Sure there are piles of debris and unsavory goings on after dark, but how many tombstones are this welcoming? In full disclosure, I straightened the mat out a little bit, but that's where it was, near a few of those trash piles.

The above is a shot of a dumpster that I think was placed there for cleaning up the trash piles. It's been there for at least four months now.

I know, the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, straddling the Philadelphia/Yeadon border, is strewn with trash even at its best, but this year it's gotten way out of hand. I am having a harder and harder time finding the piles small enough to get to the bottom of, let along the single and big pieces that the brown snakes (Storeria dekayi) like to hide under.

...like three mattresses that I used to adore.


Of course they were probably used by prostitutes, but when lifted (with a potato rake - as little skin contact as possible) they frequently revealed browns and garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis).

The trash isn't all that works against the cemetery. The Japanese knotweed continues to overwhelm the rest of the vegetation. I liked this image of the knotweed vying for space with the multiflora rose. I did find a few red backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). See the gray one (lead-back phase)?

Give them credit; they appear just when our hearts are sinking with the winter breezes, and display some spunk in hand. This little guy knows the ground is somewhere between these fingers.