PHOTO FRIDAY: BUTTERFLY AND MARIGOLDS

A Painted Lady drinks her breakfast in Nepal's Annapurna Sanctuary.

The steep, stony trails of Nepal's Annapurna Sanctuary are lined with countless patches of flowers. Some grow wild, while others decorate the narrow yards of the people who live there. All the bursting blooms attract swarms of butterflies, as we saw one morning at breakfast. 

Above, an adult Painted Lady drinks her morning meal. Nearby, we sipped locally-brewed tea with yak milk and enjoyed the view. 

After Everest, we thought hiking again anytime soon was out of the question. Days later we're trekking in Annapurna. Such is life.

BURMA BUYER'S GUIDE

If you're entering a pagoda in Myanmar, you buy chains of flowers from local sales ladies to place on altars inside. 

If you're at a market, you might pick up some candles from this guy.  

Or perhaps some of these carved statues, necklaces, or bracelets from this lady.

If you're visiting a market that sells ugly hats, you might pick up a tribal beauty like this one, made of a boar skull nicely decked out with hundreds of buffalo teeth. Price was $250--way out of our price range luckily--otherwise, a couple of these would no doubt be decorating our walls back home some day.

If you're at a fish market, you can order a plate of freshly fried nga hpein (lake carp)..as long as a cat doesn't get at them first. 

Sometimes in Burma, you don't need to buy anything, and you can enjoy a priceless moment making a new friend or two for free while watching a sunset. 

This guy liked Liz almost as much as the "swing me" kid (see photo at bottom of link) near Lake Inle. 

OVERACHIEVER

Purple scilla, Butterfly Garden, Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC