7                                     Reading Words

A practiced reader uses the "whole-word" method. The eye picks up a few clues from the page but the reader's mind comes up with likely complete words (or even whole phrases), finds a good match with the clues and leaps along; reading is a dense rapid stream of micro-matchings. It is also, for most people, a relaxing pleasure; given a moment's leisure, a person actively seeks "something to read." I speculate that part of the pleasure comes from the micro-matchings --- obviously not all, but at least some.

8                                    Feeling "At Home"

A vacation is a treat and home can be boring, but there is an element of comfort in familiar surroundings. When I look around, e. g. at the curtains, I see what I expected to see, what I remember having seen before --- no unpleasant surprises, things are as they should be. As pleasures go, this is small, but yet real. Compare Note 11 about eating, and Note 29 about monotonous ornaments.

     to Tree     the Tree's branches      back to Welcome    on to Conclusion     site plan