Table of contents for August 2025 / September 2025 in Readers Digest Australia

There’s a particular magic to the early mornings here in Marrickville, Sydney. As the sun begins to paint the sky with its gentle hues, I often find myself on our local golf course, tracing the path alongside the Cooks River with my trusty canine companions. It’s a symphony of awakening: the chorus of birds greeting the new day, the soft whisper of my dogs’ paws leaving imprints on the dew-kissed grass, and the refreshing aroma of native trees mingling with the scent of freshly mown greens. This quiet ritual, a cherished time with my dogs as they joyfully pant and tumble, is my sanctuary. It’s where the day’s hustle melts away, replaced by a calm that allows for clarity. In these peaceful moments, ideas blossom, challenges find their solutions, and…

It was while modeling my new blue jeans for my husband that I saw just how baggy they were on me. “Oh, great!” I muttered. “I bought the wrong size.” My husband, who has a knack for seeing the bright side of things, said, “Don’t worry, sweetheart, they’ll fit you soon.” —RUTH WILSON I went to a deli to buy just enough ham for a sandwich, so I asked the man at the counter for a third of a pound. “You can’t get a third of a pound,” the man snapped. “The minimum order is a quarter of a pound.” I froze. Fortunately, a woman who was in line behind me intervened. “He wants a quarter of a pound and a little bit more,” she said. Someone asked if my niece…

1 A GRAND SLAM isn’t just a four-run homer in baseball or a breakfast order at Denny’s. It also refers to winning tennis’s four major tournaments, two of which are about to start: the French Open (May 25 to June 8) and Wimbledon (June 30 to July 13). The Australian Open took place in January, and the U.S. Open starts in August. Only two men and three women have won all four majors in the same calendar year. Germany’s Steffi Graf was the last to do it—in 1988, when she was just 19 years old. 2 WIMBLEDON IS the oldest ongoing tournament, and it’s loaded with unique traditions. Players must wear “suitable attire” that is “almost entirely white.” The rules also include this persnickety note: “White does not include cream.”…

BEETROOT Benefits: Beetroot contains vitamins A, B, C, E, and K plus protein, dietary fibre, calcium, iron, and potassium. It’s also high in betacyanin, which helps fight cancer, plus folate and betaine, which lowers the risk of heart disease. How to eat it: Sauté the greens and serve them like spinach. Boil the beetroot unpeeled to retain the nutrients and add it to salad. CABBAGE Benefits: Green cabbage contains 80kJ and 33mg of vitamin C per cup. Red cabbage contains almost twice as much vitamin C as green, while green contains twice as much folate as the red. Cabbage helps prevent colon cancer, breast cancer and cancers of the uterus and ovaries. How to eat it: Sauté then stir in stock and dill to make a soup, or toss shredded…

A baseball scout discovered a remarkable prospect: a horse who could hit like Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. The scout arranged for a tryout with the Dodgers. Up at bat, the horse slammed the first pitch against the wall in left field and stood at the plate, admiring it. “Run!” the manager screamed. “Run!” The horse yelled back irritably, “If I could run, I’d be in the Kentucky Derby.” —ARCHIVEDINNINGS.COM I joined Alice on a tour to Alaska to see the northern lights. While everyone marveled at the colors, she kept sighing and checking her watch. I guess it was just the aurora boring Alice. —Submitted by GLEN YOUNG The world’s worst actor is on stage, playing Hamlet. He is so bad that the audience begins to boo. The actor stops,…

It was unseasonally hot approachingthe 2016 Easter long weekend in the Australian state of New South Wales. By mid-afternoon on Thursday, the su was beating down and the clear blue skies showed no signs of the forecast rain. Adrian Main was doing what he loved, working outside in the rugged bushland that surrounds the leafy suburbs on the northern outskirts of Sydney. Guided by his love of mountain-bike riding, Adrian had founded Synergy Trails, a construction company that specialised in installing narrow, winding dirt-bike trails in bushland for weekend and competition riders. It was dusty, dirty work at times, but with the trees providing shade and the only noise coming from his team and the local birds, there wasn't any place he'd rather be. Over the years, the 40-year-old had…

A Couple in Sync Rashad Polk wanted to propose to his girlfriend, Rachel Hundertmark, at an upcoming Modest Mouse concert. The couple had shared their first kiss at one of the band’s shows. Little did he know, Hundertmark was thinking the same. She didn’t want a traditional proposal, so she decided to ask Polk to marry her—at that concert. She even recruited her daughter, Jasmine Halstead, age 16, to tag along and record the special moment. Only Halstead knew of her mom’s and Polk’s overlapping plans, and she kept both secrets. On the big day, she filmed her mom dropping to one knee and popping the question to Polk, who answered by also kneeling, and pulling a ring from his pocket. Stunned and overjoyed, the two fell into each other’s…

For 35 years, my friend Frank put in long hours as a teacher and school administrator. So after he retired, I was curious about the way his life had changed. A man of few words, Frank replied, “Every morning I get up with nothing to do, and at night I go to bed with it half done.” —YEFIM M. BRODD My Spanish friend is a big deal in the opera world. Years ago, he flew into Chicago and planned to attend a show that evening, but he wasn’t sure he would make it. So after getting off the plane, he and his partner started running through the terminal, where they were stopped by a security guard. My flustered friend shouted in a thick Spanish accent, “I am going to see…

