Tell Me Over Tea

Show Notes

MaryAnn spent most of her life believing she simply wasn’t a writer. As a child she froze at the thought of writing from the heart, and by her final year of school she was navigating an unplanned pregnancy and marriage and the HSC. Mary Ann went on to become a mother of five by the age of twenty-five. At that time writing was the last thing on her mind.
It wasn’t until grief entered her life — first the loss of her father, then her mother’s cancer diagnosis — that MaryAnn turned to journaling, just to get through. What began as a private coping habit slowly grew into something more: a voice, a practice, and eventually an identity she’d never imagined for herself.
In this episode, MaryAnn shares how journaling led her to creative writing classes, poetry, and a manuscript inspired by her mother’s life as a young, unmarried mum.
This is a conversation about the winding path to becoming a writer, and how it’s never too late to pick up the pen.
Mary Ann also happens to be a part of my Little Life Stories program and it has been an absolute honour to work alongside her as she writes down her memories and shares her childhood stories. She is an inspiration to me, and I hope that Mary Ann’s writing journey also gives you that little spur on to consider picking up a pen and open a fresh blank notebook page and begin recording your own memories.If you’d like some support in doing that, please know that you are most welcome to join Little Life Stories. You can read more about that here.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, please leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:)
Kim x

Where to find me:
✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast.
✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here.
✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!)
✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories
✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here
✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com
✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote

Tell Me Over Tea is a cosy storytelling podcast about the stories that matter — one memory, and cuppa, at a time.
Written and hosted by Kim, founder of Betty Mae Wrote — a slow-living space for letter writing, memory keeping, and everyday storytelling, from a tin cottage on the Far South Coast of NSW.
Music: Kim on the uke;) Rattling teacups – also KimProduction and Editing: Surprise, surprise, guess who? Yep! Kim again!
Art by Lewis Dillon (thanks, Lew!)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bettymaewrote.substack.com

Show Notes
Pop the kettle on and pull up a chair — this is a Kitchen Table Letters episode, where I read letters sent in by listeners and members of the Betty Mae Wrote community, written in answer to a question I’ve set. This time, the question was simple:
What’s something small in your daily life that brings you a quiet kind of joy?
In this episode I read four beautiful letters — from Karan, Peggy, Jen, and Kim — each one a small window into an ordinary daily ritual that holds meaning.
* Karan’s letter — winding her watch. A daily ritual of winding an analogue watch that can’t be rushed — and how it became a grounding practice after a period of burnout.
* Peggy’s letter — the coffee run. A 15-minute drive to grab a takeaway coffee, and the noticing of the world along the way — from the different feel of each day of the week to memories of her mum and sister.
* Jen’s letter — an evening (and a morning) at home. Written in two sittings, with candles, a writing lamp, and her dogs nearby — on chatting with her kids, her husband hanging out the washing, and her morning coffee.
* Kim’s letter — journaling through it all. Started on a hard 30th birthday, her journals have carried her through divorce, loss, new love, and grandchildren — now lovingly nicknamed “The Book of Grandma” by her granddaughter.
Want to write your own Kitchen Table Letter?
The Kitchen Table Letters is open to anyone in the Betty Mae Wrote community — Instagram followers, newsletter subscribers, Lovely Letters Project members, Tea and Toast Club members, and podcast listeners alike.
Email me: kim@bettymae.com to request the current list of questions, answer as many (or as few) as you like, pop a stamp on it, and post it in. Your letter might just be read on a future episode:)
In today’s episode I also mention something utterly beautiful and in perfect keeping with the theme of today’s letters.
Jenny of Nordic Stories — photographer and visual story teller, has created Nordic Chapters, a monthly club encouraging everyday photography as a way of noticing and remembering ordinary life and the small things that bring us joy.
Jenny is welcoming in new members for September And the doors are opening next week for the brand new chapter.
It is such a cosy, delightful space to enter into and as someone who is taking part, I could not think of a more lovely, gentle way of pausing and noticing the life around me. What a beautiful experience! You can read more about Nordic Chapters here, and find Jenny:
* Instagram: @nordic_stories
* Website: Nordic Stories
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, please leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:)
Kim x

