Samantha E Thompson
@harchivist.bsky.social
Brit-Canadian archivist-librarian, government records and local history museum staffer, trad-classical musician, post-academic philosophy PhD (on Augustine), and other hyphenated things. Can't help it: so much to learn.
Worst time of winter and and a long way to go yet. Brits and their snowdrops can buzz off.
February 4, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Worst time of winter and and a long way to go yet. Brits and their snowdrops can buzz off.
Surprising how many people were out taking a walk last night at -15C. All of us grimly nodding as we passed one another.
January 19, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Surprising how many people were out taking a walk last night at -15C. All of us grimly nodding as we passed one another.
Pressing tofu. Yes I still have a dictionary. Sometimes I even read it, not that you'd know by my spelling.
January 18, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Pressing tofu. Yes I still have a dictionary. Sometimes I even read it, not that you'd know by my spelling.
I am sad that this is so personally familiar.
January 17, 2026 at 5:32 PM
I am sad that this is so personally familiar.
Bloody Teams notifications are an ice pick to my brain. God it was nice to have a break from the peck peck peck peck peck...
January 5, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Bloody Teams notifications are an ice pick to my brain. God it was nice to have a break from the peck peck peck peck peck...
Just finished processing new purchases for the parish library. (I tend to emphasize accessible books the public library likely won't have.) I miss working with books. They're so mellow compared to archival records which resist corralling at every turn.
January 4, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Just finished processing new purchases for the parish library. (I tend to emphasize accessible books the public library likely won't have.) I miss working with books. They're so mellow compared to archival records which resist corralling at every turn.
Still recovering from a horrible realistic dream in which the US carpet-bombed Toronto. That kind of dream where you're thinking "this has to be a dream but it isn't."
January 4, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Still recovering from a horrible realistic dream in which the US carpet-bombed Toronto. That kind of dream where you're thinking "this has to be a dream but it isn't."
Reposted by Samantha E Thompson
Hot tip: my elderly, very skittish cat was really calmed in the car on the way to the vet by the Hilliard Ensemble’s ECM recording of ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah.’
December 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Hot tip: my elderly, very skittish cat was really calmed in the car on the way to the vet by the Hilliard Ensemble’s ECM recording of ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah.’
Not embarrassed that some of these were mine.
You might say that when young my sister and I were big Doctor Who fans.
December 28, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Not embarrassed that some of these were mine.
A somber motet for tonight. Apt for the times.
December 24, 2025 at 11:30 PM
A somber motet for tonight. Apt for the times.
My Hudson's Bay biscuit tin from just a few years ago. Too nice to throw out.
December 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
My Hudson's Bay biscuit tin from just a few years ago. Too nice to throw out.
We don't get many manicules in this archive. Small Christmas present.
December 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
We don't get many manicules in this archive. Small Christmas present.
The bank phone has the same on-hold musak that my old veterinarian used and it's reminding me of sad times.
December 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The bank phone has the same on-hold musak that my old veterinarian used and it's reminding me of sad times.
The night is far gone; the day is near.
November 30, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The night is far gone; the day is near.
Why is it so all-fired hard for me to get back to the UK given I am already a blasted citizen?
November 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Why is it so all-fired hard for me to get back to the UK given I am already a blasted citizen?
I'm not used to seeing actual books in a clinical context anymore.
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I'm not used to seeing actual books in a clinical context anymore.
Overhearing a conversation at the hospital where a women talking to a nurse was blind for 10 years and regained her sight after two pregnancies in quick succession. They think it's due to a surge in stem cells. The blindness was neurological in some way, it sounds like.
November 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Overhearing a conversation at the hospital where a women talking to a nurse was blind for 10 years and regained her sight after two pregnancies in quick succession. They think it's due to a surge in stem cells. The blindness was neurological in some way, it sounds like.
Random church shot. Embroidered chasuble draped on the altar rail during preparation. Beautiful work, almost always by women.
November 9, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Random church shot. Embroidered chasuble draped on the altar rail during preparation. Beautiful work, almost always by women.
"Please do not use Yamaha recorders for any other purposes besides musical performance."
November 8, 2025 at 10:34 PM
"Please do not use Yamaha recorders for any other purposes besides musical performance."
Got an ALTO Yamaha recorder at a thrift store for $2. Not a professional grade instrument but all Yamahas are good. It can be dunked in the sink to clean it. Now I just need time and energy to learn the wretched F fingerings. Tenor was easier for an ex-flutist.
November 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Got an ALTO Yamaha recorder at a thrift store for $2. Not a professional grade instrument but all Yamahas are good. It can be dunked in the sink to clean it. Now I just need time and energy to learn the wretched F fingerings. Tenor was easier for an ex-flutist.
Chinese-Canadian anesthesiologists ways treat with deadly seriousness my concern for protecting the vocal tract during intubation. "She is a singer" at the top of my chart. Might have something to do with every Chinese-Canadian doctor I know being an accomplished musician.
October 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Chinese-Canadian anesthesiologists ways treat with deadly seriousness my concern for protecting the vocal tract during intubation. "She is a singer" at the top of my chart. Might have something to do with every Chinese-Canadian doctor I know being an accomplished musician.
At Oxford County (Ontario) for regional archivists' meeting and ran into some great folklore. The old county building (ca. 1890) sports random monkey grotesques. Legend has it they represent ten councillors the builders disliked or are the result of a curse.
October 22, 2025 at 3:42 PM
At Oxford County (Ontario) for regional archivists' meeting and ran into some great folklore. The old county building (ca. 1890) sports random monkey grotesques. Legend has it they represent ten councillors the builders disliked or are the result of a curse.
Lovely little stone walking bridge near Hamilton, Ontario. My city would have this down in a hot second.
October 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Lovely little stone walking bridge near Hamilton, Ontario. My city would have this down in a hot second.