The winter of 2007-08 in Maine was approaching rapidly and I had been unexpectedly out of work since September.  We calculated our budget, pondered our predicament, changed the way we were looking at this to “our opportunity”, and decided to take a trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  As author Leo Buscaglia would recommend, we decided to celebrate life in the face of hardship......or in our case, potential hardship.

Before we left to Mexico I decided to have a Holiday “Barn” Sale, hoping to make a few extra bucks for our journey.  I decided to organize my late father's, Barry Nelles' prints and ink drawings with plans on selling some of them in the sale.  With the help of my wife and daughter we laid out all of his prints on our dining room table, the floor, and anywhere else there was room.  Most of his life's art work was in front of us, organized by categories such as birds, sports, circus, etc.  Finally, after hours (or was it days) of organization one of us stated the obvious, “hey, these would look great on shirts!”  ... and off we went to Mexico for the holidays.

In San Miguel we stayed at a friend of a friends “Inn” called Casa Angelita's.  It just so happened that during our stay, the Directors of the Organic Consumers Association, Ron and Rose, arrived.  That connection led to finding TS Designs, an organic t-shirt company, in North Carolina.  When we arrived back from Mexico we said, “What the heck.  Let's go to No. Carolina, visit friends and check to see if we may want to move there and to see what jobs are available.”  The warm weather was very attractive to us especially after returning home to Maine with record snow fall accumulations.  We couldn't even see out our windows the snow was so high!  It was like living in a cave, or better yet, an igloo!  Coincidentally, the TS Designs' office was located within ½ hour of the airport in No. Carolina.  So one thing lead to another and now we have a truly organic product that will last a long time due to the REHANCE printing technology TS Design offers. 

The response has been fantastic to my Dad's prints and drawings.  Plans are being made to add other lines of shirts and other products.  Thanks Dad for creating such wonderful prints and thanks to all those who have helped find “curiosity” dog (and all other shirt images) a new home.  By taking him in, loving him, and feeding him you are makin' a difference in the world both ecologically and through the positive vibrations given off by the shirts.  Because we contribute a percentage of our profits to non profit organizations you are also contributing to the lives of others.  Please visit our doin' and feelin' good web page to view some of the non-profit organizations that we support.