Monday, February 21, 2011

Butterflies and other Metamorphoses

Hello Egeria friends!

Spring is on its way, in fact if you are here in Victoria you can see some blossoms already. Time to plan some travel!

Egeria Orthodox Home Exchange is undergoing a metamorphosis too. Look for some exciting changes ahead, both in design and in an expansion of Egeria's scope. Translation: more great places to stay throughout the world, for little or no money!

We are committed to keeping our membership fee at its current low rate of $15/ $25, to allow as many to participate in Egeria as possible. We have no plans to raise the fee, but we would be very appreciative if all our members and friends could help spread the word about us! Many hands make light work!

Could we ask you to take a few seconds to forward our link to anyone who might be interested in Egeria?

Many thanks, and have a beautiful and blessed Lenten spring.

Jenny Hainsworth

Posted by Jenny at 4:38 PM    1 Comments

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Pumpkins? And a big thank you to Ancient Faith Radio!

Hello friends and members of Egeria Home Exchange! Got your pumpkins yet? Or do you live in a place that is devoid of pumpkins and you have no idea what I'm talking about?

Just a quick note about what's going on at Egeria Home Exchange these days. Two things, really. The first is that we've decided after some deliberation to fix our membership prices at $15/ year and $25/ two years for the time being. To be honest, once we raised the prices - well, let's just say times are tough all over, and the higher prices weren't working for anyone. We would much rather have people be able to join up and new listings be offered for the existing members to check out. So hurray! Back to great value for all concerned.

Remember that Egeria is THE place on the web for Orthodox Christians to search for, and offer, free or very affordable accommodation in Orthodox homes worldwide!

The second change around here is our upcoming redesign. We're setting out to streamline the site a bit, change the look a bit, and add some features such as printable exchange agreement forms and whatnot. Check back soon and see what's new! You can join us on facebook if you like that sort of thing.

Thanks to everyone who has joined up in the 11 months that we've been operating. Please link to us if you have a blog or website! Send our link to friends, family and parishioners -- Egeria is a great resource for any Orthodox traveller.

Last but not least, a big THANK YOU to Ancient Faith Radio for helping us out with exposure. Ancient Faith Radio is the single best source of traffic to our site, not to mention the fact that it is a treasure trove of interviews, music, articles, transcripts, readings and so many other things pertaining to our great Orthodox faith. And it's run by really decent people. Please give them your support whenever possible!

Have a lovely October, and thanks for reading!

Jenny Hainsworth

Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange

Posted by Jenny at 3:11 PM    3 Comments

Friday, July 23, 2010

Important Announcement: Egeria Membership Price Going Up July 28!

Hello Egeria Members!

I hope your summer is being good to you. Here in Victoria the flowers and tourists are out in force, and we're busily preparing for our Big Event next week - the 2010 Canadian Assembly of the OCA (Orthodox Church in America). We're so happy to be able to host some wonderful people - Metropolitan Jonah, Fr Justin Matthews of FOCUS, Dr Gabor Mate, and many others. Plus I have the opportunity to promote Egeria, as I'll be manning a table in the Assembly market. We're going to set up a data projector so that people will be able to see the site in glorious technicolour up on a - er - sheet I guess!

Well, the time has finally come to set our membership price to the regular rate of $65 per year/ $95 two years. We'll still have our guarantee in place of course - if you can't make a match within your original term we'll extend your membership another year free.

The price change will be in effect by July 28, so make sure you tell your friends and family who might like a membership to get one while it's at the promotional price point for a few more days!

All the best, and happy travels,

Jenny Hainsworth

proprietor, Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange

Posted by Jenny at 3:41 AM    5 Comments

Friday, June 25, 2010

Coffee at the Portugese Grocery, and Egeria now listed on OrthodoxBiz.com!

Hello all! I hope your summer 2010 is off to a lovely start.

The weather here in Victoria has finally come into step with the season! It's almost never exactly scorching here, but the sun has decided to show its face for a few days in a row, and I have to say there is nothing better than relaxing on a warm rock and listening to the waves crash on the beach. Ahhh! And then there is the heady feeling in the air from half the city tuning into the World Cup! My local Portugese grocery has placed a tv on their front patio just off the sidewalk, and folks hang out there to watch the matches and drink coffee. So cool! Best of good godly luck to all of you out there who are supporting a side in this great event!

Word about Egeria continues to spread; we continue to receive many unique visits to the site every single day from all around the world. The latest country to be added to the list was Israel! But Finland. . .what can I say. I'm still waiting.

Don't forget to spread the word in your parishes and among friends - this is a terrific resource for Orthodox people in every continent; now in these difficult economic times more than ever! We all need to be smarter with our money, and Egeria is a great way to stretch your travel budget with almost no effort.

Recently I placed a listing for Egeria with OrthodoxBiz.com. If you haven't heard about this other great resource for Orthodox Christians, be sure to check it out! It's a place to post information about Orthodox businesses in a large range of categories. Their prices are very reasonable - if you have a business, consider listing with OrthodoxBiz.com. Our Egeria listing includes audio! My interview with Ancient Faith Radio's Bobby Maddex.

All the best, and anticipating the joy of the feast of the Apostles,

Jenny Hainsworth

Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange

Posted by Jenny at 10:24 AM    7 Comments

Friday, May 21, 2010

Egeria Founder Promises All-Butter Shortbread and a Good Chat at the 2010 Canadian Assembly in July!

Sparkling water, misty blue mountains, architectural charm and a vibrant downtown nestled against a beautiful harbour! And very, very yummy cookies. Very.

Summer 2010 sees the beautiful and shortbread-riddled city of Victoria hosting the Canadian Assembly of the OCA (Orthodox Church in America). Anticipation is building toward what will be a truly exciting and lively assembly. Guest speakers will include his Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah, Fr Justin Matthews of FOCUS North America, and his Eminence Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada. Ancient Faith Radio's John Maddex is expected to be in attendance to record the talks and sessions. For more information see the Assembly website here:

http://www.orthodoxassembly.ca/

The theme of this assembly is 'When Did We See You' (Orthodox Christian Outreach). This line from Matthew captures the essence of what the assembly aims to highlight this year - the growing desperate need of the most vulnerable men, women and children in our streets and neighbourhoods, and the awakening conscience of Orthodox Christians young and old to the Lord's command to feed, clothe, visit and love our fellow human beings.

A unique aspect of this assembly is that attendees will be able to visit the new St Maria of Paris Center in downtown Victoria! A beautiful, natural-light flooded space in a historic (if slightly weird) Victorian horse stable building, the St Maria Center was lovingly brought into existence in 2009 by talented young carpenter/entrepreneur Spiro Spanos, journeyman Deacon Kevin Miller, awesome guy Charles Walker, and a team of less able but very excited volunteers! The build featured an array of reclaimed materials - granite tiles, hardwood flooring, brick, glass, lighting fixtures, and an entire kitchen. There is a bookstore in the center with hundreds of Orthodox titles in English, Greek, and French, as well as icons, cds and gift items. There is a small and lovely chapel (The Chapel of the Protection of the Mother of God) in which we are soon to install and unveil a floor mosaic created especially for the center, which is a replica of a 4th c mosaic of the Loaves and Fishes.

The St Maria Center under construction; this view shows the office space on the left and the chapel on the right. No kidding, right? As if you were going to get them mixed up. Anyway, this is all finished now and looks amazing. You have to come visit. Bring a checkbook if you are American, and a chequebook if you are Canadian. International money order if you are from somewhere else.

Currently the St Maria Center is open Tuesdays and Thursdays for Matins and clergy office/ drop in hours and Friday nights for making sack lunches for distribution to Victoria's homeless and hungry on Saturdays. Many other events are held here periodically, such as meetings, lectures, classes and coffee house nights.  Catechumen lessons for members of Presentation Greek Orthodox Church catechumens and enquirers are held every other Thursday evening.

The Center is dedicated to a spirit of pan-Orthodox unity and brotherhood in the city of Victoria, and the Board is made up of members of all three canonical Orthodox parishes in the area. We are keenly pursuing the expansion of operations on behalf of the homeless and needy from the center via networking, fundraising and volunteer recruitment and organisation. By the way: the same funky building houses two Orthodox businesses: the Traellos Recording Studio (where we are currently working on the debut CD of five-person liturgical music ensemble Eirene) and Isl-Rok Systema (Russian Martial Arts). How cool is that.

Finally, I would just like to mention that Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange (based in Victoria, Canada but serving Orthodox Christians of all nations and jurisdictions!) will have a physical presence at the Assembly in the form of a table in the marketplace! If you are coming to the assembly, please stop by the Egeria table and say hello and chat with founder and proprietor (me, Jenny Hainsworth) about any questions or ideas you have about Egeria, about Victoria, about Canada, or about Orthodox travel in general, or about your dog, your lazy eye or whatever is on your mind! I will have the coffee and shortbread on. . .see you soon!

As always, happy travels, God bless and don't forget to visit egeriaexchange.com today and see what's new!

