Creativity

I spend a lot of time using the analytical side of my brain. Reconciling medication lists. Keeping track of orders. Looking up algorithms and applying them to my patients. Keeping task lists and grocery lists. Staying up on my email.

I sneak opportunities to apply my creative side at work -- leading team-building activities, designing recruitment materials, developing interactive community outreach booths. But it is in my free time that I get to really let it out, and this is an amazing place to create and appreciate art.

I recently picked up oil painting, in addition to pastel painting. It has been challenging but fun to add this new medium.

my first oil painting

photo reference -- my housing complex in the winter time

This was my second oil painting, and actually one of my favorites, mostly because the subject matter was so beautiful. Like many of my favorite photos and paintings, it was taken from my backyard...

photo reference - rain clouds over first mesa from my backyard

my second oil painting

my oil painting setup

yes this is a real photo and I have no idea what made the blue searchlights appear in the sky, but they were amazing

and so fun to paint a reverse sunset with searchlights over a cornfield

I have my mother to thank for getting me back into art 3 years ago and for sharing an amazing art retreat with me each summer at The Clearing!

red ribbon run

I had one of those beautiful days today at Hopi and just wanted to share it.

It started with an early rise at 7am with my father and stepmother who were visiting to get ready to help out at the Red Ribbon Run -- a community event that I've been involved with for the last 2 years to raise awareness for Substance Abuse Prevention.

From 8am-9am I helped out with one of the Health Center booths for education about opioids along with two really amazing students who are rotating with us right now at Hopi. We talked to dozens of people about opioids and played a game sorting pain medications as opioids vs non-opioids and talked about safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids and all the non-opioid ways to treat pain to reduce the risk of addiction and overdose.

This is part of a larger, very successful community initiative for opioid abuse prevention. The students were so fantastic at running the booth that I got to do a fair amount of mingling and visiting the other booths and socializing with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances and nourishing connections. The atmosphere was light despite the heavy topic as it was also a Halloween Fun-Run and everyone was in some pretty amazing Halloween costumes!

After the runners took off, I went in to the hospital for a few hours and took care of our hospitalized patients for the day -- all wonderful people with caring, supportive families. I got to flex my brain on some interesting medical issues, do some teaching, and then made it home for lunch with my father and stepmother.

The afternoon was spent in the desert with my parents and overly energetic dog Talus, who finally got to burn off his energy playing fetch with my dad on the dirt road.

 I mistakenly left the house without water, and thought we'd be ok with it being a cool fall day, but 75 degrees in the sun got to be rather hot and we all got rather thirsty by the end. I showed off the wash and its crispy crunchy dried mud flakes, and we journeyed back in the heat with Talus soaking up all the shade he could find.

photo not from today -- but an example of the crispy crunchy dried mud surface of the wash

Walking back through the neighborhood, we weren't the only ones enjoying the beautiful Saturday and stopped and chatted with friends and neighbors a few different times before making it back and chugging some serious water together.

I went back into the hospital for a bit to catch up on charting and exchange some friendly banter with nurses and providers, and now am enjoying a quiet evening at home with Talus passed out on the couch (finally!).

One of those days that makes you stop and appreciate every facet of life and work here -- community, medicine, teaching, colleagues, the desert, the sun, and the stars.