Desmond Turner has been convicted.

http://www.theindychannel.com/print/21395379/detail.html

Today we went to Kilkenny.

We were just families – no TU students, because today they had class and a paper to finish. We three (Mom, Dad, and I) stayed with the family I mentioned yesterday – the parents are great company, and the teen daughter was a lot of fun. It was a full day – we left early for the long drive, and got home late.

The first thing we all did was to tour Kilkenny Castle together as a group. I expected armor lining hallways, antique furniture, tapestries, and fur rugs – too much TV, I guess. The inside of the building was just… a building. The restorers did an outstanding job, especially considering that the whole place had been run down and all but demolished by time and misuse, but it lacked the movie-set details I expected. =)

What it DID have that I didn’t expect was modern art exhibits. It was really haphazard – the installations (and they were video and built models, not painting and sculpture like you’d expect) were just scattered in some of the more formal first floor rooms, as if someone had just tossed them together. Didn’t look planned – just… messy.

There was no photography allowed in the castle (only on and around the grounds), else I’d have taken and posted photos of the most interesting rooms. There were replica bedrooms with interesting wallpapers and furniture, and there was a long portrait gallery containing paintings of generations of the family who owned the castle and lands.

Kilkenny Castle

When we’d finished with the castle, our group went up the street to a bookstore cafe. We had a fabulous lunch (and wonderful coffee) before heading off to St. Canice’s Cathedral.

St. Canice’s Cathedral

This church, unlike some of the other cathedrals we’ve visited here, is still in use and NOT completely commercialized. The woman taking tickets said they’d rather not have charged admission, but that the state didn’t subsidize that church, so they had to do their own upkeep. It was an enormous building that housed a very obviously active body, so I didn’t mind paying the entrance fee. =)

There was the same kind of memorial plaques and tombs and iconography as in the other churches, but somehow here it wasn’t distracting. Maybe I felt that way because I could also see evidence of the congregation’s use of the building as well – information about reaching the neighborhood, beanbag chairs for a weekly kids’ group meeting, choir stalls that were obviously used…

There weren’t extensive grounds like we found at the Dublin cathedrals – this church was surrounded (completely) by a graveyard. The headstones were so interesting – and so beautiful!

St. Canice’s Cathedral

Once we left the cathedral (but not before Rachel, the teen daughter, climbed the 100ft-high round tower), we headed back toward the castle part of town. We wanted to see the Dominican Black Abbey and do a little shopping before our scheduled dinner.

The Abbey was completely deserted when we entered – no one was there to charge admission (it was much smaller, and an actual church) or to take money for the few pieces of literature it offered (and had prices on) – you simply dropped your money into boxes in the wall.

It was a strange mix of very old and very modern – the building and court were obviously historic, but some of the stained glass was new (make sure you click the link to my pictures, above) and not at all what you expect to see in a building like that. This window, however, more true to period – but look at this detail (and check out the colored light coming in)! You’ll have to click and view it larger:

Black Abbey – the more traditional stained glass

Black Abbey – the striking modern stained glass

After the Black Abbey, we stopped for coffee and shopping in the Market Cross Shopping Centre, then went on to the Design Craft Centre. Lots of local artists have shops and studios in this set of buildings just across from the castle. We went into several shops, and ended up picking up souvenirs and gifts at a pottery shop and an all-kinds-of-handmade-art shop. I was SO tempted to buy one of Anna Neilsen’s prints… (her website is a mess, but I didn’t take pictures)… her work is WONDERFUL.

We left the shop and went to dinner at the Hibernian Hotel with the rest of the folks on the tour. We ate an amazingly fantastic three-course dinner, then headed home.

Check out the rest of today’s pictures if you have the time. I only posted a few of the best ones – be grateful. I took 250. =)

Today, we went to church with Leah at her Presbyterian Church in Greystones.

Leah’s Church

It was their Harvest service, so we got to see a little of the local church talking about action in their community. Neat people, good sermon. The music was a little difficult – I don’t know how much of it is that church’s choices vs. how much is cultural, but it was hard to sing. Words were in books and projected, but no music – I didn’t know but maybe one or two of the tunes, and those not well. We were left to fend for ourselves, musically – with no idea how to pull the melodies out of thin air.

I spend a lot of time any time I’m away from my church in Indy being grateful for the way we do things – always, we have music to read from. We can actually participate in the music and worship instead of being confused, self-conscious, and frustrated. But overall, as I said, it was a good service. I was glad to have been there and to have experienced my sister’s Sunday morning.

After church, we all got onto buses to visit Powerscourt, an estate south of Dublin. So gorgeous. I have a lot of pictures posted from this visit, but I have many, many more that I didn’t post. There were a number of gardens, tons of statues and ponds and fountains. The estate is palatial – grand. Please, please, please go look at my pictures – this place was breathtaking.

Powerscourt Estate

We spent the day mostly hanging with another student’s family – really enjoyed getting to know them, and to have company that fit well with us. The teens were fun – a lot of fun.

