Susan Cushing
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sdcushing.bsky.social
Susan Cushing
@sdcushing.bsky.social
9.5K followers 3.9K following 34K posts
#EastCoastKin Arts Collective member
#BlueBrew Coffeehouse Host
Relentless arts and photography advocate. Eclectic and inveterate sharer. Retired arts administrator. Former dancer. Occasional quilter. Bookish. ♎️
🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ LGBTQIA+ friendly
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sdcushing.bsky.social
This week, I read “The Art Forger” (fun!) by B.A. Shapiro, and “Atonement” by Ian McEwan (a must read).

I’ll tell you more as the morning rolls along.

#BlueBrewBooks #BlueBrew #BookSky #EastCoastKin
November 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
As close as I could get to a decent pose from #LokitheKat this #Caturday 🤣. At any rate, he bids you a brief audience! He is very, very busy with his window!
Black cat pauses and turns his head from his view out the window to find out why he’s being pestered for a photograph.
November 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Ah, your new bookshop looks wonderful Craig, and you are so right about Atonement! I also did get a copy of On the Calculation of Volume - thank you for the recommendation!
November 7, 2025 at 12:31 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is #BlueBrewMugs day at the coffeehouse!

Anyone can post, any cup! Just remember to use the hashtag #BlueBrewMugs

Below, see my favorite cup ever
by artist Fred Babb
See ALT 👇 for the words
(I know they’re kinda hard to read!)
Good art won’t MATCH YOUR SOFA (C) Fred Babb PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT For Your Own Safety: DO NOT Enter a “REAL” art Gallery carrying color swatches and carpet samples and spouting words like MAUVE and DUSTY PERSIMMON. Trust me, this is not a good idea. If you really NEED ART that matches your SOFA - I suggest that you hang an identical sofa above your sofa (this is called CONCEPTUAL ART) and LOTS OF VERY COOL PEOPLE will suddenly find you irresistible. ~ ART SHOULD Challenge Conventionality and Uncover some Basic Truth, even WAKE US FROM OUR DISMAL dreams of FLOWER MOTIFS and PLAID HERCULON. (C) Fred Babb
November 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
I forgot to add this to my October pile. Quite a reading month!
#BlueBrewBooks

Joyce Carol Oates, “What I Lived For”, 1994
November 2, 2025 at 12:27 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Here are the books I read for October 😅:

#BlueBrewBooks
November 2, 2025 at 12:13 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Here’s my November Book Pile, all organized from recommendations you in the community have made!

Thank you!

#BlueBrewBooks
November 2, 2025 at 11:33 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Happy #NationalCatDay from LokiTheKat!

(Sharing his before and after shots)

#AdoptDontShop #ShelterCats #BlackCats #WhiskersWednesday #EastCoastKin
Strong adult black cat with big ruff faces the camera Same black cat, shortly after adoption, facing camera, with disproportionately large ears and runny eyes
October 29, 2025 at 4:19 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
On Sundays, I’ll always ask you something about your #BlueBrewBooks!

Today, I challenge you to share the books you’re reading, or have recently read!

I’m deep into ‘What I Lived For’ by Joyce Carol Oates, and starting ‘What We Can Know’ by Ian McEwan.

What’s in your pile?

#BookSky #EastCoastKin
Covers for What I Lived For by Joyce Carol Oates and what We Can Know by Ian McEwan
October 26, 2025 at 12:49 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Happy #Caurday from LokiTheKat, who always stays #Inside the house.

#BlueSkyArtShow #BlackCats #ShelterCats #EastCoastKin
Portrait Photograph of a (beautiful) Black Cat.
October 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
For #WackyWednesdayArt and #BlueBrewMugs I am submitting a very hairy man with the writing ‘I need more coffee. Artwork is by Dan May and Chaleur (terribly vintage, this one! 🤣)
October 22, 2025 at 10:21 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Tomorrow is #WackyArtWednesday & #BlueBrewMugs Wednesday at the #BlueBrew Coffeehouse. Mugs not limited to wacky 🤪 , submissions not limited to coffeehouse attendees or hours. Holiday entries welcome 🎃 🦃 🎄. Depending on response, this may be a regular feature. #BlueBrewMugs (# is plural pls) Tx!
Colorful Wacky Coffee Cup (says coffee cup on top so you know for sure) Clown Face with Huge Teeth from set by artist Jeff Ringer. Displayed on colorful quilt by Susan Davis Cushing.
October 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
It’s a quiet Sunday Morning, when I challenge you to post the latest of your reads.

For me, it’s the final book in the dystopian MaddAddam series by Margaret Atwood.

What are you reading?

#BookSky #BlueBrewBooks #EastCoastKin
Cover of MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
October 19, 2025 at 11:47 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
This Cat Likes To Get #Vertical

Say you overcropped a shot for the #BlueSkyArtShow
and everyone had to -

click through to see the full photograph.

Would you post it anyway?

