Dixon

We went up to Dixon today - in the Embudo valley, two miles off the low road to Taos, and a really idyllic spot.  An old college friend of Alice's lives there - he's manager of the co-op General Store (as well as being a wonderful quirky papier-mache artist).  He directed us to look both at the flourishing library, and at the huge ceramic model of the valley on the side of the store - with lots of little medallions showing all the places of interest.  Opposite, a wall made of wood and old cans (I've never seen this done before), and beyond that, fruit orchards and hills.   We bought locally grown greens and spinach - apparently the whole valley is a developing area for organic farms (I'd picked that up, as passive knowledge, at the Farmers' Market, I think) - at the same time, interesting if sobering to learn that the old Hispanic population is dwindling considerably, giving way to the farmers, and to retirees (but yes, there is a large elementary school, and yes, young people in evidence ...).