Wat Mongkolratanaram Tampa Buddhist Temple

As soon as we realized we were stranded in Tampa for more than a few days I started looking up things to do around this town.  I stumbled upon Wat Mondkolratanaram Temple.  The Yelp reviews of it said things like "unique experience" and "there's nothing like it".  My curiosity was peeked, but I didn't follow up on going here until the garage manager at Cummins printed out pages of things to do and this Buddhist Temple was among them.  He highly recommeneded it and so we went.



Here's what it is.  Every Sunday the Temple opens up to the public from 10am to 2pm.  The temple is located on the bank of a river and they set up vendors on the huge wrap around porch of one of the buildings on the compound.

There are these signs posted all over the grounds of the temple including the Meditation Garden.  

You can get various traditional Thai meals, noodle soups, desserts, juices, coffee, and more.  There are tons of tables and benches along the river where you can sit and enjoy this communal environment.  There are flowers and plants for sale and early on in the day there is usually some live music.  It gets very busy and they do run out of certain items as the day goes on.  Expect a crowd, but this is part of the charm.   We arrived on the later side, around 12:30 and the crowds were not too bad, but some of the food options were gone already.  

These are the huge vats of oil cooling down after hours of frying up sweet potato and plantains!! Yum! 

Chicken Curry with rice Vermicelli, sprouts, basil and carrots 

Fried Plantains and Sweet Potato,  

View of the River from our table.  

The best technique we discovered is to purchase your main food items and then get on the coconut custard line.  You grab a to-to box and scribble your name on it, pay and give the box back to the vendor.

You can return in 30 minutes or so and your custards will be waiting for you and you just scoop up your pre-written care package and enjoy!  

Coconut Custard.  Sweet and creamy. It's like having a nibble of Thailand in the palm of your hand.  

You are welcome to join the monks in the temple at 2pm for their service, but you'll have to leave your shoes outside!

Homesick for the Holidays

Ice Cream at the Franklin Fountain with my good friend Adam. 

I want to go home. At least several times a day, i think about all the things back home that I miss.  My friends: hitting up the Boom Room where there are always friendly faces and a welcoming microphone or driving up to El Bar and ordering a tonic with lime and being my friend’s “wing man” as i pour my own flask filled with Gin into my sober glass. I miss my favorite restaurants with Brunches that are actually worth waking up for and the coffee shops where I can order a cup of coffee and not cringe in fear of the first sip as to whether I just wasted $2 of my hard earned and quickly depleting money.  The culture: walking down broad street and seeing all of the young and hopeful artists and actors and dancers from U Arts or grimacing at all of the bearded hipsters who put way too much time into their bicycles and tattoos. And who can forget the dirty streets that make it feel like real life instead of this make believe sod planted world called Florida that I’ve been floating through.  Although, I do appreciate the sun and copious palm trees.

It’s so hard everyday not to just turn around and go back to the place that I miss and didn’t realize how much I love.  Philly has given me so many opportunities like being in short films and dancing in shows on the Schkyukill River and taught me so many lessons like what friends to trust and when to walk away from a bad situation.  I grew into myself in Philly and now, on the road, in this metal tin can that I now call “home”, which has decided to betray me and become imobile, I feel like I just graduated college again and I don’t know who I am. I’m searching for some meaning.  Freedom is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it’s pretty scary.  I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing every day.  I’m just “living my life”, but I’m not sure this is how I want to live it.  I want to work hard and make something of myself.  I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a “job”.  I worked throughout college and after college I had 3 jobs at once and I loved it! Right now it’s so hard to keep my eye on the prize and without direction I just get lost.  My days are filled with problem solving, exercising and trying not to eat my way out of this boredom.  The road is a bit of a lonely place, it’s true.  My bond with Nick has gotten stronger than it’s ever been.  We spend so much time together, it’s a little bizarre.  Sometimes, I wish I had fallen in love with an amazing musician.  That would make this journey a bit easier, but maybe harder too.  Musicians are so unpredictable and narcissistic.  Who knows, maybe I still will fall in love with one along the way and have a riotous affair!  See?  That’s what I’m talking about!  That’s the kind of stuff I was expecting to happen.  Not getting stranded in a Cummins garage in the outskirts of Tampa with a cracked head gasket.  That’s not glamourous and exciting!  What is a leaking head gasket supposed to inspire?  

So, on this day when Jesus rose from the grave, I am far from home and the ones I love, I have found comfort in a bottle of Malbec and the familiar faces on Netflix, whom I’ve come to know very well.  ( Of course, there’s no WIFI here, so i’m watching it on my iphone. Eh, at least I have an iphone).  The wine is good and the wheat thins are flowing, so I must go, as my guitar is calling me.  Hopefully she will give me comfort on this warm spring night, in this odd southern town where I’m being held captive behind metal gates, under artificial lights.  

Brunch at Cafe Estelle was the best. 

Expectations, What Are They Good For...?

We all have expectations and we all have disappointments.  When things don't go the way you want  or expect them to, what do you do?

