Try to stare at the grid and count all the black dots. You can’t seem to get them to stay still, right? What’s going on? This particular illusion is called the scintillating grid illusion. Dark dots seem to appear and disappear rapidly at random intersections, hence the adjective “scintillating”. When a person keeps their eyes directly on a single intersection, the dark dots do not appear. The dark dots will also disappear if you are too close or too far from the image. All of that can make the attempt of getting the dots to stop moving quite a challenge.

Today’s big excitement was a visit from the dryer repair man. The machine had begun to make a loud and very annoying screeching sound. He fixed it, but he had to take the machine almost completely apart. I am often torn by the decision in cases like this, is it wiser to repair or replace. This time I went the repair route. It was more expensive than I had hoped, but I watched him work and have an idea of what to do the next time. From that appointment, I went on to get my haircut and did a grocery shop. Later, Anne and I went to the bank to get our power of attorney declarations notarized. This burst of activity was in preparation for tomorrow’s forecasted snow. I think that we got everything done that we needed to, except for maybe buying milk, bread and eggs.