I have a friend*

who I really admire.

She is smart and generous.

Opens her space and welcomes strangers into it because she wants to and is in a position to do so.

She counts her blessings and appreciates what she has.

What she has is grace, taste and style.

She has people who love her and are proud of her for lots of reasons.

I got to know her because we borrowed her dad's farm for a gathering of pretty impressive minds, which at the time I took for granted because I saw most of them all the time but my friend who has an impressive mind of her own reminded me how impressive they were.

This is the main street of her dad's wild west town.

Yup that's a corrugated iron hoss tied up outside the saloon

- a real saloon with a real bar and a real bedroom upstairs -

I didn't check but I'm guessing that it's sans hookers.

It's real street with mostly real buildings including a goal and 'Mexicans' standing watch.

The Chinese lanterns were from a Chinese New Year party.

And there's a ubertarian church

that opens up on the far side with a big barn door that opens out over a gully of gum trees

I love this chandelier so much.

It's a grouping of little chandeliers around a bigger one.

When I get my farm I'm going to build me a ubertarian church with a chandelier like it but different.

My friend's dad's farm is a little different to most farms that I know.

Firstly there isn't too much mud which is a bonus,

secondly he farms large pieces of art like this one

This is Neil Dawson's Horizon

It brushes against one of the hills on The Farm

It's freaken huge, those trees there are rather large and the sculpture dwarfed the trees.

My friend's dad has the most amazing art.

Huge sculptures that are breath taking and bizarre at the same time. I got to speak with one of the artists not long after he had arrived to create a piece and he was so excited to have a landscape to work in. I hadn't real thought about how hard it would be to find a place big enough to have the freedom to create whatever the piece was inside you. He was humming with possibilities.

The last time I was there they had just got two baby giraffes** who were the cutest things.

You can see them here

So you see my friend who comes from uber-wealth, is uber-smart, uber-accomplished and is uber-cool not because she leads an idealised life but because she is kind and generous, because she takes time to share herself with others.

And she has uber-cool boots.

*I have lots of friends and I admire lots of them. I plan on addressing each and every one one day.

**Giraffes would be cool but I love my lambs - mainly cause I can shut them away in the garage and know they are safe. To be fair the giraffes to have their own house and keeper and were ultimately going to have free rein over The Farm. Actually they are a lot like having lambs only you don't end up eating the giraffes. Least I don't think you do?