Empty Bowl Luncheon and unsuccessful but heartening Dog Rescue

Not Empty Bowls:
I got to attend my first Empty Bowl Luncheon to benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on Thursday.
T'was pretty spiffy.
I dropped off a donation and my friend and I purchased "large" bowl lunches (i.e. we got to choose from the larger bowl options). There were hundreds of unique, hand-crafted bowls created and donated by the Southern Arizona Clay Artists. The first one that caught my eye was lovely but struck me as the perfect bowl for my friend - and that is exactly the one that she immediately chose!

I was drawn to several but I ended up going with the first blue and white bowl that struck my fancy.

A variety of local restaurants donated bread and interesting/yummy soups for our luncheon.

Clockwise from left: Chicken with Wine(?) and Wild Rice,
Minestrone,  & a spiced yam soup.
All VERY Yummy!

There was also a silent auction featuring other pieces from the clay craft. Larger bowls, cups, plates, decorated bowls - with different shapes, designs and finishes.
I bid on this bowl and one of the volunteers asked me if I knew who had made the bowl. I confessed I did not and she told me the name of the gent (which I didn't quite catch) and I confessed I still didn't know who that was. She indicated the teacher of the classes at the Kino Community Center had made the bowl I had bid upon.
And I won the silent auction on this lovely bowl and got to bring it home!

(And Gryphon helped me take the pictures!)

I enjoyed the luncheon and the time with my friend. I intend to go again next year, work permitting, and I'll try to get the word out sooner to the "Local Events" mailing group next year.


Dog Rescue Attempted:
Thursday was an interesting day. On the way back to work from the Empty Bowl Luncheon, the traffic slowed to a stop and up at the intersection, I saw two dogs trotting out into the street. I thought they'd turned off onto a side street, but when I got further along, I found they were still trotting along in the bus lane and still wandering out into the traffic.

I was in the middle lane so I passed them and pulled into a parking lot, hoping to lure them out of the street. I could see they were wearing collars and tags and they did pause to look at me...but they didn't stop. However, a well dressed blond in a nice car did stop. We talked briefly...she'd be willing to take them to the Humane Society if we could catch them. And a 3rd person stopped to see if she could help. Her van was actually loaded with alllllll sorts of dog-related stuff for a dog-shelter fund raising event over the weekend - including cans of dog food. The blond woman took a can and hopped in her car and drove off to try to catch the dogs who had moved on down the street - still wandering out into traffic.

The lady in the van lived in the area and called a neighbor to have her check the "Lost Dogs" posters she'd seen recently placed in their neighborhood.
Our duo-trotting-in-the-street didn't match the poster description and the van-lady and I hopped back into our cars and headed down the street to try to catch the dogs again.

We lost the blond lady somewhere and I stopped and tried to get the dogs to come to me two more times. They were now, at least, mostly staying out of the street. On the 4th try, they seriously paused and thought about coming to me.
Another pair of women had stopped to try and help - and they had water for the dogs! But the dogs moved on down the street again. The ladies with the water headed down the street and I tried to join them but traffic had gotten heavier again.

From my position trying to join traffic from a parking lot 60 feet or so from the next intersection - I could see traffic stopping again and the dogs were crossing the street. This is a major street - 3 lanes plus a bus lane - on each side on the median (8 lanes total). I held my breath and I saw them cross safely on the far side of the street - past all the lanes and they trotted off into a residential neighborhood. Interestingly enough...I also saw a family crossing the major street in the cross-walk, coming over  to my side of the street. So maybe the cars stopped for the family at just the right time for the dogs to cross. I don't know - my view wasn't that good.
I was finally able to pull out onto the street and get down to the intersection where I found the water-ladies and the van-lady pulled off the road. The dogs where nowhere to be seen but they were off the major thoroughfare.

Unfortunately, there had also been a fender-bender at the intersection, although we didn't know if it was caused by people stopping for the dogs or the family. No one had been hurt, but 2 cars were dinged up.
A woman in a US Postal Service truck pulled in to deliver the mail and checked in about the dogs too. She hadn't been able to stop to help, but she'd been following their progress.

So - the Dog Rescue had been unsuccessful, but I was heartened that so many people had stopped to try and help.

That day was a blessing. To be reminded that there are so many people in the world willing to take extra steps...to make lovely bowls, bread, and soup, to put on or attend a luncheon to raise funds to help others have food to eat - or even to stop to try and help some dogs get safely out of the street.