TODAY'S DESTINATION

The name on the building may sound odd to out-of-towners. Nothing to do with keeping meat and dairy separate. When I arrived here for college in the late 60s, there was Barnes Hospital and Jewish Hospital facing Forest Park, both affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine just behind them. In time they all got sucked into a single entity, including several suburban hospitals. What we see here is only a small part of today's complex, which goes back and to the left for several blocks. One of the buildings is the self-consciously named Center for Advanced Medicine. That's where the big guy in pain management is giving me caudal lumbar steroid injections this morning. 🤞                

THIS HAS TO BE A FRONT FOR SOMETHING

 

Or a pointed, understated joke. The old building on Gravois Avenue looks like it has been thoroughly rehabbed. The ground floor looks like it was a storefront, with an apartment upstairs. Not open for business now. I searched for Bang's Ice Cream and came up with nothing, although there appears to be a product called Bang!! Caffeinated Ice Cream. And "DRUGS"? While editing the photo I noticed what may be a mural on the right side. I'll go back for another look when I can walk better. The lumbar steroid injections are tomorrow morning.                   

CHANGE OF CUISINE

 

Another bright facade from my drive up Gravois Avenue on a cloudless day. I don't know anything about the old Lemmons Restaurant other than passing it by. Never ate there. It was taken over at some time by people from our sizeable Bosnian population, but that didn't last, either. I'm glad the current owners kept the ghost sign and antique neon fixture,                    

THINGS ARE LOOKING ROSIER

 

Another eye-catching business on Gravois (pronounced GRAH-voiz in local dialect) Avenue on the south side of the city. Things are looking up since I got a call late yesterday from my pain management doctor, who is the big cheese at Washington University. Everyone in the U.S. knows that health care authorization and billing are absurd and aggravating. Tiny differences in wording and coding got in the way of my nerve root ablation, so I'll get a caudal steroid injection on Monday. My lumbar spine is essentially made of recycled balsa wood but this will keep me going for a while.                    

COMFORT, AND NOT

 

Ah, comfort food from my young days, although I don't remember gyros and chicken wings being popular in my neighborhood in Queens. However, NY style pizza or a thick burger and fries bring back warm feelings. What isn't comfortable is that the hospital contacted me yesterday and canceled my lumbar nerve root ablation that was scheduled for today. They didn't get Medicare payment authorization in time and I'm really upset they didn't get this done earlier. We leave for Europe a week from today and I'm not sure I can make it without the procedure. Waiting for their response.                      

ODE ON A CONCRETE URN

 

Seen at the other end of Tower Grove Park from yesterday's picture. Keats would not have liked my poor joke, but it's what popped into my head. My head should be clearer in a couple of days after I get my lumbar spine blasted on Thursday.                    

VOICES OF SPRING

 

Explosions of tulips in Tower Grove Park. Although it is a city park, there is a private foundation that supports and helps maintain it. Today's background music: https://youtu.be/c3Ywo8Tsyys?si=ckDPPi_brJnDHdff