A field of golden sunflowers, caught in mid-sway under a Colorado sky by an astute photographer, dominates the calendar over my desk this hot summer night. Above the field, creamy beige sand dunes swirl across the landscape. Beyond the sand dunes, purple mountains, whose majestic peaks are partially obscured by white thunderheads, jut into an azure-blue sky.

The calendar’s message: Another summer is winding down.

Outside my window, a full moon creates a backdrop for the lunacy that is once again working its magic upon the populace. The moon has always held a strange mystical fascination for us mortals.The word lunacy comes from luna—Latin for moon. This is because there was a time when we thought the power to change our moods and minds came from the sky. Science has proven that  certain gravitational forces that are unleashed by this orb control the tides of our oceans.  Some still believe that the moon controls tides within our own vessels as we speed through this existence bound, we hope, for glory. These forces peak when the moon is at its fullest.

Although I shouldn't, I continue to be amazed at some of the events that accompany the appearance of the full moon. These occurrences seem cyclic in nature and somehow as predictable as the moon that heralds their arrival. While scientific studies do not support the continuing mystic around our moon, many people continue to embrace it and thus the term “lunacy.”

There is a happier side to the mystic that surrounds the moon. Through the ages, that great luminous ball has served us well. Adolescents, gazing at it with eyes bedazzled by the new stirrings of first love, have pondered its magic and wondered if such appearances were at their behest in these very special moments. As a nurse, I have often wondered at the higher incidence of births when the moon is full--another manifestation of life's longing after itself. Perhaps these occur to compensate for those random acts of insanity where it appears that life is needlessly surrendered and attributed to “lunatics.”

The power of that lunar globe is not only limited to its fullness. “Mom” Martin, may Louisiana born mother-in-law, a stalwart Christian and staunch believer in some of the legends surrounding the moon, advised that if you want to have a bountiful crop of those things that grow above the earth, then plant them when the moon is new. For root crops, such as potatoes, plant these at the “dark moon”.

So what's really going on here? I'm bemoaning the fact that the end of summer is once again upon us. It's been hot, but not endless. I regret the passing of each summer day, as they grow shorter and the beautiful summer sunsets occur earlier, ticking away at the season. Soon we will lose the beauty of moonlit nights to stormy weather. It's almost time to dress for fall.