Sunday 6 December 2009

Rain Rain Go Away

Watching the rain running down the windows and the birds getting soaked as they gathered for their breakfasts reminded me of the old nursery rhyme ....


Rain rain go away,
Come again another day.
Little Johnny wants to play;
Rain, rain, go to Spain,
Never show your face again!


.... which may well date back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada. I can remember chanting it as a nipper, especially on rainy washing days when mother had to dry the clothes indoors. No tumble driers then, not even a washing machine. Just a dolly tub, me turning the handle on the mangle and a clothes horse draped with damp clothes in front of a roaring coal fire.

The first visitors this wet morning were the Goldfinches soon followed by House Sparrows and Chaffinches. Pictures very grainy, even after processing, as it was very gloomy under the thick rain clouds.

Goldfinches in the Rain   Feeding in the rain

A few days ago I managed to catch a glimpse of the local Robin. Unusually for Robins it is very shy and seldom stays in one place for more than a second or two.

Robin 4

 Bobby continues to progress well on his medication which seems to have helped a lot with his arthritis.



9 comments:

  1. Lovely morning here, very windy but dry and sunny.
    Makes a change. the photos are good considering the light.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Adrian. It makes a change for us to get some of the heavy rain you have had. The Canon was set to ISO 3200 and I could only get 1/50s as the fastest speed so it did well in the conditions. Been lovely and sunny since the rain passed through - for how long is anybody's guess!

    Has Molly learned to say, "Sausages" yet?

    ReplyDelete
  3. No, I'm not encouraging her to learn. Works fine, I'm into this slow cooking.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I too used to say that nursery rhyme as a child and was trying to remember it for my grandson, just the other day, when he wanted to go out to play in the garden but I could only remember the first 2 lines so thanks for the reminder. Helen

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll let you into a secret Helen. I could only remember the first 2 lines so I put the first line into Google and found several sites with the full rhyme ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. The birds have to eat, even when it rains! The robin is a beauty. Here in Minnesota, we are now getting precipitation only in the frozen state!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very true Wilma. There are usually more birds at the feeders in bad weather when their natural food is more difficult to find.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It never seems to go away here John although yesterday was a little better. Today I have the light on to see to type this at 2pm and the rain is getting heavier and heavier :(

    Lovely to see the Robin. Strangely, they always seem rather secretive and shy in my garden, I think they may have learnt to be wary of the neighbour's killer cat!

    So glad Bobby continues to progress well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello Jan. That is what it was like the other morning. Lights on in the day time.

    I don't know whether it's the cats or the local raptor but most of the birds are much more secretive than they used to be.

    Bobby went in the car when I went shopping today. Jumping in and out of it like a spring lamb. ;)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

Related Posts with Thumbnails