in middle Tennessee. You might pull every fresh floral spring fragrance you own out of the close to place around the house and the next day, the temperature may drop 40 degrees. That’s why we’re all walking around Nashville sick from March through April. And, no one wants to smell Meadow Showers or Sweet Honeysuckle when it’s 37 degrees outside!

That’s why I like to keep a stash of “evergreen” scents around in the spring time – stuff that can fit whether it’s spring, summer, fall, or winter. I’ve unearthed one of my new favorites in such fragrances, Dried Lavender & Oak. There’s something masculine about the candle – the sturdy oak exudes a musk reminiscent of a day spent chopping wood in the forest. But, there’s another side to it…a sweeter side…that lavender side. It’s somehow Earthy and outdoorsy while also homey and comforting. It’s warm, but it’s fresh, and that’s why I consider it season-less. This is a good one to stash in the closet and pull out on those in-between kinda days.

Recommended Burning: You’ve just climbed a mountain. The very essence of nature is coursing through every stretched out vein in your body. You have done it – you’ve conquered the unconquerable. You let out a primal scream to let all beings within earshot of you know that you are the king of nature. As your voice echoes through all of eternity, you rip your shirt off to expose your bare chest, bending to a light a candle to signal your dominance to the heavens. That candle? It’s Dried Lavender & Oak.

Check out the Yankee Candle archives here on SoBros Network for my extensive backlog of Yankee Candle reviews! Also, be sure to check out my comprehensive list of the top 100 Yankee Candle fragrances of all time. I worked on that thing for forever, so any read is appreciated, thank you. That is all.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Toast the Patron Saint of Ireland in the proper Gaelic way, Sláinte (slawn-cha) or Sláinte Mhaith (slawn-cha was)! And act like a Saint Patrick’s Day know-it-all in front of your drunk friends.

Once Upon a Time, in the 5th century, Patrick was born in Britannia (Roman Britain). His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest, but young Patrick was not an active practicing Christian.

He was a selfish, wild, uneducated, and impetuous youth; something he would later be very self-conscious about. When he was sixteen he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery. He worked as a shepherd and found solace in prayer. Patrick believed wholeheartedly that his capture was God chastising him for not being faithful and that the only way to salvation and freedom was through complete devotion. After being forcefully taken from his home and family as a child, prayer was the one thing that made him feel safe again. He prayed so often and so fervently that he no longer feared anything; not even sickness.

Then one night after fasting and long prayer, he heard a voice telling him that his ship was ready and he would return home soon. Heeding the voice, Patrick fled from his owner and found a ship two hundred miles away where he coaxed his way on-board. After sailing for three days, the ship landed outside of a port and everyone was lost somewhere in the wilderness. Near starvation, the men teased Patrick’s faith in his God since his constant prayers did not help their situation. He urged them all to allow their hearts to be filled with faith and soon after the group came upon a herd of wild pigs. They feasted for two days and the men started to believe Patrick.

After roaming the wilderness for months, Patrick finally made it home and his family greeted the now twenty-two year old man warmly. Now that he was a free man, Patrick continued to study Christianity in a more official capacity. But one day a few years later, Patrick had a vision of a Roman bringing letters from Ireland. He gave one to Patrick and the letter began with the text “The Voice of the Irish” and suddenly he saw the Irish screaming in unison for the holy youth to return and save them.

So Patrick made his way back to Ireland as a Christian missionary amongst the barbarians. Upon his first landing he was not welcomed and the Irish forced him to find another sanctuary, which was only the beginning of his persecution. Some time later after baptizing thousands, converting wealthy women and princes, recruiting nuns, and ordaining priests, rumors started and Patrick was taken to trial by his elders. During the trial and in his Confessions, he fervently denied accepting any personal payments, denied keeping personal gifts (but instead returned them), and denied becoming a bishop for overall personal gain and profit.

Not only was Patrick a Christian outsider in the land of druids and pagans, but receiving gifts was how the Irish kings formed bonds with one another. Refusing to accept these gifts only furthered his isolation. On top of that, the druids had a prophecy of an “axehead’s” arrival wherein a complete madman would chant sacrilege to converted peoples. Patrick was beaten, robbed, thrown in jail, and once held in captivity for 60 days without ever knowing why. But none of this discrimination ever slowed him down from bringing Christianity to all of Ireland.

March 17th is the death date of Patrick. He was never formally canonized by a Pope, but that never stopped churches from recognizing him as a Saint in Heaven. He is closely associated with using a shamrock or three-leaf clover as a symbol for the Divine Trinity. This symbology was easily recognizable and familiar to the pagans because the shamrock was already a sacred symbol. Three had been a holy number to them as well; triple spirals mark pagan sites and there are at least a few triple deities. Morrigan and the Mother Goddess are known by three different names and the goddesses of Irish sovereignty are three sisters.

Now as far as snakes go, well, there is no evidence that suggests snakes ever managed to successfully migrate to Ireland. But it is suggested that the serpent was the contemporary symbol of the druids…

Image courtesy of K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash