Sounds, just like comforting smells, say of freshly baked apple pie for example, can trigger and evoke memories. It's as if the sound lodged itself in our cells and replayed certain memories, emotions, or situations from the past that get triggered on command. That way we come to associate a particular sound or piece of music with a particular memory, pleasant or not. The neighbors across from our new house have a rooster that crows on occasion. I love that sound. The rooster's crowing evokes for me the European countryside together with peacefulness and that dreamy quality of a summer morning or of a languorous Sunday lunch that comes to an end. When I told our neighbor I loved the sound of her rooster she was so happy, saying apologetically that she had thought it might bother people. Not me.

Church bells also bring back nostalgic European childhood memories for me. Over here we don't hear church bells much, and if we do many are electronic, which removes the charm of the sound. But in Europe church bells still sound regularly on the hour or at least on Sundays, not only in small villages but also in big cities. It is a comforting sound to me.

What sounds trigger pleasant memories for you?