A Zen Moment: Dexter, Bathing

"I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen, and see the cat smiling into his fur as he delicately combs it with his rough pink tongue.
Cat, I would lend you this book to study, but it appears you have already read it.
He looks up and gives me his full gaze.
'Don't be ridiculous,' he purrs; 'I wrote it.' "
- from "Miao" by Dilys Laing*


It's been too long since I last posted a photo of our tabby cat, Dexter. So I decided to upload one for today.

This is a photo of Dexter, captured in early afternoon, bathing carefully after a nice lunch. My husband arranged a special set-up for him by the deck doors: a towel inside a box, on top of another box. The height should give him a good view of the chipmunk who plays outside on the deck.

At this point, it was rather late in the bath and Dexter's eyes were starting to close. Cats are good at self-soothing behaviors; isn't it cool that cats can groom themselves to sleep? I especially enjoyed the glimpse of his little, raspy, pink tongue . . .

*P.S. I changed the "she" to "he" in this quote because Dexter is a boy. :-)