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My Tweets
Archive for the 'Weather' Category
Contents
Posts
A Rain Rhyme that Involves Baking a Cake
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Here’s a rain rhyme from Northumberland that reminds us that rainy weather is a good opportunity to stay indoors and cook!
Rain, rain, go away,
And come again another day,
When I brew and when I bake,
I’ll give you a little cake.Stay dry!
Mama Lisa
PS You can tell it’s raining where I am and that I’m considering baking something yummy!
You Can’t Keep a Good Kid Down…
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Or in this case… dry!
It’s wet and slushy here in New York. But my daughter got off the school bus today and jumped right into the puddle at the bottom of our driveway!
It’s Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together – Jazz Animation
Saturday, December 13th, 2008Elle Fitzgerald sings in this wonderful winter animation!
Don’t Take Your New Parasol Out in the Windy Month of March!
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007Here’s a poem from an anonymous author of an old book called The Infant’s Delight: Poetry. It’s about a little girl who goes out on a windy day in March with her beautiful new parasol, even though her mother tells her not to. Uh-oh! (A parasol is a fancy umbrella, carried to block the sun.)
NAUGH-TY NEL-LY AND HER NEW PA-RA-SOL.
“No, Nel-ly! not to-day, my child!
I can-not let you take it;
This cold March wind, so strong and wild,
Your pa-ra-sol, ‘twould break it!”So said Mam-ma; but Nel-ly thought,
“I will take my new pre-sent:
Tis mine; to please me it was bought;
The wea-ther’s bright and plea-sant.”So naugh-ty Nel-ly sly-ly took
What kind Mam-ma had bought her,
And out she went-and, only look!
The wild March wind has caught her!The silk tore up, the ribs broke out,
In spite of Nel-ly’s sway-ing;
And peo-ple laugh-ed at her, no doubt-
That comes of dis-o-bey-ing.You can find more poems like this one online from The Infant’s Delight: Poetry at Project Gutenberg.
Spring Is Here! Go Away Winter, You Brute!
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007Now that Spring is here – we can all smile – and start bad-mouthing Winter!
Here’s a poem about banishing Winter, called Winter, You’re Just a Brute! Well, that’s my translation of it. It’s originally French. The title in French is Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain ! It was written by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465).
Below you’ll find my English translation first, followed by a modernized French version, followed by the original poem. At the end you’ll find a link where you can hear the poem recited in French.
Winter, You’re Just a Brute!
Winter, you’re just a brute!
Summer is pleasant and nice,
As proof, May and April,
Who accompany it evening and morn.Summer adorns fields, woods and flowers,
In its coat of greenery
And of many other colors,
By the order of Nature.But you, Winter, are too full
Of snow, wind, rain and hail;
You must be banished into exile,
Without flattering, I speak fairly,
Winter, you’re just a brute!Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain !
(A Modernized Version in French)Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain !
Eté est plaisant et gentil,
En témoin de Mai et d’Avril,
Qui l’accompagnent soir et matin.Eté revêt champs, bois et fleurs
De sa livrée de verdure,
Et de maintes autres couleurs,
Par l’ordonnance de Nature.Mais, vous, Hiver, trop êtes plein
De neige, vents, pluie et grésil.
On vous dût bannir en exil,
Sans point flatter, je parle plain,
Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain.Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain
(Original Version with Older French Spelling)Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain,
Esté est plaisant et gentil,
En tesmoing de May et d’Avril
Qui l’acompaignent soir et main.Esté revest champs, bois et fleurs,
De sa livrée de verdure
Et de maintes autres couleurs,
Par l’ordonnance de Nature.Mais vous, Yver, trop estes plain
De nege, vent pluye et grezil;
On vous deust banie en essil.
Sans point flater, je parle plain,
Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain !
Link to hear Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain ! RecitedLink to Hear Hiver, vous n’êtes qu’un vilain ! Sung
Rain, Rain, What do “you” say?
Thursday, July 13th, 2006Rain must hold a special place deep in the human psyche. Expressions about rain have such interesting imagery. I can’t think of many words that evoke such vivid images.
For instance, in English, if it’s pouring out, you can say, It’s raining cats and dogs. If there’s thunder, some people say God is bowling. At least that’s said to little kids.
You can also say, It’s raining buckets. That’s interesting because in French, there’s the same expression, Il pleut à seaux.*
The French also have the saying, Il pleut comme vache qui pisse. In English, that’s… It’s raining like a cow that’s pissing.
More politely, the French would say, Il tombe des cordes. That expression is literally, It’s falling ropes, or we’d say, Ropes are falling.
There are also expressions for more violent rain. In Spanish there’s, Caen chuzos de punto. Which means, Spears are falling point first. Similarly, in French there’s, Il tombe des hallebardes. That means, Halberds are falling. A halberd is a weapon that was used during the 14th and 15th centuries. It has a spiky axe on the end of a pole. You can see halberds in the image below. They sort of look like falling rain.
Finally, in Occitan (a language spoken in parts of southern France, Spain and Italy) they say, Tomba de rabanelas. That means, Wild radishes are falling. They also say, Tomba de pèiras de molin – Mill stones are falling.
Feel free to comment below about expressions concerning rain that are said in cultures you’re familiar with.
Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for telling me about some of the expressions about rain in French, Spanish and Occitan.
Lisa
Come visit the blog category about rain for some songs and rhymes about rain.
