Last year, I did a post about a neglected gravesite that I adopted, cleared and decorated.  Yesterday, I went back to check on it and this is what I found:

(Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.)

It took me a long time to find this site as it had once again been thoroughly taken over by castor bean trees and other native weeds. Some of the cornerstones had crumbled as well.

It just one place, I could see enough of a headstone to make out the name.

A lantana tree had found a home here

as had a vivid morning glory vine.

I guess I have my work cut out for me again this year, although underneath the volunteer foliage, I made out the much-enlarged forms of aloe plants I planted last year.  Perhaps I’ll find some of the sun roses, as well, once I’ve cleared away a bit.

I had made the mistake of coming in through the front entrance of this large graveyard, and since the plot I adopted last year was at the very back, it was hard work finding my way back uphill through the maze of graves back to my car. Time and again, I came to a dead end, my way blocked by a huge crypt or fenced off area. There seem to be no clearly defined paths, but on my circuitous way back, I came upon this little grave even bleaker in its surroundings than that of my adopted departeds, although marked by a Virgin of Guadalupe that was beautifully patinaed by age:

The prompt today is “graveyard.”