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By Good News Network -Jun 2023

A couple who hand-reared a one-day-old duckling before releasing her back to the wild were left stunned when she returned to their home six months—and brought a few family members.

Phil Garner took the tiny mallard under his wing after finding her abandoned on a fishing lake, before bringing her back to his wife Julia, snuggled in his coat pocket.

The 67-year-old said the duckling, they named Freda, became partially potty-trained using towels after she came to live in their three-bed house in Leeds, England. The couple even took turns sleeping near the “demanding” bird’s bed.

Julia said her husband of 16 years was undergoing agonizing treatment for cancer when he first found Freda. She now considers the duck to be like a “guardian angel” as he was able to focus his energy on caring for her during that difficult time.

“I wasn’t keen on my home becoming a duck sanctuary at first, but I think she was sent for a purpose… Freda helped him through it.”

They had tried for hours to find the ducking’s parents before being told by a fishery manager that she would perish if left in the wild.…

By Janet Vargas - Owner Of This Website

Adopting some things from Yesteryear and some of us have not even been brought up with, like having a Clothesline and drying our Clothes Naturally, for instance. In this Article, I hope I can Inspire you towards some beneficial changes that will make a difference in your life or family some time in the very new future. Makes for more Family Orientation - Constant Use of too many Modern "Conveniences" don't.
Shall we go?

Lets Enjoy Sunshine - Nature and Good Old-Fashioned Values!

Here's How Much Money You Save With A Clothesline And Some Advantages

You can Save 20% on your Electricity Bills here in Australia. Your Clothes and Sheets and Towels etc are Fresher. Especially your Tea Towels. You Enjoy the Sunshine and Fresh Air more often - they're actually Good for You, and everything feels fresh and lovely to wear and place on your beds etc. If you've never experienced that before, you're missing something.

Also, a little exercise benefits your health as well. On Autumn, Spring and Summer days, you get to Enjoy the nice Blue Sky and maybe some white fluffy clouds.…

A new study suggests that frequent gardening may be linked to increased health benefits.

According to the study posted on ScienceDirect, gardening just two or three times a week maximized the benefits of better wellbeing and lower stress levels. Gardening Encourages Family Togetherness, and it Keeps You Company if you live on your own too - I love to do this, my plants are great company. Folks, you don't have to have a lot of Plants to do this!

Benefits Of Gardening - Discover Them

The research explored why residents engaged with gardening and the extent to which they recognized any health benefits from the activity.

A questionnaire was distributed electronically within the UK, with 5,766 gardeners and 249 non-gardeners responding. Data was collated on factors including garden typology, frequency of gardening and individual perceptions of health and well-being.

"This is the first time the 'dose response' to gardening has been tested and the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the more frequently you garden – the greater the health benefits," said Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) wellbeing fellow and lead author Dr Lauriane Chalmin-Pui. "In fact gardening every day has the same positive impact on wellbeing than undertaking regular, vigorous exercise like cycling or running.…

WE BENEFIT FROM THE COMPANY OF AND INTERACTION WITH PETS AND ANIMALS. GUESS WHAT BENEIFITS HAVING A PET AT HOME AFFORDS? PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY. AND THE BETTER WE LOOK AFTER THEM, THE HAPPIER THEY ARE. HAVING A WELL CARED FOR PET/PETS IS A RELATIONSHIP OF RECIPROCATION. PEOPLE DERIVE A SENSE OF COMFORT, CONTENTMENT OR HAPPINESS INTERACTING WITH THEIR PETS. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT WE BENEFIT PHYSICALLY AS WELL? IT'S AMAZING WHAT SCIENTISTS AND RESEARCHERS CAN TELL YOU ABOUT THESE THINGS NOW. LET'S HAVE A PEAK AND SEE:)

Pets are Cute and Pets are Cuddly - Pets are Great!

Pets come with some powerful health benefits. Here’s how caring for a dog, cat, or other animal can help relieve depression and anxiety, lower stress, and improve your heart health.

The benefits of pets
Most pet owners are clear about the immediate joys that come with sharing their lives with companion animals. However, many of us remain unaware of the physical and mental health benefits that can also accompany the pleasure of snuggling up to a furry friend. It’s only recently that studies have begun to scientifically explore the benefits of the human-animal bond.…

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IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, SOME OF US HAVE LEARNT SOME GOOD COPING SKILLS, AND OTHERS ARE REALLY COPING NOT SO WELL. MOST TIMES, YOU CAN'T CHANGE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THEM, BUT YOU CAN MAYBE MAKE THINGS A LITTLE LIGHTER BY BREAKING UP SOME POSSIBLE RUMINATION AND GIVING THEM SOME TANGIBLE IDEAS TO DISPERSE SOME CLOUDY THOUGHTS. SOMETIMES, JUST A SIMPLE INTERVENTION OF HAVING YOUR COMPANY FOR A WHILE AND DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT CAN BREAK UP A SOMBER STATE OF MIND THAT IS MAKING THEM FEEL SAD, LONELY OR VULNERABLE. IT'S SHOWING THEM SOMEONE CARES, HEY? AND THAT CAN MEAN A LOT.

Fill Someone's Day With Sunshine - There's So Many Ways!!!