Jenny Hainsworth

Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange

250 885 7990

egeriaexchange.com

Posted by Jenny at 9:57 AM    14 Comments

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Article about Egeria Home Exchange on Antiochian.org!

Posted by Jenny at 4:59 PM    60 Comments

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Jenny is interviewed about Egeria on Ancient Faith Radio!

Check out the interview with Egeria founder/ proprietor Jenny Hainsworth! Listen here: http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/egeria_home_and_hospitality_exchange

Posted by Jenny at 5:24 PM    28 Comments

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

New Promotional Price and Credit Card Question

Hello!

New Promotional Prices

Our One Penny Membership promotion has now closed. The promotional price is now $15 for a one-year membership and $25 for a two-year membership.

This is still a great savings off the regular price of $65 and $95.

Do I need a credit card to join Egeria?

No! There has been some concern so far about the perception that one must have a credit card to join. This is not the case. You are most welcome to send a cheque (within North America) or International money order to us for the membership amount, and we will activate your membership as soon as you have registered on the site and your cheque has cleared. You may send cheques and money orders to:

Egeria Orthodox Home Exchange

PO Box 23104   Cook St RPO   Victoria, BC, Canada  V8V 428

If you do send a cheque or money order, call us toll-free at (country code for Canada, plus) 250 885 7990

Or email:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

to let us know that your cheque or money order is on the way so we can watch for it.

Thank you, and happy travels!

Posted by Jenny at 4:36 PM    8 Comments

Saturday, December 12, 2009

A new post from Jenny’s Iconography blog, Owl Light Studio

powered by

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Back in the Studio!

Interestingly (at least to me), I worked in my icon studio for the first time since the summer yesterday and today, and tonight I'm writing on my blog for the first time in forever also! Hmmm.

Well, the pretty good reason for the hiatus was that I was working day and night trying to get our Orthodox home exchange website up and running, which it now is! The link is in the righthand margin if you're interested - it's called Egeria Home and Hospitality Exchange. I won't go into the details here; all the information is on the site itself at egeriaexchange.com.

The picture on this post is a bit of drawing I did for the website - I recently started doing calligraphy with a quill (ie a goose feather cut at the end into an edged nib) and boy, now I know what all the fuss is about. There is nothing like drawing or writing with a quill. I don't know if I can go back to metal nibs. The quill nib is flexible and so allows for so more more expression. If you write with a modern metal nib it is nearly impossible to understand how the writing and drawing in the famous manuscripts (eg The Book of Kells) could be so beautiful. With a quill, even if you are not a great calligrapher, it makes a lot more sense.

Anyway, the doodads above were early experiments with the quill. I was replicating some decorations pictured in a book of medieval Russian (although they lump a lot of Armenian stuff in there) manuscript decoration. I love it - it's so fresh and inventive, like so much art from the period. I copied a bunch of these little illustrations and we included them in the Egeria website to add warmth and charm to the look and feel. The idea was one of homeyness and antiquity at the same time, which I liked as being very appropriate for an Orthodox home exchange site!

That done for the time being, I'm continuing work on a largish icon too - a family icon commissioned by a friend as a surprise for her husband. It is quite complicated; a portrait-format board about 14"x 20", with a routed center which is rounded at the top (yes, I will try to post photos at some point) and with generous raised margins. In the routed area are the three standing figures of Sts Peter, Herman and Mary (sister of Lazarus). These are the dad, the family, and the mom's saints, respectively. On the lower margin below are three medallions depicting Sts Finnian, Victoria and Simeon (now some of you will know who this family is. . .shhhh!!!), the three children in the family. These medallion shapes are wreathed with entwined olive branches, a reference to the wedding psalm which says "your children will be like olive shoots around your table." Above the whole group, on the top margin, is the Theotokos holding a protecting veil over the whole composition.

It has taken me a long time to get to where I am now. Namely I 'established' the drawing today and yesterday. This means that I went over the preliminary drawing, which had been put on the gesso with water-soluble pencil crayon, with more 'permanent' egg tempera. I put that in quotation marks because when it is fresh egg tempera is not very permanent, but it's much more so than the pencil, which disappears easily with a little water.