I just did. 🤣 🤦🏼‍♀️

#EastCoastKin #BlackCats #Caturday #ShelterCats #Humor
Black cat lying in favorite vertical position on a beige rug. Photograph is overcropped into a severe rectangle. Cat’s eyes are open as he looks off into the distance, back legs are stretched out to their maximum length. One front paw gestures off to the left.
October 18, 2025 at 2:52 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Oh yes! 😂 It’s never too late to post long and skinny legs! Here are mine:
A few years ago 🙄 with my dad
October 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
BTW, I just received my copies of the two volumes of “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. No lap time for Loki when I start reading these! They are massive!
October 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Here’s are a couple of mock-ups for #BlueBrew #BlueBrewMugs from Katherine @katherinemancuso.bsky.social :
October 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
@sdcushing.bsky.social
and Jeff Ringer (artist) share this entry for #WackyWednesday and #BlueBrewMugs at the #BlueBrew Coffeehouse.
Front of BlueBrewMug The Doctor is In. Side view of BlueBrewMug The Doctor is In.
October 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Hi Martha! The rain has stopped here for the moment, so all
Seems pretty normal. I am reading this book, My Friends by Fredrik Backman, and it’s terrific! I think you might like it.
October 13, 2025 at 11:15 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
I love quiet Sunday mornings,
when I can ask you all,

“What are you Reading?”

#BlueBrewBooks #BookSky #EastCoastKin

I added the book My Friends yesterday, at the recommendation of so many last week. An antidote to the dystopian Oryx and Crake series I am into.

See alt below for full titles:
Fredrik Backman’s My Friends Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake series Book Two: The Year Of The Flood Book Three: MaddAddam
October 12, 2025 at 2:02 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
¡Buen Dia, Pepa!
Loki
October 10, 2025 at 11:07 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Here’s a chopped up full view of my coffee cup for today’s #BlueBrew and #WackyWednesday:
October 8, 2025 at 10:49 AM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#TheCampfire

LESSONS

A couple of years after moving to NYC from Mpls, my marriage strangled on its own rope. (My fault entirely - another story.)

I needed a new place to live, a new life. I continued, of course, my career in dance.

Go to ALT

(Photo is of a hand with a blurred wedding ring.)
I went back to school for a master’s degree at the New School for Social Research, found an apartment just up the street on 5th Avenue. I was thrilled to be on my own, making my own choices. So it was my choice to go out one night to a deli to get - cookies. I had to walk just one long block to 6th Avenue to deal with my Famous Amos craving. The single block I was walking was (fairly) well lit, and full of doormen. I headed out my doorway, jaywalked across the street. Soon after, I heard footsteps come around the corner behind me. They seemed odd. The footsteps paced mine exactly. I slowed to let the people pass me, but the footsteps were gone. I continued on. The footsteps began again, perfectly set to my gait. I knew I was in trouble, but saw the doormen and other people around. Suddenly, I was pinned to a tree. Two teenaged boys. One held me close, told me there was a knife at my throat. They took my watch, my wedding rings. One touched my chest, tenderly as a boyfriend, felt my necklace. Yanked at it with enough force that it broke. “What do you have in your pockets?” By now, there were sirens nearing. I gave them my cash, feared they would want my keys, but it was too late for them. The boy standing in front of me said, “Kiss me, baby”. I complied. It was over. They took off swiftly for the 6th Ave subway as standers-by surrounded me and I collapsed to my knees, overwhelmed. “Did you know those boys?” they asked harshly, incredulous. Police arrived quickly. With a short description, they ran for the subway. The boys were long gone. I called my ex-husband from a nearby phone. He was unsympathetic. Police got me home. No cookies for me. Is there any good buried in this story? Yes! A couple weeks earlier, I had returned a family heirloom ring to my husband, as I was uncomfortable wearing it. One disaster averted. Lessons learned? Wear no jewelry (I had none left). Don’t walk alone at night. Get a big dog. Shortly thereafter, I had a new friend.
October 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks #BookSky

My stack for October!

The 3 top novels are all dystopian:
2 by Atwood are older, finishing the MaddAddam series that began with Oryx and Crake;
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan is just-published.
What I Lived For by Oates comes highly recommended.

What’s In Your Stack?
Book Stack from top to bottom: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood What We Can Know by Ian McEwan What I Lived For by Joyce Carol Oates
October 5, 2025 at 3:04 PM
sdcushing.bsky.social
Good morning and happy Caturday!

Loki demonstrates how to #relax - a cat specialty - for the #BlueSkyArtShow.

#cats #blackcats #sheltercats #adoptdontshop #EastCoastKin #Caturday
A black cat is sleeping on his green and white blanket while marking his place with his paw on an ebook, ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt. He is surrounded by a messy room which includes a partial view of his his person Susan (in a robe on the left), hot pink sewing pins on the right, and a riot of sewing projects on furniture in the background.
October 4, 2025 at 10:17 AM