So there I was building a big Zen garden in my backyard. After I’d built the stone frame, put black tarp at the bottom and filled it with endless amounts of sand, I left it for a while. While our 4 cats don’t go outside, a neighborhood cat decided that what to me was a Zen Garden was a litter box to her.

Now that the garden is populated, it’s being left alone.

Yes, I am bothered about bugs, too. And rodents.

I try to deal with things so not to have the problem (as the Dalai Lama pointed out, we should make sure we don’t attract the problems, and so having a clean environment helps), but sometimes we can do nothing and have to make do. It’s the middle way which I think really works here. And it’s been the way I’ve seen it since 2000, when St Francis inspired me to follow his approach to food (though I don’t go as extreme as he does — I still enjoy well cooked meals).

Thank you. I have not seen that book, but it sounds interesting!