Vernalruminations

Carpe Diem      Carpe diem , my father said. Tempus fugit .   Like Montaigne’s father he believed in installing Latin in a child, but in my case only smatterings of Latin.   Still, I always remembered those phrases and the English equivalents to seize the day and savor the moment.   When later, in France, I encountered the phrase “ Mettons cela à l’abri ,” that became my personal motto. Each morning from mid-May through Columbus Day and sometimes later I leave a warm bed to swim in Long Lake if I’m in Michigan, in Long Island Sound if I’m back in New Rochelle.   People think I’m crazy, and maybe I am, but I treasure that early morning swim that I have seized and put safely into that day whatever else it brings.   “ Mettons cela à l’abri, ” and it’s yours. Others jog or take out a canoe on the still waters at that same hour of the day. They, too, savor and save and have that memory—a sunrise, a pair of loons, the loughing in the trees--safely à l’abri. Don’t postpone; don