DECEMBRRRRR

Three days in, and December has tromped on the last of my flowers and spread its chill everywhere, including a thin crust of snow that crunches underfoot. It reminds me of two old nursery rhymes I rediscovered in a museum in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island this summer, in a display of weather-related collages. Both rhymes are English and quite old.

The first, is usually titled either The North Wind Doth Blow or The Robin:

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing.

Whether the Weather is more of a tongue-twister but also fun:

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!