The Purple Beech

One of the early names that we bounced around for this blog was “The Purple Beech”. The two Purple Beech trees that grow near the Burgess office, next to the old pump-house, are beautiful trees. One is both tall and broad, growing in the full sun, while the other has had to adapt. It has grown in the shade of the pump-house and first tree, sending out long crazy branches to catch the sun where the rays sneak past the neighbors. They're perfect for swinging and climbing on.
One of the cool things about knowing these trees well is that on a cold and miserable day in January, when the trees seem bleak and bare, you know that things will soon brighten up.

A breakfast date with Rafiki and Nala

First you've got to break the ice..............

Then pose for a photo outside the restaurant........

Maybe a quick drink first...............

Excuse me nature calls................

Once everyone is relaxed you can tuck into some nice food.........

A wee stroll around camp...

With the temperature being a balmy 16F with the wind chill, we couldn't resist a wee stroll around the place this lunchtime. Here are some a few shots of a sunny winters day on Spectacle Pond.

We promise we'll tidy up before the summer.........

Leftovers from the December storm...............

Polar bear swim?.................................

How about the Spectacle Challenge. Bring your own dry suit, ice axe and throw rope......

New year, new post.

We were trying to nail down our new years resolutions here on Spectacle Pond when we realized how bad we've been with getting posts on The Electric Spectacle.
It's not because we don't care or because there is nothing going on here, but sometimes you just get caught up doing stuff. Now don't get me wrong, some of this stuff is really important, like taking registrations, hiring staff and feeding Rafiki and Nala (the camp pigs), but you've always got to make time to keep in touch with friends. So from now on we'll keep our priorities in order and make sure we get out for 10 minutes during lunch to snap a few photos of the place. We've got some awesome ideas for stories and features, but if anyone wants to contribute let us know and you can send us a story and some photos. If one of our campers or staff has done something that deserves a mention get it to us and we'll get it out there.
Also, if you think we are slipping with our resolution, feel free to give us a friendly prod, that's what friends are for.
You can contact (or prod) us at camp@ssymca.org.

Happy Halloween

Summer seems like a distant memory as the days get shorter and weather gets colder here on the Cape. We celebrated halloween in style with a teen retreat and some spooky fun in our office. This month is all go at camp as we get ready for the winter. The docks have been pulled out the pond, the boats stored inside and everything is packed away ready for the winter.



However we dont need to worry about the Camp Spirit being packed away as we gear up for an incredible winter reunion.

Winter reunion at the beach!

This years reunion is on Martin Luther King weekend and as always will be full of camp activites, singing and a whole bunch of suprises. Hopefully we wills ee you there!

Blog Relaunch!

We've been really busy recently with staff training and the start of summer camp so sorry for the lack of postings. Watch this space for stories and photos of summer camp and adventure trips...

Hayward Adventure Camp

In response to overwhelming demand, we are now opening registration for our first Hayward Adventure Camp. It runs from July 20th - 27th and features the best parts of both camp and adventure trips.
Participants get to sleep at Base Camp next to Camp Burgess, attend all the big Hayward events (dance, campfire, beachday), do the best CAPS (horseback riding, high ropes, climbing tower, tubing etc.), take a surf lesson, cycle to the beach and more. Meals involve a mixture of the best eating spots on the Cape (Hayward Dining Hall, Base Camp, the Pontoon Boat and the Burgess Dining Hall).
If you want to find out more, take a look at an itinerary or register, give us a call. at 508-428-2571.

Happy Pig

Today is the pigs third day at camp, and what a happy pig he is. As you can see in the pictures we had him fitted with a special harness. This means he is able to be outside all day digging holes which is what he does best. It also means that he can be trained to walk on the harness much like a dog. If he is able to do this it means he will be able to walk around camp and not be in his pen all day. It took him only a few minutes to be comfortable in the harness and he spent all day outside digging holes with his noise and finding grubs to eat. Pigs will put on a about a pound and a half in weight a day when they are piglets.

New Arrivals (Part 2)

Along with our new OE staff we have a brand new camp pet. His name is undecided as of this post (feel free to e-mail suggestions to lhastings@ssymca.org) and he is a pig! Laura picked him up from a farm near New Hampshire and brought him down for his new life as camp's composter. He will be in charge of eating the scraps of food left over from meals at camp and turning them into fertiliser for some of the new gardens around the new nature center. George, Jessie and the OE staff worked really hard building him a house which is more like a palace with a door, window and cosy bed.

Jessie hard at work building the pig palace

This was his first night at camp, after a three hour car ride he was very hungry. We were preparing to bottle feed him for a few weeks but he loves his food so much that he doesn't want milk anymore!!

Before coming to camp the pig had never been outside, in a car, with people or out of the pen he was born in. So coming to camp was a big change for him. Pigs are very intelligent, more so than dogs and are good animals to train. Were going to be spending these first few weeks getting him used to humans and his new environment. He has been living at Laura's house because he is just too little to stay alone right now in the pig palace. Here he got to meet one of her cats and they fell in love! The cats cry for him when hes at work and he gets excited when he comes home and snorts and grunts to them.

Ashley and Donna came round to spend some time with the pig, its important he feels comfortable around a lot of humans. As you can see he is adjusting to his new life just fine. He loves to sleep on the sofa or comfortable pillows.

Another important lesson for our pig is to get used to being around dogs as we have three who live at camp right now. He also got an A+ at this assignment. He was very good with the dogs and the dogs were very curious of him!

New Arrivals (part 1)

Spring has sprung at Camp and we have several new arrivals. First came the Outdoor Education Staff an intrepid bunch of instructors coming from all over America, England and Guernsey! Were very pleased to have them here and cant wait for an amazing Spring season. If you come down to Volunteer Day on May 10th you'll get to meet them and help us gear camp up for the summer!

First day and everyone is feeling a bit new!

10 minuites later camp works its magic

Ta-da! everyone has settled in well. From left to right top to bottom we have Ashley, Emily, Mary, Chloe, Jess, Ben, their fearless leader Carl, Ryan and Brian.