Why Mount Oregano?

Why do I call myself Mount Oregano?

"The mountain isn't all oregano," they say here in Spain: No todo el monte es orégano.

That means that nothing is entirely easy. A patch of oregano is soft and aromatic, but a hike in the hills will have prickly and stinky moments. Not everything can be oregano.

It's an old saying. You can find it mentioned in Don Quixote de La Mancha in Chapter 36.

And while I try to behave well, I can have my rough moments.

I took the photo in Peñalara National Park in the mountains near Madrid. It was a beautiful hike, but the trail on the mountainside was not for people with poor balance — a potential for some very prickly moments.

— Sue Burke