From Different Authors

By Rachel Sharpe

Write Them A Card

If your goal is to cheer someone up, send snail mail and mail them a card. Let the card be a surprise. Within the card, write down all the reasons why you think that person is incredible. It’s a great way to make the person feel special and appreciated. It’ll likely be kept as a memento for years to come. If the person who needs cheering up typically doesn’t get mail, this will be a pleasant surprise for them.…

From The Guardian Website - Past Edition

Dawn Chorus Day is a good time to celebrate the benefits to mental and physical health of birdsong.
Let us all speak up for protecting the different Species of Birds needing our voice.

A Beautiful Nightingale Photo by National Geographic

When I hear the first willow warbler of the spring, the first cuckoo, or the first booming bittern on my local patch, I feel an enormous sense of comfort and satisfaction. As the poet Ted Hughes wrote about the annual return of swifts, “They’ve made it again, which shows that the globe’s still working…”

It’s International Dawn Chorus Day on Sunday 5 May, and this year the RSPB has released a single of birdsong (currentlyat number 11 in the charts) as part of a campaign to draw attention to the situation facing British birdlife. Populations of once-common species such as the house sparrow, starling and swift are falling fast, while the nightingale, turtle dove and grey partridge are rapidly sliding towards extinction in Britain.

Climate change, intensive farming and pollution are just some of the genuinely existential threats to the future of our birds.…

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By Janet Vargas - Owner of this Website

Have you ever had the pleasure of watching Ducks in a Park with a Lake or by a Riverside somewhere? They are friendly little creatures. And they look so Cute, the way they walk with their colorful little web-feet - especially when they congregate close to your feet when you're feeding them.

Practice Care When Feeding Ducks In Parks And Lakes

I've had this experience in a few places through the years (3 Riversides and 3 Parks with artificial Lakes in total). They're such peaceful and happy creatures, and quite friendly, when they get to know you.

There's some things we need to know about Feeding them. And I hope for my little Friend's sake that everyone reads this because in a little Park with a small lake nearby, where I go to have some quiet Nature relaxation, many visitors including myself, like to Feed the Ducks. They welcome the free food that comes their way and get quite excited - pecking and nibbling away:) It's a really nice experience. They're such happy little chappys.

Something came to my attention 5-6 years ago, that Feeding Ducks Bread is actually Not Good for them, and most of the people who feed ducks in the Parks etc give them bread.…

Researchers in Germany have found that a one-hour walk in nature reduces
stress-related brain activity.

The amygdala is the brain region involved in stress processing. It has been shown to be less activated in people who live in rural areas, compared to those who live in cities, hinting at the potential benefits of nature.

Nature Walks Are Good For Your Brain

However, no study so far has examined the causal effects of natural and urban environments on stress-related brain mechanisms.

"But so far the hen-and-egg problem could not be disentangled, namely whether nature actually caused the effects in the brain or whether the particular individuals chose to live in rural or urban regions," says Sonja Sudimac, predoctoral fellow in the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience (LMGEN) and lead author of the study.

To address this question, researchers from LMGEN examined brain activity in regions involved in stress processing in 63 healthy volunteers before and after a one-hour walk in Berlin's Grunewald Forest and a busy city street using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The results of the study revealed that activity in the amygdala decreased after the walk in nature, suggesting that nature elicits beneficial effects on brain regions related to stress.…

San Francisco. When the roads emptied of traffic in March and April because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bay Area residents reported hearing more birds—and they were halfway right.

Jennifer Phillips, a researcher at Cal Poly, and Elizabeth Derryberry, a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, collaborated to evaluate whether and how songbirds responded to the quieter environment with much less traffic.

They compared the soundscapes and songs of the white-crowned sparrow recorded across the San Francisco area prior to and during the statewide shutdown.

“When I saw photos of an empty Golden Gate Bridge, it struck me just how little traffic there was,” said Derryberry, lead author of the study. “I realized we were in a unique position to look at how changes in human behavior might affect wildlife and what the noise reduction might mean for the songbird we study.”

The researchers found that the birds responded by producing softer songs that could travel over a larger distance, unimpeded by noise. The urban songs also became “sexier” in terms of vocal performance—meaning birds sang a wider range of notes in their song, in a wider bandwidth, during the shutdown.…

So many are told to "Stay Away From Sunshine" in Western Countries like USA and Australia. That is based on Flawed Health Science. The Medical Profession is into a lot of that. Many times, if something is GOOD For You, they will tell you it's Bad for you, and Visa-Versa. I've found that through the years. As for taking our beautiful SUNSHINE away, no wonder so many people are feeling Bleak. Let's have Sunshine Inside (of us) and Outside. Both are Healthy, hey!?

Let's Have Sunshine And Brighten Up Our Days!!!

By Dr Al Sears Integrative Medicine Practitioner/International Researcher

Remember the first day of Spring when you opened the blinds to let the Sunshine in? Remember that full-of-energy, ‘happy-go-lucky’ feeling? Have you been missing those Sunny Days?

Many of my patients avoid the Sun like the plague. All they hear is that Sunshine poses serious threats to your health. With all these warnings about the Sun, why wouldn’t they?

Despite the bad rap it often gets, Sunshine is Good for You — if, like everything else, you don’t abuse it. Today, I’ll share some of the benefits of enjoying Sunshine each day – to Lift your spirits and Improve your Health.…