After making pots for twenty years and teaching college ceramics for ten years, at some point I decided a change was needed. Maybe it was the three hour faculty committee meetings after teaching all day. Or my colleagues at lunch asking me “Why I wanted to play with clay?” Many months were spent developing a plan that hopefully would get me out of the deeply worn pattern that had crept up on me over the years since graduate school. With some careful thought and a considerable amount of money I moved from the city to the country. My new house had a walk out sunny basement, which made a perfect place for my pottery studio. The space had good light and large windows opening onto a grassy lawn edged by white birch trees. I equipped the studio with a wheel, wedging table, worktables, shelves, an electric kiln, and a glazing area stocked with raw materials. You would think this purchase was the one that changed my life, but it didn’t bring about as big a transformation as my next purchase.