Where to find me:
✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast.
✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here.
✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!)
✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories
✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here
✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com
✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote

Tell Me Over Tea is a cosy storytelling podcast about the stories that matter — one memory at a time.
Written and hosted by Kim, founder of Betty Mae Wrote — a slow-living space for letter writing, memory keeping, and everyday storytelling, from a tin cottage on the Far South Coast of NSW.
Music: Kim on the uke;) Rattling teacups – also KimProduction and Editing: Surprise, surprise, guess who? Yep! Kim again!
Art by Lewis Dillon (thanks, Lew!)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bettymaewrote.substack.com

Nan at 14

Show Notes
Episode 27: Dear Nan — A 1930s and 40s Childhood
A letter to my Nan about life growing up in the 1930s and 40s in Australia

Today’s episode is another of my Dear Nan letters — the series I began after my nan died in 2022, as a way of processing grief, honouring our relationship, and making sure that this beautiful woman was never just a blip on this earth.
Because she wasn’t. She was extraordinary. And her story is so worth hearing.
In this letter, I write about my nan’s childhood — about growing up in 1930s and 40s Australia, during the Great Depression and World War Two. About a family that moved constantly, from Paddington to Narrabeen to Manly to Mona Vale, chasing the next opportunity, packing up in the middle of the night. About a dad whose gambling was quite possibly the invisible thread running through it all. About a mum who cooked and sewed and embroidered late into the night on Christmas Eve to make sure her children had something to wake up to.
My nan never used the words we were poor. But she was. And it took me three years after she left this earth to put the pieces together and really understand what her childhood had been.
This episode is also a little reminder of why I do what I do — why I help women write their memories down, why I believe so deeply that every ordinary life is full of stories worth keeping. Because we don’t always know what we’re losing until it’s gone. And the small jigsaw pieces our loved ones give us, if we’re lucky enough to gather them, are more precious than we ever realise at the time.
I also have a little chat today about Little Life Stories — my memory writing program — which has just had a bit of a makeover and is now available for $97. More on that in the episode.
Oh, and I’m sipping the most beautiful tea throughout — gifted to me by the lovely Sara from Ettie and Dorie. It’s called Dear Dorrie and it’s lemony comfort in a cup! If you love a good quality herbal tea, go and find her. You won’t regret it!
Pour yourself a cuppa.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:)
Kim x
Nan with Felix (left)

Where to find me:
✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast.
✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories
✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here
✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here. Oh, and from July on, there will be an extra special little gift waiting for one lucky duck subscriber. A ‘golden ticket’ will be tucked inside one envelope. Who will July’s ticket finder be?
✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!)
✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com
✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote

Written and hosted by Kim, founder of Betty Mae Wrote — a slow-living space for letter writing, memory keeping, and everyday storytelling, from a tin cottage on the Far South Coast of NSW.
Music: Kim on the uke;) Rattling teacups – also KimProduction and Editing: Surprise, surprise, guess who? Yep! Kim again!
Art by Lewis Dillon (thanks, Lew!)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bettymaewrote.substack.com

Sarah’s photo
Show Notes
Episode 26 Sarah Stamm from Salisbury and Maude: On Creativity, Courage and Making Things That Matter
From a childhood surrounded by wool and fabric to a celebrated handmade brand in regional Victoria — this is Sarah's story.

