One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
There I met an old man
Clothed all in leather;
Clothed all in leather,
With cap under his chin,—
How do you do, and how do you do,
And how do you do again!
Misty, moisty words have been playing in my head all day. We awoke to such a morning; not pouring rain nor thunderstorms, just a mist, barely there except to feel the wetness after being outdoors for any length of time. A dampness to the skin and a fooling with the hair kind of day. I don’t remember where I first heard of misty, moisture weather, I just know I’m apt to say it so on a day like today.
I did what many inquisitive folks do these days, I googled it – misty, moisty weather – and there it was, a nursery rhyme of days long, long ago. I must have heard it perched upon a lap, or read it to a wee someone on my lap, and there it sits, forevermore, in my brain and on my lips on grey and dark days like today.
How about you? Have you a rhyme or riddle song that just pops out when the sun is out or the north wind blows or a book ends?
I love this little rhyme and read it to my granddaughter Mira quite often. The other one that pops up is when it’s raining:
Dr Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain
He stepped in a puddle
Right up to his middle
And never went there again.
That is a good one, Juliet, and I imagine Mira is learning it quickly herself.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you,
but when the trees bow down their heads
the wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I
But when the leaves hang trembling
the wind is passing by.
The poem above was memorized in kindergarten for choral reciting in front of the PTA. I was terrified. I think that I may have the verses reversed, but oh well.
Another favorite
Rain on the green grass
Rain on the trees
Rain on the house-top,
But not on me!
I’m impressed that you remembered reciting it all these years, Janet (I’m referring to who has seen the wind). That was a lot of words to repeat for a little girl. These are both such fun rhymes, aren’t they? Thanks for commenting with both of them (and any more you remember).
I love misty, moisty weather and I love the wee rhyme.
A hill full, a hole full, Yet you cannot catch a bowl full.
Oh, I love this and do not recall hearing it. Thank you, Marilyn, for sharing it.
Well, I feel a bit deprived here . . .
“It’s raining, it’s pouring,
The old man is snoring
He went to bed
He bumped his head
And couldn’t get up till the morning”
and
“Rain, rain, go away!
Come again some other day!”
That’s all I got. Way too boring, if you ask me. I will need to learn some of the ones posted here or learn some new ones or maybe make some up to teach to Kezzie.
Didn’t I see a Mother Goose book on her shelf? One with a checked cover? If not, you have a start here already.
Don’t feel deprived, Katy. You have already had major snow and those are great rainy rhymes.
And I’m going to break all the rules, Penny, so sorry:
the moon has been stunning here in the UK these Autumn nights, and a poem has been back and forth through my head, but it’s not about weather, but about the moon itself. An old favourite:
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
There are no rules here, Kate, and I love this poem. I haven’t heard it before now and find it so peaceful and I love the idea of “beams beneath the silvery thatch”. Thank you for sharing it for all to read.
Perhaps the poem about the moon wasn’t so out of place after all since Sunday’s full moon was a “blue moon” and we had crystal clear skies to see it. A blue moon not for the usual reason of being the second full moon in a month but because it was the third one of the quarter with one more yet to go in the quarter or something like that. Quarters usually only have 3 full moons. Yahoo had a link to an article about it.
Not too long ago I had to google “It’s raining, it’s pouring,
The old man is snoring” because my boss couldn’t remember the rest of it and it was driving her crazy and me too – I wanted to get it out of my head. I hadn’t heard it before that I remember. Our rain “songs” were more the Rain, rain, go away” or Dr. Foster went to Gloucester” (our boys loved that since our last name is Foster.)
That is interesting, Joyce. I’d commented to Tom on my wonderment of whether it was a blue moon but nothing was said on the weather reports. I wondered about it on Friday night as it was shining, almost full.
Isn’t it fun all the things we can google? Sometimes these rhymes, like songs, just pop into my head. Right now it is pouring – and the old man is not yet snoring. haha