Nick and I embarked on the "Dream It True Tour" about 3 months ago.  What we couldn't possibly realize is how different it is to live on the road.  There's obvious changes that effect you in ways you wouldn't ever think of.  Like, we no longer work every day.  I used to walk dogs a least 2 hours a day, on a slow day.  I'm not doing that anymore, nor am I walking up flights of stairs all day.  We have two little steps to get into our RV.  So, with the lack of regular physical activity and the love of food, I've put on a few pounds! I usually weigh about 118.  I got up to 124, which may not sound like a lot, but if I didn't recognize it and make a change it would have continued.  Six pounds is the difference between my clothes fitting comfortably and being just a little too tight.  It's the difference between a tight shirt fitting smoothly and suddenly seeing a muffin top.  Or my thighs rubbing where they never did before.  Bottom line is that I don't feel comfortable in my own skin.    So, I've taken up swimming and biking and walking and watching what I eat.  Friggin' Charleston, SC got me with all of their delicious BBQ meats and cured pig products.  I haven't had any meat other than fish in over a month.  I cook a lot of vegetable stirfrys with organic locally grown greens and root vegetables.  I use My Fitness Pal app on my phone to keep track of what I eat and how much I exercise.  I have NEVER done this in my entire life, ever.

One of my super duper nutritious and DELICIOUS meals.

I'm sure part of my motivation in somewhat obsessing over my food and exercise is to feel a bit of control.  I was in such a comfort zone in Philly.  I had my friends, I had my places I'd get drinks, places to get food, I knew where everything was all the time, I knew where to get my pants hemmed and my shoes fixed, and of course I had a steady income coming in.  It takes a long time to figure out these things, so when you are moving all the time, it's nearly impossible to feel grounded.  All of these new adjustments add up and can make me feel a little crazy; unbalanced. In Philly, sure,  I had an odd schedule compared to the average person, but it was normal and regular to me. Out on the road, I feel as though I am at the mercy of so many factors.  For example, the weather can disrupt our driving schedule very easily.  If it's too windy, we can't drive because we are considered a "high profile" vehicle so high winds mean high danger. We don't drink the water in the holding tank of the RV, so we have to refill BPA free jugs of water every few days which takes time and forethought. When there's a problem with the RV, not only do we have to worry about the expense and having to locate a reputable place to do the work, but we also have to worry about where to stay while the RV is getting worked on! All of these little problems add up and it's not what I had expected.  It's not bad, just a different reality than what I had envisioned.

  I guess I had imagined myself immersed in musicians sitting around campfires and singing to the wee hours of the morning.  This was a very romantic vision, but far from reality, at least, so far.  As far as musicians go, I kind of expected that people would be interested in our trip and want to be a part of what we are doing. It was challenging in Philly to organize musicians, well, on the road it's way more difficult.  Most good musicians are super busy and are into their own projects, the less affluent musicians may show interest in my endeavors, but don't really have the chops to get involved or just aren't dedicated or have kids or whatever other issues that don't lend themselves to playing out or rehearsing. Still other musicians feel threatened by a new talented musician infiltrating on their "territory".   So, there are so many factors, more than I had thought there would be, that make life on the road so much different than life back home.

I've been going to open mics, jam sessions, jazz nights and sitting in with lots of musicians, but I haven't really made any headway, at least not in my eyes.  One night I sang at 4 different venues between sitting in and open mics. No one can say I haven't been putting myself out there.

Elise sitting in with some Jazz cats at Roadhouse Cafe in Fort Myers.  

It's said that crazy can be described as someone doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Well, at the moment, I've stopped trying to promote my music that has already been created and began to open myself to collaboration.  Collaboration creates connection and connections are what life is about.  I've decided to build relationships with people through the artistic process of creation.  Giving life to something new that never existed before.  That is how to build a solid relationship that lasts.  So, this is my new tactic.  This is the new plan.  It will have to be reassessed in the near future, but so far, so good.  I recorded a song last night in a small studio with a local producer and I'm working on another song with a local guitar player.  Maybe that's what this trip is about and not  just ME and MY music, but US and OUR music.

Don't forget to comment and visit my other pages for more info on my crazy journey!

Elise's FB Page

Elise's Reverbnation Page

Elise's Youtube Page

Elise Sings at World Cafe Live and Other News

So, the summer continues to kick my ass. I am now performing in a wedding band which just got signed to CTO Agency. Yay! and a little scary. Will this distract me from my original music? My hope is that it will make me a more confident performer and a stronger singer. Keeping my instrument in shape and my performance skills sharp.

I am still attending meetings and getting ready to write some songs for "Constants". A show that will be taking place on canoes on the Schuylkill River in August. (You know you can't resist checking it out!)

I will also be singing at the Opple Topple Fest June 18th late late late at night into the AM of the 19th. If you want tickets to this, I honestly have no idea how to buy them, but I'm sure we can figure it out. Here's the FB link to the info:

Opple Topple Fest Info

Lastly, I sang at the World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington DE a few weeks ago. Here is the footage of one of the songs I was thrilled to be singing. It's called Try You. Hope you enjoy and can relate. More news and footage coming soon. Hopefully on a new HD camera!!!!!!!!!!




Remember to DREAM IT TRUE!!!!!!