Today on Tell Me Over Tea I am sitting down with the lovely Sarah Stamm — the founder and creative director of Salisbury and Maude, a beautiful Australian brand known for its handcrafted artworks, botanical wreaths, quilts, knitting and fine art prints.
I found Sarah the way I find most good things — over on Instagram, where all the lovely creators are. And if you haven’t been over to have a look at her work yet, I want you to go the moment this episode is done, because it really is just so gorgeous.
What drew me to Sarah wasn’t just the beauty of what she makes — though it truly is stunning. It’s the way she makes it. Everything is bespoke. Every piece is released exclusively through Instagram and Facebook. She doesn’t have a website. She doesn’t take custom orders. There’s a quietness and an intention to the way Sarah works that feels very much at home here on Tell Me Over Tea.
Sarah grew up the youngest of four children in Albury, with a mother who could spin, knit, weave and draw — a woman who made something beautiful out of whatever she had, always with joy, never as a chore. That love of making was woven into Sarah early, and it never left her.
After more than 25 years in the world of interiors — from Westfield shop fits to magnificent old farmhouses across regional Victoria and New South Wales — something called Sarah back to making things with her own hands. Back to fabric. Back to craft. Back to the slower, more deliberate work of creating something from nothing.
And Salisbury and Maude was born — right there in the beautiful little town of Beechworth, where it still lives today.
In this episode we go right back to the beginning — to the little girl who painted everything she could get her hands on, to the teacher who let her borrow a Brett Whiteley book from her private library, to the sliding door moment that brought Sarah to Melbourne instead of Perth, and to the day she looked around at a room full of inherited fabric and decided to make her very first quilt.
We also talk about the nine weeks she and her husband spent camping across Europe in 2024 — no plan, 8,000 kilometres, and a boot full of the most beautiful, sourced fabrics. And we talk about what it means to make something by hand and stitch a little of yourself into every single piece.
This is such a warm and wonderful conversation. I think you’re going to love Sarah.
Sarah’s photo
A little something from this episode to take with you...
“I looked at what I had — not what I didn’t have. And what I had was fabric.”
And this, about her quilts:
“When you’re feeling lonely or missing home — just wrap yourself in your quilt, and I’ll be close.”
Sarah’s photo

Where to find Sarah:
Instagram & Facebook: @salisburyandmaude(This is the only place you’ll find her — and it’s well worth the visit)
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:)
Kim x

Where to find me:
✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast.
✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories
✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here
✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here. Oh, and from July on, there will be an extra special little gift waiting for one lucky duck subscriber. A ‘golden ticket’ will be tucked inside one envelope. Who will July’s ticket finder be?
✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!)
✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com
✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote

Written and hosted by Kim, founder of Betty Mae Wrote — a slow-living space for letter writing, memory keeping, and everyday storytelling, from a tin cottage on the Far South Coast of NSW.
Music: Kim on the uke;) Rattling teacups – also KimProduction and Editing: Surprise, surprise, guess who? Yep! Kim again!
Art by Lewis Dillon (thanks, Lew!)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bettymaewrote.substack.com

Show Notes
Episode 25: Kitchen Table Letters: Windy Harbour, Grandparents & The Cosy Places From Childhood
Two letters, one thread — the places that never leave us

In today’s episode, I’m sharing two letters from the Kitchen Table Letters series — my project inviting women to answer reflective questions the old-fashioned way, with pen, paper, and a stamp.
This episode’s theme is place, and by beautiful coincidence, both letters lead us to the same tender ground: memories of grandparents.
First, we hear from Denise, (you can find Denise on Instagram), who takes us to Windy Harbour — her grandparents’ holiday house and a place that has been a constant in her life since childhood, still treasured by her and her own family today.
Then, we hear from Kym, (Kym also has a substack), who shares the magic of her childhood holidays spent at her grandparents’ house.
Grab a cuppa and settle in for a cosy one.
Want to send me a Kitchen Table Letter?Email me at kim@bettymaewrote.com to let me know you’d like to take part, and I’ll send you the questions and all the details.
Want a pen pal?Join The Lovely Letters Project, my free snail mail exchange — details are here over oin the website. My mission is to keep letters and storytelling alive and well, and I’d love for you to be part of it.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:)
Kim x

Where to find me:
✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast.
✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories
✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here
✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here. Oh, and from July on, there will be an extra special little gift waiting for one lucky duck subscriber. A ‘golden ticket’ will be tucked inside one envelope. Who will July’s ticket finder be?
✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!)
✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com
✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote

Written and hosted by Kim, founder of Betty Mae Wrote — a slow-living space for letter writing, memory keeping, and everyday storytelling, from a tin cottage on the Far South Coast of NSW.
Music: Kim on the uke;) Rattling teacups – also KimProduction and Editing: Surprise, surprise, guess who? Yep! Kim again!
Art by Lewis Dillon (thanks, Lew!)



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bettymaewrote.substack.com