The use of water soluble pencil crayons, especially in a nice sepia colour, is a great trick from my teacher Heather. They allow you to draw fluidly and directly onto the board, which makes the drawing much more alive. Those of you who draw will know that as soon as you attempt to transfer a drawing in some way, something in it dies, no matter how careful your copying or transferring. You do have to be slightly crazy or confident to work a drawing directly onto a gessoed board; I'm a little of both but I always have a lot of studies and preliminary drawings informing the seemingly 'freehand' drawing onto the board. Plus there is always the reassurance that if you mess up at this stage there are fixes in the form of water and sandpaper! Of course for more formal elements, like the olive branches, I have the design carefully worked out in advance. But faces and hands, etc, I prefer to draw in a more immediate way so as not to lose the aliveness.

Anyway, today saw the breaking of an egg, always auspicious in the studio of an iconographer! It means something is getting done. This is the most exciting phase, because you are now able to 'open' the painting, that is, to begin to lay down fields of pale colour and watch the icon begin to take shape and come alive. This process will be especially rewarding in the case of this icon because it was such a complicated icon to compose, and the drawing is, naturally, very detailed.

One other thing I have observed while working today; that is that I am applying knowledge of the end of the process to how I proceed here at the beginning. That is to say, now that I have a bit more experience both in painting icons and in egg tempera itself, I know what things to avoid at the outset, because they will just make life harder down the road.

A good example is drapery lines. When I was more of a rookie, I would establish too many of these lines - that is, lines describing drapery inside the figure, as opposed to the outlines. What I learned later is that as the icon is being painted (as opposed to drawn -- I don't use the term 'written' very much, because it's not very useful in this type of discussion, but that's another post) -- as the icon is being painted it shifts and changes, and decisions you may have made at the drawing stage seem crazy to you now. It is hard to describe. It's like choosing a route by looking at a map, but when you hit the open road you can see a much more beautiful way to go, and you start to take a new route.

The problem is, if you have lain down your lines in egg tempera which has then cured a bit (ie it's more than a few days old), you are now fighting with these lines even as you are deciding on new lines, because as egg tempera ages it becomes more and more difficult to remove.

This characteristic is wonderful, of course, -- it's why egg tempera paintings and icons to last ages and ages, and it's inherent in the very technique of painting with it -- it allows for that tremendous subtlety --but it's a problem if you want to change something! You always have the option of sanding lines off, and goodness knows I've done plenty of that, but it's a nuisance to be avoided as it creates dust. Not to mention that any washes or layers of colour you have done over those lines will now be ruined when you have to go beneath to get rid of the lines. If your wash was nicely applied and you like it, having to ruin and redo it can be sad, since it can be difficult to replicate exactly what you did the first time that was so successful!

So all of that laborious discussion was just to say that now as I draw I have all the memory of that stuff in my mind, so I don't bother to establish interior drapery lines until some painting has been done already. It makes life easier all around - flexibility further into the process, and a simpler, faster drawing now!

However: I DO include all those interior lines in the studies and preliminary drawings for the icon, because without them you won't end up with a believable outline. You don't want St Peter to look like he was made with a cookie cutter. Don't ask me what the logic is of coming up with lines at the beginning and then losing them and then finding them again is - maybe it's something you have to do to understand.

Happy St Spyridon's and St Herman's days to those on the new calendar! Glory to God for all things.

Posted by Jenny at 9:19 PM    4 Comments

Friday, December 4, 2009

One Week Left for the One Penny Membership!

Hello friends!

Thank you for your amazing support, enthusiasm and feedback during the first three weeks of Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange being live on the web! It has been a fantastic beginning. We already have about 85 members in 11 countries!

Just a note to let you know that the One Penny Membership promotion is ending soon on Friday, Dec 11. The next promotion will be the $15 for a  year, $25 for two years deal.

Look and listen for our upcoming interview and advertisements on Ancient Faith Radio! We will be partnering with AFR to get the word out about the tremendous resource that Egeria offers in the realm of Orthodox travel.

And another - yes, another! - reminder to our valued members who have not yet found time to create a profile: PLEASE! I hate to beg, but oh well, I'm begging. If you create a profile it will let the other members and visitors know you are there. Remember:

A Profile Will NOT:

• Obligate you to an exchange before you are ready
• Force you to select dates - you can add them later or leave the field blank for flexibility in your travel plans
• Require you to add photos right away - you can go back in and add them later or replace earlier ones

A Profile WILL:

• Make the Egeria site more interesting to visit
• Inspire others to join
• Let other members know you are there, possibly leading to some interesting offers for YOU!

So to recap, PLEASE 

Complete your profile if you have not already done so, AND

Spread the word to anyone else who may be interested that there is only ONE WEEK left for the One Penny Membership! Closing date is Friday, Dec 11.

Thanks and happy travels!

Jenny Hainsworth

Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange

Posted by Jenny at 10:13 AM    5 Comments