Early 2023 was a tough time for Taylor MacMahon. The 21-year-old college student says she was “struggling with some intense anxiety and depression, which led to physical health issues as well.” So MacMahon decided to seek help from a doctor. The diagnosis she received—chronic anxiety—wasn’t much of a surprise. But the treatment her doctor prescribed was. “She literally told me to ‘go touch grass,’” MacMahon recalls, quoting a popular internet meme meant to poke gentle fun at people so caught up in their online world that they forget the real world exists. MacMahon laughed, but her doctor was being serious. “She told me the next time I was obsessing over a worry, to stop what I was doing, go outside, take my shoes off and put my feet in the…

Under a flat winter light, five women pedal their bicycles up a gravel road through a Northwestern forest where the trees stand pale and stark and leafless. These are not casual weekend cyclists—they are seasoned, competitive backcountry riders who spend more days in the saddle than out. Most of them ride for a team called Recycled Cycles Racing, based out of Seattle, and their accomplishments include multiday endurance races on steep forest roads and trails all across the state of Washington. Today, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, began blustery but has now calmed and settled into good riding conditions, with temperatures in the low 40s. The women have set out upon what is for them a relatively easy ride: a 35-mile loop of gravel road and forest trail through the foothills…

When Genesis Gonzales got home last June from a long visit with her family, seven months pregnant and with a toddler in tow, all she wanted to do was relax. The stranger on her couch had other ideas. “All of a sudden, I get a text: ‘There’s someone in our home!’” says her husband, Jaime Gonzales, who was coming home separately to the family’s Salt Lake City apartment. “It was a woman on our couch, with a teddy bear, watching TV. She said, ‘This is MY house! Get out of here and take that baby with you!’” Genesis was stunned. The Gonzales family lives on the top floor of a large complex of about 700 units—not exactly an easy target for break-ins. But as she approached the apartment door, she…

There’s always going to be stress. There’s always going to be anxiety … being able to laugh about it is really important.—Sabrina Carpenter, SINGER, ON CBS NEWS SUNDAY MORNING I have regrets, definitely. They are little life lessons—reminders that if there is a next time, be braver.—Lauren Child, AUTHOR, IN THE GUARDIAN You don’t remember the easy workouts, do you?—Carl Lewis, TRACK LEGEND, IN INTERVIEW MAGAZINE Cultivate humility: You never know when you’re going to need it.—John Lithgow, ACTOR, IN VANITY FAIR The quality of your relationships ultimately is what determines the quality of your life.—Esther Perel, THERAPIST, ON WHAT NOW? WITH TREVOR NOAH…

YEARS AGO, I joked that I wanted a micro pig rather than a dog, since they’re less maintenance. So on Father’s Day, my kids surprised me with my first micro pig, Sarge. After he passed, I realized I needed another micro pig to bless my life. Enter: Odin. When I got Odin as a piglet, he was the size of a soup can and shy as can be. Now he’s 50 pounds, successfully litter trained and a total extrovert. Many colleagues at Good Samaritan Society, Olathe, the nursing home where I work, bring their dogs, so I brought Odin—squeals all around. When Odin’s not being spoiled by residents with pats and apples, he’s romping with the dogs. He even shares a water dish with a French bulldog named Zero. One…

WHY IT’S SMART TO GET THE EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL People who like early-bird special dinners may have the last laugh: It turns out that their habits might be a lot healthier than those who prefer to eat fashionably late. Scientists at Columbia University and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona found that people who consume more than 45% of their daily calories after 5 p.m. might have poor glucose tolerance, meaning their bodies don’t process sugar well. The researchers say it’s likely that one reason for their findings is that the calories consumed later in the evening tended to be higher in sugar and fat. A Backup for the Brain Scientists have found that the brain doesn’t hold a monopoly on memories. New research from New York University finds that other…

Fact or Fiction? MEDIUM Determine whether each statement is fact or fiction. To reveal the solution to the bonus question at the bottom, write the letters indicated by your responses in the corresponding numbered blanks. Turn the page upside down for the answers. BONUS QUESTION Which major tennis tournament is set to begin at the end of June? (Need help? Turn to 13 Things on page 28.) Answers: 1. Fact; congrats to all the grads! 2. Fiction; there is no regulation golf ball, but most have between 300 and 500. 3. Fact. 4. Fiction; they are named in honor of actress-producer Antoinette Perry. 5. Fiction; there’s a huge range, but, on average, it takes 66 days. 6. Fact. 7. Fiction; they can’t swim—they can’t even float. 8. Fact; on Peace…

1. catamaran n. (ka-tuh-muh-'ran) A burial chamber B twin-hulled boat C velvet footstool 2. obfuscate v. ('ahb-fuh-skayt) A make unclear B insult C drag out 3. scattershot adj. ('ska-tr-shot) A lightheaded B random C blunt 4. hepcat n. ('hep-kat) A bulldozer B MRI image C hipster 5. evocative adj. (i-'vah-kuh-tiv) A obscene B well-spoken C affecting 6. caricature n. ('keh-ruh-kuh-chr) A self-portrait B imitation C china closet 7. staccato adj. (stuh-'kah-toh) A with drums B cut short crisply C topped with milk 8. inculcate v. (in-'kuhl-kayt) A extract B ingrain C compile 9. scat v. (skat) A use a litter box B sneak around C sing nonsense syllables 10. ducat n. ('duh-kut) A brimless hat B gold coin C baby swan 11. cataclysm n. ('ka-tuh-kli-zm) A flood B earthquake C wildfire 12. desiccate v. ('deh-si-kayt) A completely destroy B single out C…