Standing Quietly Along the Columbia at Frenchman's Bar

I often take short local trips (under 100 miles round trip).  I live in the Orchards area, in the northeast Vancouver area, Clark County, Washington.  I live about 8 miles north of the I 205, Glen L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, over the Columbia River, leading into Portland.   

This past week I enjoyed visiting Lake Vancouver, Frenchman's Bar Regional Park, the Columbia River, and the lowlands of farms, woods, sloughs, and marshy areas along the north bank of the Columbia River.  This area is south of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.  The Columbia flows north from here to Longview.  Less than 40 miles round trip for me.

Very nice walking options at Frenchman's Bar
I bring a good outdoor folding chair in my old van.
Thus, I can sit outdoors in comfort at the right chosen vantage point.

"Sit quietly
focus and forget
rest with the great achievement.

The ancient child asks
"what is the great achievement?"
It is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively. 
Engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing.
See yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space. 
Sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement.
Employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful.
Great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward. 
Engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart.
Sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe."
-  Tao Te Ching, Chapter 45, Translated by John Bright-Fey, 2006 

"Teach us to care and not to care.
Teach us to sit still."
-  T.S. Eliot

"I have discovered that all human evil comes from this,
man's being unable to sit still in a room."
-  Blaise Pascal

Sitting: Quotes, Poems, Sayings