After Powerscourt, we went back to Coolnagreina (the YWCA the TU kids live in) for dinner. We got there and had a free hour, so Leah and I walked a little in the town and on the coast while Mom and Dad froze a little while on a bench overlooking the beach. =)

The view Leah gets to see every day

We all headed back for pizza and to warm up. Played a couple of games, first amongst ourselves, then with a large group of folk, before leaving for the evening.

I’m back at the hotel and VERY interested in getting into bed. =) It’s late, and we’ve got an early start tomorrow morning. We’re going to Kilkenny. =)

If you keep up with my Flickr account, you’ll notice that I’ve started posting Ireland photos. Not too, too many, but enough to give you an idea what we’ve been doing and what it looks like over here. =)

I’m going to back post what we’ve been doing so you know what day we did what. I was writing in a journal-type book because I didn’t have constant computer access, but I think I can start posting. I’ll probably finish after I return to the US, though… Fair warning.

I talked to Leah!, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

I finally got to talk to Leah! I spend so much time thinking and saying, “I wish Leah were here” or “Leah would SO get a kick out of this” that I almost feel like I talk to her often. Almost. Tonight I really got to talk to her.

I love Skype.

Those of you who know Leah know that she gets less and less eloquent the later she stays up. By the time we “hung up” at 3am her time, she was really starting to sound silly. A few gems:

• “and they have shapely lower halves”
  – Telling us about how much she likes to watch rugby, a new sport to her. She was trying to explain that the guys are really strong on the bottom halves because anything above the waist is considered a foul. Ended up sounding more like she watched the sports for … all the wrong reasons.  =)
• “muscular women – it makes me happy”
  – Telling us how women play rugby, too, but that they have to be very strong.
• “here is the amazingness of my life today.” [long pause]  ”I forgot what I was going to say.”
  – Getting ready to tell us about something exciting that happened today.
• “I can always remember everything ever about all the rooms of my life I stay in.”
  – The response to my suggestion that she take pictures of the house she’s living in so that later she’ll be able to remember all the details.
• “roll out, do some makeups and go to the food”
  – Her plan for tomorrow morning. =)
• “probably some days in the night”
  – The next time we get to talk to her online.

She’s so much fun!

Now, my life will be complete if I get to talk to Melissa. (Hear that, sister? When can we talk?!)

Remember the Hamilton Street murders that happened literally in our backyard? The trial for Desmond Turner, the suspected killer, is about to get underway.

No death penalty in ‘06 mass slayings | The Indianapolis Star

We got both Jake and Lindy through the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue. For a long time now, I’ve wanted to get more involved with this organization – after all, two of our family members came to us because other people volunteered their time and lives.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard about two dogs who were purchased at an auction. They were puppy mill dogs – dogs that came from a place where they were caged, mated, and bred to sell. One, Mac, an adult male, had been so neglected that he was covered in ticks. Thousands of ticks. The organization picked him and a puppy, Buck, up in Missouri. They medicated Mac, who was so miserable that he wasn’t active and wouldn’t eat.

RRR got foster homes set up in New England, but needed to get the dogs there. A bunch of folks started planning the transport, and asked for volunteers to take legs and keep the dogs overnight as needed. They coordinated a crazy caravan of folks.

David and I just drove a short piece of the trip – Indianapolis to Columbus – but it was a neat experience. For one, we got to meet some of the folks we’ve been talking to over the past couple of years. There’s another woman in Indianapolis whose home is a foster home for local rescue dogs – we met her and her husband (they kept the dogs overnight before we took them).

We also met Carol, a wonderful woman who lives in Ohio – she’s the one who arranged both of our adoptions. We left Mac and Buck with her. She was a delight to meet, and just the kind of person you’d think would open her home to hopeless dogs.

Being involved in this transport has made me realize that I enjoy doing things that matter. Getting involved, even in small ways, with things and groups that make a difference. I hope we get a chance to help out again – some day, I think I’d like to foster dogs – but Dave’s still getting used to our two. =)

A couple of (bad) pictures:

I’m late telling you all about this, but I wanted to see what this reporter was going to do and say before I shared the link.

I live in the Indianapolis inner city, and get asked often what it’s like. Want to know what our schools are like? Matthew Tully, a reporter for our Indy newspaper, is embedded at one of our public schools.  He’s writing a daily blog and weekly articles about the school and the kids.

Read the kickoff article.

Read his school-daily blog.

Read this article about how Manual accepted the President’s speech. My favorite bit:

Across the country, parents have flooded school districts with angry calls, demanding their children not spend 20 minutes hearing from the president. But at Manual, Principal Richard Grismore received more calls about the matter from the media than from parents.

Actually, Grismore received only one call offering an opinion about the speech. It came from the concerned grandmother of a student who has been skipping class and breaking school rules of late.

“She told me she just wanted to make sure he was going to hear the speech,” Grismore said. “She said he needed to hear that message.”

Update your feed readers, kids. I’ve moved from tara.elmadera.com to tara.aukerman.org.

A huge and MAJOR thanks to Steve E. for hosting me and David these past years – and for continuing to let us mooch some space. You’re the best!