So anyway. There I was in the woods. Looking around. Weather was beginning to cool, but still hot, not like today which is cool and rainy, perfect, perfect weather.
It was hot but the woods were shady.
I was wearing socks this time in case something ran up the inside of my pantsleg again (nothing did) and a straw hat and a pink Bikini Kill T-shirt and blue jeans. And shoes. I had clippers in my pocket, hidden by the shirt in case I encountered the owner of the forest or a hunter or whatever (I didn’t).
I told myself it was legal to clip the cattails; I wasn’t taking many and the ones that were protected are a different, smaller kind. These are ok to take.
I don’t know if they really are. According to something I found online it is legal in Austria to take things (nuts, berries, mushrooms) from the woods for your own use, but not, like, commercially, and not firewood etc. So I took 5 hazel switches (for possible basketry) (I didn’t take more because I didn’t want to look greedy should I encounter an owner or other authority) (I didn’t) and looked around for thick stands of cattails.
I found some near the edge of a pond. It was a steep slope maybe 2 meters down to the water’s edge.
I don’t know what happened. I was carefully going down the slope when I just tipped.
I was clutching at the grass and plants, but it was no good.

Voice in my head: “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” (all lower case, calm, more dismay than terror, more wanting to get this falling stuff over with so the climbing back up can commence). I did not catch myself elegantly. There was 0% elegance going on here.
Did I make a sound? I don’t recall.
At least I didn’t fall into mud or brackish water.
I bet Mary Oliver fell into the cattails sometimes too.
“There it was, the soft animal of my body, lying there on its back in the reeds, hoping nothing slithered up its leg.”
I resolved to start doing more squats and knee mobility stuff.

I got my cattails, a medium-sized bundle, and wandered back to my Ford Tourneo Courier 1.0 Ecoboost (which a recent passenger determined dings a lot, safety warnings that are, in sum, distracting).

I went home and set out my catch in the shed to dry under the wasp nests (3 at last count). That reminds me, I forgot to put my bicycle back into the shed and now it is raining. My motivation to put my bike back was mitigated by the 3 wasp nests.

I made some twine. I watched the closing ceremony of the Paralympics with my wife. At some point I went to bed, because I woke up in bed this morning, happy to see the rain and the cooler weather.