April Showers Bring May Flowers

As I recited this little truism to myself while walking with about 10 TPWer’s through the rain on Saturday, I wondered how long people have been saying this and where it started.  I turned to Wikipedia and learned that the prologue to the Canterbury Tales had this gem:
“Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote.” 

Not exactly the same thing but clearly Chaucer expected it to rain a lot in April back in 1390.  The actual rhyming sentiment is first recorded as “Sweet April showers/Do spring May flowers", part of a folk poem recorded in 1610.
So Saturday’s drizzle has definitely been “normal” for a long time.  And we can expect the promised flowers in two weeks.