OMG! How scary is that eye issue?! I would be really terrified, and certainly thinking the worst. I guess the provisional diagnosis is somewhat 'reassuring' but I wouldn't look forward to the prospect of eye surgery of any sort. I know nothing about eye diseases, but I'd be fearfully wondering if this might be a degenerative condition which might occur again? My mother had macular degeneration, which was treated with (very expensive) monthly eye injections, so I have a heightened awareness of the possibility of eye trouble.

The trip to Roman Nose State Park sounds good. Cheers to your knee for surviving the walk OK!! The USA seems to have a lot of excellent state parks.

The arrival of a vaccine doesn't seem to mean we're going to be free of the threat of COVID-19 for quite some time. I'm starting off the year still working from home and Sydney is seeing outbreaks of infections after a period of infection-free complacence. Restrictions are being imposed again, with a focus on repiratory transmission, as you noted. It's hard to imagine our international borders opening up again before the middle of the year, and my university is planning a 're-structure' with forced redundancies to deal with the loss of revenue from the absence of Chinese students. I'm hoping to avoid losing my job!