*UPDATE ABOUT “RAINING BUCKETS”:
Monique later wrote me…
Spaniards also say, “Llueve a cántaros” to say “it’s raining buckets”. It literally means the same thing. Portuguese have the same expression about buckets, “Está a chover a cântaros” = it’s raining buckets. Italians have “piove a catinelle”, which means “it’s raining basins/bowls”.
“Velvet Shoes” – A Poem about Walking in the Snow
Sunday, January 15th, 2006The rain turned into snow last night. The land is a beautiful velvety white.
Here’s a poem about the snow by Elinor Wylie…
Velvet Shoes
Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace.I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,
White as white cow’s milk,
More beautiful
Than the breast of a gull.We shall walk through the still town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We shall walk in the snow.If it’s wintry white outside near you, put on your velvet shoes and enjoy a walk in the snow!
Lisa
A Nursery Rhyme, a Children’s Song and a Poem about the Rain
Saturday, October 15th, 2005Today the sun is finally shining here in New York! Hurray! But, the rain and flooding made me lose my internet connection for the past 24+ hours (the horror!!!) so here’s yesterday’s posting…
Friday, October 14, 2005
It’s raining for the seventh day here in New York. A couple of days ago, it was a bit warmer. My daughter couldn’t wait to use her Sesame Street umbrella. So I let her go out back with my son and just play in the rain. It was a nice moment, and it reminded me of my own childhood, splashing through puddles.
So, here’s a very popular rain song from when I was a child in the seventies. It’s still sung by children today…
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Rain, rain, go away,
Come again some other dayNowadays I’ll add…
Lila and Mommy want to play,
So come again some other day.Here’s a funny poem about rain that I found…
The Rain
The rain it raineth every day,
Upon the just and unjust fella,
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrellaHere’s one last one, an amusing Mother Goose nursery rhyme…
Doctor Foster went to Gloucester*
Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.*Gloucester is pronounced as “gloster” and rhymes with Foster.
Hope all you readers out there are staying dry, or even better, that you have nice weather!
If anyone would like to send me a poem, rhyme or song about the rain. I’d be happy to post it here. Please email me.
Come visit Mama Lisa’s House of Nursery Rhymes for more Mother Goose Rhymes about the rain.
I, personally, will be looking for songs and rhymes about the sun!
-Lisa
A Children’s Song from Japan about a Rainy Day
Thursday, October 13th, 2005A Rainy Day Song from Japan in English, in Japanese and with an MP3 of the Piano Music
It’s still raining here in New York. So, here’s another song about rain.Rainy Day
Rainy day, rainy day, I like it;
My mother will come here with my umbrella,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!Bag on my shoulder, I follow my mother;
A bell is ringing somewhere,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!Oh oh, that girl is dripping wet;
She is crying under the willow,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!Mother, mother, I’ll lend her my umbrella;
“Hi girl, use this umbrella,”
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!I am all right, don’t worry,
Mother will take me in under her big umbrella,
Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run!“Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run” is the sound of rain.
Here’s the Japanese version…
Listen to an MP3 of the Japanese Rainy Day Song.
Many thanks to Ayako Egawa for contributing and translating Rainy Day and to Susan Pomerantz for the piano music.
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Japan page for more Japanese Kids Songs!
“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” – The Lyrics and an MP3 Recording
Wednesday, October 12th, 2005The song, a little story about umbrellas, and an mp3 of my children singing “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”
It’s Raining and it’s Pouring in New York right now and it has been for days. I’m totally waterlogged from picking up my daughter from preschool.
It turns out that my family is woefully unprepared for the rain. I had a pretty black umbrella with different colored circles on it, that my husband, Jason, “stole” from me one rainy morning before work, back in the spring. He had to throw his away because it fell to pieces. Since he walks three quarters of a mile to the train station during the week, I let him have mine. I never got around to replacing it, since it’s basically been draught weather here for the past few months.
Yesterday my son had early morning band – he had to walk all the way down the block and wait for the bus out in the rain – so I made my husband give him our sole umbrella. The only one in the family who’s really prepared for the rain is our 4 year old daughter. She has a pretty pink raincoat, a Dora the Explorer umbrella and a Sesame Street/Elmo umbrella. The only thing she’s missing is galoshes. Which I just realized the other day.
So, yesterday morning, Jason left the Elmo umbrella and my black one on the table for my son, hoping he would take the Elmo umbrella. Of course he didn’t, since he’s 11 years old. There’s no way he would have taken an Elmo umbrella to school. Jason briefly considered taking the Elmo umbrella himself to the city, but decided against it. I think that was a good choice, since it would have looked very funny to see a six foot two grown man carrying a little preschooler’s Elmo umbrella in the rain. He decided to go for wearing a cap instead. (Of course I made him hold it up like he was going to use it first, just so I could see how he looked!)
Anyway, my son took my umbrella again today, so I got soaking wet during the long walk from the parking lot to my daughter’s preschool to pick her up. At least she was happy with her little pink raincoat and Dora the Explorer umbrella. She finally got to use her umbrella!
Any way, in the car, on the way home, I couldn’t help but singing It’s Raining, It’s Pouring (a song I sang all the time as a kid, whenever it rained). I am Mama Lisa after all! It goes…
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
It’s Raining, it’s pouring,
The old man is snoring,
He bumped his head,
On top of the bed,
And didn’t get up
In the morning.When I got home, I got my children to record it for you.
Here’s an MP3 of It’s Raining It’s Pouring
-Lisa
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World USA Page for more children’s songs from the United States.
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